Yep, over there by Cobbs Creek. I watched the whole thing on TV. I wonder what Ramona Africa is doing these days? And wasn’t the little boy who escaped named Birdie Africa? It’s hard to believe that happened over 25 years ago. Time flies.
Excerpt from:
Philadelphia Daily News, May. 7, 2010
Birdie Africa: The lone child survivor of MOVE fire
"After MOVE, [Birdie's] father helped him pick out a [new] name -Michael Moses [Ward]- from the Bible. He adjusted to life as a typical teen growing up in Lansdale, Montgomery County, where he played football in high school. In 1991 he and his dad settled a suit with the city for $840,000 plus lifelong, escalating monthly payments starting at $1,000 each.
"Today, Michael, 38, is divorced from his high-school sweetheart with whom he has two kids: Rhonda, now 16, and named after his mother; and Michael, 12.
"Through his father, he declined to be interviewed by the Daily News. In a 2005 Inquirer interview, he said he worked as a long-distance trucker and a barber. He served in the Army from 1997 to 2001, rising to the rank of sergeant. Andino Ward said his intensely private son was no longer a trucker but declined to say what he does now..."