Members of "X Factor" U.K. boy band One Direction are shown getting tearful during a visit to Ghana, which BBC1 will televise in the network's "Let’s Dance for Comic Relief" special on Feb. 16, 2013, beginning at 6:50 p.m. GMT. According to The Sun, the members of One Direction visited Princess Marie Louise Children’s Hospital in Accra, Ghana, and they got very emotional when seeing the sick and dying children in the hospital.
As previously reported, One Direction visited the African country of Ghana in January 2013 for the charity Comic Relief's Red Nose Day. One Direction recorded a cover version of Blondie's "One Way or Another" as a Red Nose Day charity single to benefit Comic Relief. One Direction's remake of "One Way or Another" goes on sale in most countries on between Feb. 17-19, 2013, depending on the country. This year's Red Nose Day is on March 15, 2013.
In footage from One Direction's hospital visit, One Direction's Harry Styles is shown cradling a small and sickly baby in his arms. Styles commented, “My mum worries about me all the time so I can’t imagine how terrible it must be for these mothers to see their babies so poorly. Looking into a tiny baby’s eyes and seeing their pain is terrible.”
Styles then broke down in tears as he said, “That little boy is too weak to hold his head up, or even cry. It’s so sad. He’s lying there seriously sick, when a mosquito net could have protected him. Our parents worry about what we’ll be when we grow up but here the parents worry about their babies getting pneumonia and diarrhea, which can both be prevented with £5 vaccines.”
One Direction's Liam Payne said in another part of the show: “It must be so difficult seeing your baby so ill. At home we take vaccinations for granted. But not all children here have access to them and that can mean the difference between life and death. I’ve watched Red Nose Day appeals before and been in tears. But seeing these babies so sick is another level of sadness. “You just don’t realize how hard life can be in other parts of the world.”
(Click here to watch some of the footage of Styles and Payne at the hospital.)
One Direction's Zayn Malik was so overcome with emotion and tears that he had to go outside to take a deep breath and compose himself, according to The Sun. Malik commented: “Looking at that little baby completely helpless with no parents to take care of him, I couldn’t help but think about my little sisters and what would have happened to them if they were in the same position. We all waste money but the most important thing we can all do is give £5 to protect children from these illnesses.”
One Direction's Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan were also emotionally moved by what they saw in the hospital. When talking about a mother who could not afford to take care of her sick kids, Tomlinson said, "I don't know how she's going to manage ... It’s amazing — these mums are all able to get their babies vaccinated thanks to the generosity of Comic Relief viewers. We know the proceeds of our Red Nose Day single will help protect babies but everyone can do their bit, too. For less than a fiver, the price of a coffee and piece of cake, you can save a little life — and that’s the best feeling in the world.”
Horan was also touched by another mother's similar situation for her ailing daughter: “She’s told me she doesn’t earn enough money to take care of her. For the past two weeks she has been sitting by her daughter’s bedside worrying, when a simple course of injections could have stopped the suffering. Seeing these sick children puts everything into perspective.”
(Click here to watch footage of Malik, Tomlinson and Horan at the hospital.)
March 2, 2013 update: On March 2, 2013, "Let's Dance for Comic Relief" showed more footage of One Direction in Ghana. In the footage, Horan and Tomlinson talk to poverty-stricken boys who scavenger though garbage dumps to find food and things to sell. Click here to watch the footage.
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