Independent
On-line, 22 November 2002, Glover in Trinidad to film children and Aids
Actor
Danny Glover is on a three-day visit to Trinidad
to film a television programme on HIV/Aids and
children.
The 55-year-old American, who starred in the Lethal Weapon movies and the film
The Colour Purple, arrived early on Wednesday at the Caribbean
country's Piarco
International
Airport, United Nations spokeswoman Vashty Maharaj said.
Glover will host the first of 10 episodes of a series called Hot Spots,
scheduled to begin airing in January on the American cable network Showtime,
Maharaj said.
The programme is part of a series about the struggles children face around the
world. Actress Angelina Jolie will visit a refugee camp in Zambia
and actor Jeff Bridges will host an episode looking
at hunger in the United States.
The
Trinidad
episode will focus on
children and HIV/Aids, with Glover talking about the virus with Trinidadian
youths. Some 17 000 people out of Trinidad and Tobago's population of 1.3
million are infected with HIV, including 300 children, officials say. About 3
600 children under the age of 15 were living without one parent or both because
they had died of Aids, 2001 UN estimates showed.
The
Caribbean
has the world's second
highest infection rate, after sub-Saharan Africa. About 2% of people, or
500 000 - excluding Cuba
where infection rates
are low - are HIV-positive, the Caribbean Task Force on HIV/Aids said.
Glover is also one
of several celebrities who serve as goodwill ambassadors for the UN Development
Programme to draw attention to poverty.
After his visit to
Trinidad, Glover plans to travel
to Jamaica. A Jamaican film
festival plans to present Glover with a lifetime achievement award tomorrow.
The fourth annual
Jamerican Film and Music Festival, taking place this week in the resort town of Montego Bay, will give Glover its
third Marcus Garvey Lifetime Achievement Award.
Last year, the
award went to British actor Roger Moore. The first was presented in 2000 to
entertainer Harry Belafonte. - Sapa-AP