From when he was very young, Charlie proved he was a person of action. As a rebellious young man he attended Eton College as a Latin scholar - but when he left at 18, he went through his love of riding racehorses, into business as an Events promoter. By the time he was 24, he could count The British Government among his clients, and by the time he was 27, he had managed events for Pavarotti and Pink Floyd.
Charlie found himself in Australia when he was 29, where he met Cher while promoting her massive tour. The following year, with Cher as his sponsor, he went to America and for a number of years worked with her in her management company.
Charlie is one of four co-founders of Promenade Pictures, a US film distribution company. Frank Yablans, the former President of Paramount and CEO of MGM/UA, and Ron Booth and Cindy Bond are his partners. Charlie, who works as President of Music and Management in Promenade's Santa Monica offices, says that Frank has been an invaluable mentor to him. "I strongly believe in mentoring," he says. "Over the decades Frank has mentored some of the best in Hollywood, and just as I've benefited by his mentoring, I believe that others could similarly benefit from getting direction and advice from the right person."
100 Million Land Mines
In addition to being an executive producer of films, Charlie continues to do events, and in 2004 he served as Arrangements Chairman for the final Billy Graham Crusade. "This was a great honour," he says, "and immediately after this, I was approached to become involved with the Mineseeker Foundation. When I learned how important an issue this is, and how it affects so many other things, I agreed to become a part of it. There are over 100 million landmines under the ground, not just killing people, but disrupting commerce and society where they are planted. When Princess Diana died, landmines fell off the front page - but they continue to be a global issues which impact more than the physical danger they represent. We need to get rid of them."
Mineseeker has a special technology that quickly detects landmines. "Previously," Charlie explains, "with the means that were available, it was going to be a 500-year problem of detecting and clearing all the landmines in the world. It cost $1000 to clear one mine, so it is not only a very slow process, but also very expensive."
New Technology
The new technology that Mineseeker has was developed by the British Ministry of Defence and licensed to Mineseeker. It is a ground-penetrating radar that when carried on a stable aerial platform, can scan the ground at 100 meters per second, detecting all mines. "It can even detect those pesky plastic mines designed to take off a foot," Charlie adds.
Mineseekers work is so pivotal to supporting growth in nations that the world's most prominent humanitarian figure, Nelson Mandela, is a major supporter. "As patrons of The Mineseeker Foundation," says Mr Mandela on the website, "my wife Graça Machel and I take this opportunity to call upon world business leaders and statesman to support a new technology that can hasten our quest to rid the world of landmines. I call upon you to stand hand-in-hand with us as we move forward to remove landmines from our planet, once and for all."
Incredible and Impassioned
"Mr Mandela and his wife Graasa Machel, have guided the Mineseeker work in Africa," Charlie states. "Everyone knows former President Mandela. However, it is important for the world to know how incredible and impassioned a lady is Mrs Machel. She was the wife of the late Mozambique president Samora Machel, who died in a plane crash in South Africa in 1986, and she later married Nelson Mandela. She is the only woman to be married to two Presidents of different countries."
Mineseeker and The Sole of Africa Campaign's deliberate focus is to move country by country, and it is Mozambique where they are concentrating much of their effort. After 36 years of war in the former Portuguese colony, landmines litter the country.
"Every 19 minutes landmines kill and maim someone," Charlie points out, "and they are usually women or children. With this technology we can detect the exact position of every landmine, but equally important, we also learn where the mines are not. Most of them are planted on fertile land but 85 percent of the land does not have them, even though they have been marked as mine fields. They have been taken out of production because no one wants to work a field where there could be mines."
Turning Killing Fields to Kitchens Once it is known that land is clear of mines, it can be put back into food production. "We can change the people who were trading for today into making crops for tomorrow," says Charlie. "We turn the killing fields into kitchens, where people can produce the food they desperately need."
One of the crops that they can also be growing is biofuels. "By 2010, Europe is going to require nearly 20 percent of their energy to be biofuels, but they don't have the capacity to provide it all domestically. Countries such as Mozambique, Angola and Senegal can be growing crops for biofuels that will provide revenues for the people."
Self-sufficiency is at the heart of the work that Charlie and Sole of Africa do. "Overcoming the problems in Africa won't come through aid, and it won't come through debt reduction - which makes no difference to the people who are most in need. These measures are just band-aids on a hemorrhaging wound. Only by empowering people, by teaching the fishermen to fish, are we going to make a difference."
Irrevocable Talents
Charlie sees one his "irrevocable talents' as being able to bring people together to use their talents and resources to take action. "There is no doubt in my mind," he says, "that the way Sole of Africa has aligned its forces, with its focus for immediate result implementation, is the way charities should operate in today's world. A lean, cost-effective management co-opting the best technology and the best people, who are a lot of fun to work with, is the way to do it. As I give 100% I get back 1000% that stays in my heart. This is why it's worth it to me!"
While it may be worth a lot to Charlie, his efforts of bringing people together means even more to the people who benefit from his endeavours. "Last week we were able to provide two and half million dollars worth of food without spending a dollar. We provided needy people with Vitameals through Nourish the Children [See XL Magazine Vol 2 Issue 6, 2006] which is headed by Lee Iacocca, and then distributed by Larry Jones, Chairman of Feed the Children; and then we have team members in the field, such as Heidi Baker, who is a modern day Mother Theresa, to handle distribution to the families in crisis after recent floods and cyclones.
"We don't reinvent the wheel," Charlie continues, "We use people who are already doing the work that they do best so there is no wastage. In this case, we had no expenses so everything goes to the people who need it.
Giving and Receiving
In the last few months, for our donors we have set up HUB (Humanities Unites Brilliance). We have USA XL members, and like many of our donors, they are empowered and looking to make as big a difference in their lives as possible. So HUB is set up not only to give but also to receive. HUB members receive weekly conference calls with various Sole of Africa alliance members, as well as attending a Mark Victor Hansen "Mega Giving and Receiving Conference' in Los Angeles (www.megagivingandreceiving.com)
With high-profile people on the board such as patrons Nelson Mandela, Queen Noor of Jordan, Graasa Machel, Sir Richard Branson, John Paul deJoria, Brad Pitt, and Michael Kendrick as Founder and Chairman, Sole of Africa is able to mobilize people and resources.
Donated Operations
"We have superstars and we have nameless, faceless people with skills that help us do so much. We are about to bring a little boy, Beloved, who blew his own face up when he picked up a grenade, to Los Angeles where he is being donated operations. We also have medical teams who go to Africa where they can carry out 120 operations in six days."
Charlie knows more can be done by bringing people together and using their irrevocable talents. "After the Tsunami, 70% of NGOs worked separately when they could have done so much more by working together. We bring people and organisations together."
Motivating Isn't Always Easy
Though Charlie says, "It is not always easy to get people motivated regarding world issues with all that is in our personal lives," he believes that we are in a time when the world is now spiritually awake. "The passion of the movement is tremendous. It goes beyond colour, religion, nationality or background. It is all about bringing people, each with their own skill sets and passions, together to make the world a better place. The world has cried out for decades. Perhaps, because we are able to hear ourselves, we are now aware of the world's wounds.
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