'If you don’t cry you’re superhuman': One Direction on their life-changing trip to Africa

'If you don’t cry you’re superhuman': One Direction on their life-changing trip to Africa

The One Direction boys are used to flying out to faraway places and being mobbed for autographs and photos by screaming girls.

So when they came face to face with children just a few years younger than them struggling in poverty, it brought them down to earth with a bump.

Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson were moved to tears at a school in Ghana as youngsters surrounded them wanting nothing more than a smile.

The boys visited the poverty-hit city of Accra with Comic Relief to film a video for their single, a fusion of Blondie’s One Way or Another and The Undertones’ Teenage Kicks, which is out today in aid of the charity.

Harry, 19 tomorrow, admitted: “We all had moments. If you get involved in it and you don’t cry you’re superhuman.

"We’ve seen appeal films before so we thought we knew what it’s like.

"But when you’re there and you get the smells, your eyes hurt from the smoke, you cou gh, you’re feeling it all.

“The crazy thing is, when I went to school not one person wanted to be there. Yet you go into a school in Ghana and every child loves it.

"It’s amazing to see. There are 10-year-old kids speaking better French than I can.

“It’s crazy how quick you get ­connections with children and people who live there. You feel upset leaving them and saying goodbye to them.”

Life expectancy for women in Ghana is 63 compared with 82 here. And 28% of the 25 million population live in poverty.

Niall, 19, was deeply affected. “It was the shock of people struggling to get water and watching people work 12 hours a day for little money.”

Boy hand: The One Direction lads sing for the kids in Ghana

The five stars will appear in a film during Red Nose Day next month that documents their time in Ghana.

The appeal has raised more than £600million to help educate poor children.

One Direction will not receive any royalties for the single. They even shot the video on their own to save cash.

Niall said: “We didn’t want to make a massive expensive video because that’s just a big waste of money. So we kinda made it ourselves.”

Liam, 19, said he will never forget the poverty he witnessed and hopes people will get behind their efforts.

“We just want people to buy the single and help raise as much money as possible,” he said.

Louis, 21, added: “By buying the song, together we’ll change people’s lives. What an amazing thing to do. Buy music that you like and change lives.”

There were lighter moments for the group during the visit as the children greeted them with calls of... “Westlife!”

Liam recalled: “In the slum there were these lads that we were playing football with.

"They turned around to us and were like: ‘Ah, Westlife, Westlife!’

"So, Westlife are bigger than us over there. That’s something we’ve gotta achieve...”

 

It was a different reaction than they’re used to. Zayn, 20, said: “In the slum people didn’t know who we were.”

Niall said many of the children were more musically gifted than 1D.

“We walked into a school and they started singing a welcome song to us,” he said with a laugh.

“It was really good. There were three and four-year-old kids with better rhythm than us.”

But, joking apart, they insist their song which will have its live debut at next month’s Brit Awards, is “half decent”.

Zayn said: “We can’t wait to get out there at the Brits. We really want to give it a good performance. It’s for such a great cause.”

They will certainly catch the eye if Harry sticks to this promise...

Recalling a certain Union flag dress, he winked and said: “I will be wearing THE Geri Halliwell dress and the platforms.”

The band, formed on the X Factor in 2010, are also nominated in the Best British Group cat egory and are up against Muse and Mumford & Sons.

“We don’t stand a chance,” laughed Louis, even though the boys scooped the Best British Single award last year.

Liam said: “The category is absolutely insane. We’re massive fans of Mumford & Sons so to be in the same category as them...”

He paused and said: “We’re just gonna see what happens.”

How they normally look: Trip has changed the 1D boys' lives

Liam, 19, is also worried about getting too close to another performer, Beyoncé, on the night.

“My girlfriend might, quite possible, kill me,” he chuckled.

He was talking about Danielle Peazer, a dancer now on tour with last year’s X Factor finalists.

She met the 1D star while he was a contestant on the show â€" though the pair split last year, after which Liam briefly dated Leona Lewis.

Louis has been in a relationship with student Eleanor Calder for a year and she has amassed over one million 1D fans as Twitter followers.

Zayn hit the headlines last weekend when Australian waitress Courtney Webb claimed she bedded him while his ­girlfriend Perrie Edwards toured the country with her band Little Mix.

Niall has been linked to a string of women, including X Factor USA judge Demi Lovato.

He is now rumoured to be dating drama student Amy Green.

And it seems Harry is seeing a different famous woma n every week.

He has caused a stir by hooking up with Xtra Factor host Caroline Flack, 31, and most recently US pop star Taylor Swift, 23.

 

It is no wonder the boys often find themselves compared to The Beatles. They don’t agree, though.

Louis sighed and said: “They are far cooler and far better, just generally.

But Liam chipped in to say of his ­bandmate’s looks and attitude: “I often think that Louis is a little bit of a Lennon. He’s got that wild side to him.”

While they joke, the boys know what a difference their fame can make.

Louis said: “When we were at school everyone always wanted to do something fun for Red Nose Day.

"I even dyed my hair red one year. It’s amazing that now as a band we are involved with Comic Relief.

"It was fantastic to see where the money goes first-hand.”

Red Nose Day is on Friday, March 15. Red noses are at ­Sainsbury’s from today. One Direction’s single One Way Or Another, will be released as a download on February 17. For more details on the appeal go to www.comicrelief.com.

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