David Cook’s Trip to Ethiopia(must read Description)

Season 7’s American Idol, David Cook, recently returned from a trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with the United Nations Foundation for Idol Gives Back, which airs April 21st. While he was in Ethiopia, David joined an English class during a visit to Biruh Tesfa school, and he will raise awareness about the importance of girls’ education during the Idol Gives Back show. Elizabeth Gore, Executive Director of global partnerships and Nothing But Nets for the United Nations Foundation, kicked off the call by saying, “Adolescent girls are a huge priority to this organization and to the U.N., and the fact that 70% of the world’s out-of-school youth, and that’s about 130 million people, are girls shocks all of us every day. But we think that, thanks to Idol Gives Back and the viewers that are going to hopefully donate on the 21st, that they can actually help these girls solve global problems.” In addition to spending time in a Biruh Tesfa classroom, David got the chance to get to know two girls in particular. “One was a seven-year-old girl named Magnus. Both of Magnus’s parents have passed away, and she has been at the school for seven months…She is one of the most vibrant, joyous girls that I think I’ve ever met. The girls at the school genuinely want to learn. They want to have that education. They want to have that opportunity, and that’s inspiring to see a seven-year-old girl want to build a better future for herself. I remember being seven years old, and I didn’t have that foresight. These girls are wise beyond their years, and both fortunately and unfortunately they’ve kind of had to be.” David says he felt blessed to be a part of this trip. “I actually remember specifically, on my season when we did Idol Gives Back, that we all snuck up to the balcony and got a chance to watch, from the front of the house, Annie Lennox’s performance. It was just her on the piano, and in the background, they were showing images of children, and it just tore me apart. I think to have that kind of visual moment when everything kind of clicks and you realize that my reality is not their reality, it really puts you in a position where you want to help, and so from that point on I was just kind of chomping at the bit to get involved with Idol Gives Back. This couldn’t have come at a better time.” Will David’s eye-opening trip affect his music he’s currently writing and recording for his next album? “It would be really hard to fathom that it wouldn’t. I think anybody that isn’t completely self-absorbed, it’s impossible for them to come to this kind of a situation and not be moved by it and not be changed by it. To really drive home the fact that what these girls are dealing with – girls that don’t get an education here are immensely more likely to fall into the sex trade or into domestic servitude and then that opens it up to so many other different things. HIV is one of the main killers here. And so, to see that firsthand, I would almost say it’s a definite that I am going to bring that back, and it will find its way into my career path.” What can you do to help? It is as simple as a $5 donation – some of these girls don’t have the money to even get school supplies, and they are required to have both a uniform as well as a notebook to go to school. So something we take for granted in the U.S., and such a small dollar amount, can actually mean changing a girl’s life and allowing her to go to school. Find out how you can donate at the Idol Gives Back official site. David summed up his experience in Africa by saying, “I’ve been extremely moved by this trip such that I look forward to hopefully continuing this relationship. I will do everything that I can.”

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