Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer

Judy Mowatt (left), Rita Marley (centre) and Marcia Griffiths at the launch of 'Africa Unite 2007' at the Bob Marley Museum, 56 Hope Road, on Wednesday evening. - Nathaniel Stewart/Freelance Photographer

After starting in the east with Ethiopia in 2005 and then heading west last year to Ghana, the 2007 'Africa Unite' series of events heads south on the African continent.

Plans for the celebration of Bob Marley's 62nd birthday in South Africa were outlined by his widow, Rita, at 56 Hope Road, St. Andrew, on Wednesday night.

The special focus will be on the youth, and especially the girl child, Rita Marley saying "There is a lot of discrimination going on over the world" for the latter.

On February 6, 62 doves will be released in Durban, South Africa, and the following day a photo exhibition of Bob Marley and legends of Africa, including Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu, will begin.

The 'You Can't Blame the Youth' symposium will be held at the University of Johannesburg's Soweto campus. "We are going deep into the heart of the apartheid regime, where people used to dead like ants because them black," Rita Marley said.

Later she would note that "A lot of things still happen in South Africa that are apartheidish."

Fund-raising dinner

A 'One Love' fund-raising dinner will also be staged in Johannesburg, Rita Marley noting that while the events in Ghana and Ethiopia were free, a lot of money coming from the family, "This year we have decided to raise some funds" as "we are building clinics now."

"We are crying out for help now. We need other people's funds," she said.

There will be a concert, featuring Marley family members, Rita Marley noting that "While so many artistes are talking about it and want to be a part of it," naming Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keyes, Patti LaBelle and Hugh Masakela, "if we are looking money for poor people we can't spend so much money on artiste."

Jacqueline Lynch-Stewart, general manager of the Bob Marley Foundation and Museum, said that their celebrations will be done under the theme 'Get Up Stand Up, Let's Make It Work', chosen against the background that 2007 will also mark the bicentenary of the abolition of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.

The celebrations will be centred around the Bob Marley Museum, where children from Trench Town, the Maxfield Park Children's Home and Mona Rehab will be given a treat on January 6.

The 'Welcome to Jamrock' symposium, discussing reggae's influence on tourism and the economy, takes place on February 5, with Merritone and Kurt Riley playing as a 'Soul Shakedown Party' on Marley's actual birthday.

Children will also be involved in the celebrations by Tuff Gong International at the 220 Marcus Garvey Drive studio, general manager Mitzy Evans announcing a 'Making of Music' tour of the facilities on Bob Marley's 62nd birthday.