Tuesday’s Child was born in Medugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, a little bit of heaven in a country emerging from one of the most violent wars in recent times.

Tuesday’s Child is dedicated to bringing hope to the most vulnerable of children, regardless of their nationality, circumstance, gender or beliefs. Our vision is that all children can live and grow to their fullest potential in a world free of injustice, where children can simply be children.

Just Like You and I, children have dreams be they Santa Claus and Hollywood, speaking with the angel, or wanting to be like their favourite role model when they grow up. Children, as we know, also delight in simple pleasures like a clear day, sunlight making rainbows round the room or the sheer joy of being allowed to stay up and play on. Life rolls on for all of us but, what you wish for, as a child, stays in your heart forever. How many of us, when we glimpse back into a childhood memory, would gladly let this moment linger on? And when you smile on a child, be they your own child, a niece or nephew, the child of a friend or a child you teach or coach, you must truly wonder at their star potential and what he or she could be?

The reality is, that for many a beautiful child, hopes and dreams are beyond them, where life is a beach of stone.

It is estimated that 200 million children under the age of five, live in poverty with little or no hope. For many, each new day brings thirst and a burning hunger where children are often too sick to play and have fun, or go to school, if there is school. Others have no chance of an education, their earliest exposures being the stuff of horror movies: child soldiers fighting adult wars, forced labour, abuse and trafficking.

God bless the child! Other children are orphaned, abandoned and homeless and have no one to love them or sing them a Seoíthin Seó (lullaby). For some, there are melodies at midnight but of a more sinister kind. It is in helping, at least some of these children, where my heart lies.

In the same way we cannot choose the day on which we are born, we cannot choose where we are born or the circumstances into which we are born. Similarly, we cannot plan for major life-changing events such as war and starvation that can turn happy childhoods into living nightmares. In our own country too, many children are living in conditions where their human rights are in breach, often failed by the systems we live within. Bullying, sexual abuse and discrimination are all too common headlines. Children with disabilities are often particularly vulnerable.

What the world needs now is love, hope, justice and peace on earth. Every child born is a wonder child and is entitled to an equal chance to grow in a just, loving and healthy environment, where they can learn, express their creativity, be happy and safe. And perhaps, most important of all in this time we live in, to have a say in matters which affect them. If you could only see yourself like I see you, the child within you could be happy reaching out to help another child in need. One of the greatest ways of influencing change is through music. Elvis Presley, perhaps the most influential musician of all time, said “All any kid needs is hope and the feeling that he or she belongs. If I could say or do anything that would give some kid that feeling, I would believe I had contributed something to the world”.

Thank you for being an angel and buying this album; you will help bring out the sun in the life of a child. For now, come wander with me for awhile and enjoy the music brought to you thanks to the wonderful generosity of the great and the good in Irish music. And, when I take my leave of you, remember, most children play fair, it is the world that doesn’t. So let the child in each of us reach out to make the world a better place, and, in turn, teach our children to share the light.

Orla Sheehan, Tuesday's Child