Deep down, if we really accepted that Africans were equal to us, we would all do more to put the fire out. We’re standing around with watering cans, when what we really need is the fire brigade.

Bono argues that the West’s limited response to African crises is not merely a matter of resources or logistics but of moral imagination: if Africans were fully regarded as equals, the urgency and scale of action would match that given to disasters closer to home. The “watering cans” metaphor criticizes piecemeal charity and symbolic gestures, while “the fire brigade” calls for coordinated, large-scale, institutional intervention—governments, debt relief, sustained funding, and systemic policy changes rather than sporadic donations. The quote also implicates unconscious bias: unequal empathy produces unequal action. Its force lies in reframing humanitarian aid as a test of equality, not generosity.