Paul O’Grady: The poverty I saw in Africa has changed my life for ever

from The Liverpool Echo

by Michelle Fiddler

TV host Paul O’Grady told of his “life-changing” experience after visiting South Africa to see the country’s poverty at first hand.

And the Birkenhead-born entertainer even confessed to wishing he could rescue some of the children he met on his moving journey.

He visited the Drakensburg region of the country where one in five children do not go to school, food is scarce, AIDS is rife and there are 2.5 million orphans.

The TV star, who found fame as Lily Savage, was in Africa to see the work being done by charity Save the Children.

He said: “People say after these trips that the experience has changed them profoundly. I hated all those old cliches. But it’s true – I don’t see how I can look at life the same way again. I see celebs whingeing about their lives and going into rehab and I think ‘You know nothing’.

“I look at my privileged existence and wonder ‘What have I done to deserve it?’ For a few days after I got home I was very quiet.”

During his trip Paul met orphaned children, youngsters who have to walk miles to school without anything to eat, a young boy wearing plastic bags on his feet instead of shoes and a girl sleeping rough because she was too scared to go home to an uncle who raped her.

He said: “Don’t think I wasn’t even tempted to pack a couple of kids into my luggage and bring them home.”

Since returning from his trip – which will be shown on his Channel 4 programme the Paul O’Grady Show later this week – the TV star said he has struggled to cope with the memories of what he witnessed.

He said: “I’m finding it hard to stay focused or keeping my spirits up.

“I keep seeing these fiercely proud African women slogging their guts out against a background of men who abandon them or spend their lives drinking.”

Paul also revealed that he plans to return to Africa later this year when he will take woolly hats to help save some of the two million babies who die of pneumonia every year.