CAIRO: Approximately 400 enthusiastic participants gathered at the Smart Village Business Park on Sunday to walk 2 km in the Cairo leg of the World Food Program's (WFP) annual global walk against hunger. Started five years ago in Asia, "End Hunger: Walk the World is organized by the WFP, the world's largest humanitarian agency, together with its major corporate partner, TNT. In the biggest annual global fundraising event, participants in 270 locations worldwide walk over a 24-hour period to raise funds to feed the 59 million children who go to school hungry. "Events like these are needed to mobilize resources to address worldwide child hunger, said Dr Ayoub Al-Jawaldeh, WFP Egypt acting country director. The event was especially salient this year with skyrocketing global food prices making life difficult for many Egyptians. "Hunger is a growing issue, it's a global issue and it's definitely an issue here in Egypt, said May El-Maddah, a participant in the walk. "There are so many kids on the street here and nobody seems to be doing anything about it, she added. In Egypt, WFP efforts aim to help the 320,000 pre and primary school children who need food support. The Cairo walk was held under the auspices of First Lady Suzanne Mubarak. Al-Jawaldeh welcomed her help, noting that "government support is very important. But Al-Jawaldeh believes the importance of hosting a Cairo event goes beyond the needs of Egypt. "Egypt is one of the key strategic countries; it's the center of diplomacy and media so it's very important to organize an event here. While the severity of the global food crisis hung heavily on everyone's mind, organizers hoped increased media attention to the issue would bring in the kind of substantial corporate donations that they feel are needed. "Funds raised from events like these will come more from corporations than individuals, said Maher Nasser, director of the United Nations Information Center in Cairo. "Corporations are interested in events that attract the media, and I think the event is getting more media attention than in previous years because of the global food crisis.
