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Harry Belafonte, activist and entertainer, dies at 96

Blackadder1916

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"Daaayy-o, Daaayy-o, Daylight come and we want go home"

I met Harry Belafonte once, on a road in Rwanda (the RN4 Ruhengari - Gisenyi Road, about three miles east of the Mareru Milk Factory to be exact) in 1994. It was early in our deployment on OP PASSAGE; most of our equipment had not yet arrived, those flights having diverted to Entebbe and we were awaiting the vehicles that contained the medical eqpt and sups to drive down from Uganda. In the interim (IMO, to generate reportable activity more than providing a useful service) we would set up "oral rehydration stations"; that's what we were doing on the side of the road just yards from a RPA camp located on the other side of the road. Though we were not expecting any interference from the RPA, it was one of the things on my mind as a couple of their officers came over with questions about our purpose for being there.

As I was interacting with the Rwandan officers (mostly friendly that day), a couple of white (with black lettering) SUVs whizzed past our location and came to a halt just down the road. People got out of the vehicles and started to walk back to our set-up. 'Now WTF?' was my thought. With my attention split between the two sets of visitors, I was not in the most pleasant frame of mind, so I use that as an excuse for the sarcastic reply I made to the woman who was the first of the SUV people to reach us. "Hi there, do you know who this is?", she said, indicating a black man who followed behind her. "How the f*** should I know, is he the president of this shithole?" is what went through my mind but a curt "No" was my response. "It's Harry Belafonte" said she. "Well, how about a chorus of Banana Boat" was my quickly regretted remark.

"Day-o, Day-o, Daylight come and we want go home . . . is that good enough for you" was the identifying reply from the gentleman as he joined us, following him was a camera crew.

Harry Belafonte was a UNICEF Ambassador. UNICEF was lettered on the sides of the SUVs and the camera crew was from UNICEF TV.

That's how I came to be interviewed on UNICEF TV by Harry Belafonte. He was at our section for about twenty or thirty minutes. Following the brief on-camera interview, he chatted with some of the others and expressed genuine interest in what they were doing.
 

"Daaayy-o, Daaayy-o, Daylight come and we want go home"

I met Harry Belafonte once, on a road in Rwanda (the RN4 Ruhengari - Gisenyi Road, about three miles east of the Mareru Milk Factory to be exact) in 1994. It was early in our deployment on OP PASSAGE; most of our equipment had not yet arrived, those flights having diverted to Entebbe and we were awaiting the vehicles that contained the medical eqpt and sups to drive down from Uganda. In the interim (IMO, to generate reportable activity more than providing a useful service) we would set up "oral rehydration stations"; that's what we were doing on the side of the road just yards from a RPA camp located on the other side of the road. Though we were not expecting any interference from the RPA, it was one of the things on my mind as a couple of their officers came over with questions about our purpose for being there.

As I was interacting with the Rwandan officers (mostly friendly that day), a couple of white (with black lettering) SUVs whizzed past our location and came to a halt just down the road. People got out of the vehicles and started to walk back to our set-up. 'Now WTF?' was my thought. With my attention split between the two sets of visitors, I was not in the most pleasant frame of mind, so I use that as an excuse for the sarcastic reply I made to the woman who was the first of the SUV people to reach us. "Hi there, do you know who this is?", she said, indicating a black man who followed behind her. "How the f*** should I know, is he the president of this shithole?" is what went through my mind but a curt "No" was my response. "It's Harry Belafonte" said she. "Well, how about a chorus of Banana Boat" was my quickly regretted remark.

"Day-o, Day-o, Daylight come and we want go home . . . is that good enough for you" was the identifying reply from the gentleman as he joined us, following him was a camera crew.

Harry Belafonte was a UNICEF Ambassador. UNICEF was lettered on the sides of the SUVs and the camera crew was from UNICEF TV.

That's how I came to be interviewed on UNICEF TV by Harry Belafonte. He was at our section for about twenty or thirty minutes. Following the brief on-camera interview, he chatted with some of the others and expressed genuine interest in what they were doing.

Tell me you got an autograph, please...
harry belafonte leg GIF
 
Tell me you got an autograph, please...
harry belafonte leg GIF

No. Though he was an impressive individual, I'm not one to get star struck. Now if his daughter, actress Shari Belafonte, had been the one to happen upon us that day (she was also a UNICEF Ambassador and had been in Rwanda at the same time), I would have been much more charming. But Mr. Belafonte was friendly and outgoing despite the circumstances of his trip (and our reason for being there). During his chatting, he did mention that he may be having a concert in Canada sometime in the next year and he would be delighted to have us attend. I don't think those concert plans panned out.

An American acquaintance did later tell me that they saw my interview on TV, but I was never able to confirm when and where it aired nor was I able to locate and acquire a copy of the footage from UNICEF public affairs. Perhaps we didn't make enough of an impression on Harry as he didn't make specific comment of "Canada" in this subsequent interview with Charlie Rose - he does single out the Israelis and Australians for their participation.

 
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