See the latest pics and news from HungerFREE Planet concerts and gigs in Thailand , Nepal, The Gambia and Sierra Leone, Sweden, Italy, the UK, Brazil, Nigeria and read about the forthcoming launch in Kenya.

 

 

ACTIVISTA Sweden are getting throughly involved in the festival scene this summer so look out for a HungerFREE Planet tent at a festival near you soon! Also be sure to check out the pictures from Where the Action Is festival in Stockholm last month, where 1500 festival-goers signed a rolling car petition in just one day!

 

 

 

 

Actvistas in THE GAMBIA put on a raucous event in Banjul featuring Jaliba Kuyateh and Royal Family. The Gambia created their own plate messages using Calabash (cut-out pumkins which act as plates). The event included local people lobbying national government and sending HungerFREE messages to the UN.

 

 

On Saturday 30th June at The Centerpoint, Siam Square, Bangkok, the Action-4-Change the Thai branch of ACTIVISTA - ran a mega-gig involving 10 up-and-coming young bands and established acts inculding Flure, Sqweez Animal, Playground. Global audineces could watch the event live on web cam via www.action-4-change.com, or catch it on FAT radio or MTV in Thailand.

 

Nepal's biggest band Nepathya kicked off in Kathmandu on the 2nd July. The gig began after young campaigners marched through the city collecting plate messages along the way. Young camapigners from Youth Action Nepal and Child Development and Youth Network also arranged to collect plates from their own communities. Former Miss Nepal TV presenter and youth icon Malvika fronted the HungerFREE campaign at the Kathmandu gig.

 

The 13th of July saw Activista Nigeria's music event in Jos State. Young volunteers from the Theatre Arts department at Jos University helped out, including 19-year-old David Tersagh Habba from Makurdi and the young spokesperson for the camapign. David is from Benue State which prides itself as the 'food basket of Nigeria' - yet hunger still abounds. Famous Nollywood actress Hilda Dokubo, appeared as 'the face of ACTIVISTA Nigeria'! Hilda is from the Niger Delta region and has run projects to help young people there.

 

 

ACTIVISTA Italy campaigners from Rome, Florence, Lucca and Milan joined festival-goers to spread the HungerFREE message in Tuscany, with some of the main acts getting involved in the action! Festival-goers had the chance to relax in the HungerFREE chill out zone and dance along at the ActionAid Psycho stage.

 

 

In the UK, our British Activista friends -ActionAid Space - kicked off campaigning at the first of a string of UK summer festivals with a slot at London's Wireless festival (see www.actionaidspace.org ) where they signed up hundreds of people to 'Bollocks to Poverty.' Anella and the team are now gearing up for 'Bollocks to Hunger' slots at Global Gathering, Carling Reading Weekend, Oxygen07 and Lovebox. Big independent radio station XFM are planning a broadcast from the ActionAid Space tent at Reading. The UK are also asking celebrities to sign a plate and draw a picture on it for a competition for fans - and - gathering signed CDs from acts to run as a competion in DJ magazine.

 

Activista Brazil have been steaming ahead! Marcelo and Activista volunteers are planning to get to Rio, São Paulo and Brasília Universities to get the HungerFREE campaign out to thousands of students, collecting photos of HungerFREE plate messages. Marcelo has also established a partnership with AMUN – Americas Model of United Nation ( www.amun.org.br ) and will be active at their event with 300 young students from Universities all around Brazil. Brazil have also planned an exchange of 25 young people from rural, urban, rich and poor communities to plan how they can work together for the campaign. See pictures from the launch

 

Activista in Kenya has recruited more than 100 core volunteers made up of students and youth leaders based in Nairobi. They will steer the Kenyan version of HungerFREE PLanet which will feature dance, pop and Hip-Hop acts in Uhuru Park in Nairobi in August. Activista Kenya has also recruited two young spokespeople, both young women, one with direct experience of hunger from the north of Kenya and one from Mombasa.