Lemar pays tribute to Christian Aid's work

Brit and Mobo award winner Lemar has paid tribute to Christian Aid on his third album, The Truth about Love.

The Christian Aid ambassador included a poem he wrote about his trip to Ethiopia last year with the charity in the acknowledgements on his new album's cover - a space normally reserved for thanks to fans, record company and management.

|PIC1|The singer - who has sold more than 1.5m copies of his first two albums - visited Lalibela and Addis Ababa in Ethiopia last September with Christian Aid where he had the chance to see the work of the charity's partner organisations, The Gemini Trust, which supports women with twins, and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

During his time in Ethipia, Lemar witnessed the work of the Adugna community dance troupe, which combines dance instruction for young people in the community with HIV/AIDS awareness. The Adugna dancers also bring the joy of dancing to disabled children.

He said at the time: "The teenagers there told me that dancing is an important way of getting them off the streets and giving their lives focus. It was really inspiring to see the result of their hard work."

Lemar, whose hits include 50:50, If There's Any Justice and It's Not That Easy, was so inspired by his time in Ethiopia that he penned the poem Get Off the Ground which now features on his latest album's cover.

He writes: "It is so unfortunate that in 2006, with all the so-called civilisation in the world, such unnecessary suffering still occurs.

"On my return, I tried to put myself somehow in the shoes of a person in that situation."

Lamar has spoken about the deep impact of his time in Ethiopia to various media including Radio 1xtra, the News of the World, Hello magazine and The Voice newspaper.

He intends to continue his work with Christian Aid as an ambassador.