Arab film star Hend Sabry marks ten years as WFP Goodwill ambassador
CAIRO – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Goodwill Ambassador and Arab actor and producer Hend Sabry released today a video reflecting on her work with the UN humanitarian organization over the past ten years. The video comes only two days before WFP accepts the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize on 10 December in a virtual ceremony.
“These years taught me gratitude, to thank God for the many blessings we take for granted. We tend to forget what it means to have a roof over your head, to have food, to be a mother who is able to feed her children, or a father who is not up all night thinking if his children have the food they need to grow and stay healthy,” Sabry said. “Ten years ago I promised myself that I will not be a Goodwill ambassador only by name. I hope I have not let you or let myself down.”
The award-winning actress was appointed WFP Goodwill Ambassador in 2010. Over the past ten years, Sabry visited WFP’s operations in Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Bangladesh.
“I did not have children when I started working with WFP. Now I have Alia, 10, and Laila, 8,” Sabry who is keen on passing to her children her humanitarian experience and values. “I tell them about my missions with WFP, my visits to refugee camps and WFP projects around the world. I teach them that hunger is not separate from ignorance, it is not separate from war or all the negative needs that occur in the world.”
WFP is providing its food assistance to more than 23 million people in 13 countries the Middle East and North Africa operating in some of the hardest working environments in the world due to active conflict as well as mass and protracted displacement.
The 2020 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the United Nations World Food Programme is recognition of the important link between conflict and hunger and the critical role that food assistance plays in supporting the first step towards peace and stability.
“I was happy this honour went to people who really deserve it, people who work sometimes in very difficult conditions, often dangerous conditions,” she says. “People who left their countries, their families and decided to work for WFP. These people inspire me. They are inspiring human beings. These people are the real stars and this is the beauty of WFP; it is a family. It is a real family!”
“My dreams with WFP over the coming ten years is to have a world with #ZeroHunger. It is a shame that today in 2020 there are people who sleep hungry. Shame on us!”
Two out of WFP’s six global emergencies are in the Middle East; in Syria and Yemen where close to 18 million people – 13 million of them are hunger-stricken in Yemen and nearly 5 million are in Syria – rely on WFP food assistance for their survival.
WFP Executive Director David Beasley will receive the award on behalf of the agency and its 20,000 staff, in a virtual event due to COVID-19 constraints which can be watched worldwide here. WFP will also be hosting a Facebook Live event during which Sabry will send a video message to her WFP family and it can be followed here
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The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.
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