CAIRO: Mahmoud Yassin and Hend Sabry, Ambassadors Against Hunger for the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), joined international efforts to raise awareness and funding to support relief efforts for the victims of Haiti s devastating earthquake. Yassin and Sabry filmed public service announcements appealing to the public to contribute to WFP s emergency relief efforts for earthquake survivors. Haiti needs food. Donate to the World Food Program, both Arab stars appealed to viewers across the region. WFP needs $279 million to feed 2 million people and provide logistical support for humanitarian relief operations for the next six months. The agency started distributing food within 24 hours of the earthquake striking and more than 1.5 million rations, the equivalent of 5 million meals have now been distributed in and around Port-au-Prince to more than a quarter of a million people. Both Sabry and Yassin were happy to lend their voices to helping hundreds of thousands of Haitians and bringing the Arab world's attention to problems a little further away from their doorsteps. Tunisian actress Hend Sabry also gave her voice to WFP's corporate Arabic video. "For the first time in history, a billion people are living on that razor thin edge of starvation. Quietly slipping away in corners of the world that you, by accident of birth, have the good fortune of never seeing, Sabry read to footage of devastation and hunger around the world. In addition to the Haiti appeal, Yassin filmed a television spot supporting WFP's "Fill the Cup campaign. In many countries where WFP works, plastic red cups are used for school meals and are filled with porridge, rice or beans. The campaign seeks to use the power of this image to engage as many people as possible in the mission to end global hunger and raise awareness of what WFP is doing to alleviate it. Filling the red cup with food costs only $0.25 (less than LE 1.5) to provide a nutritious meal to a child during his school day. In some countries, it might be the only meal a child would have throughout the day. What's your dream? Veteran Egyptian actor Mahmoud Yassin asks holding a WFP's iconic red cup. WFP's school meals aim to turn hunger into hope; in the 70's WFP's school meal programs transformed the life of Kenya's marathon runner Paul Tergat when the agency started distributing free school lunches at his primary school in a drought-ridden district in Kenya. Tergat is now a WFP Ambassador against Hunger. WFP Head of Television Communications Jonathan Dumont produced the Haiti appeals along with the other television spots in Cairo at Video Cairo Sat, which offered its studios for WFP free of charge. The video messages will be placed in media outlets in the Middle East and the Arab region. "Reaching out to the Arab speaking world is crucial to our communications strategy , Dumont said. "The generosity of Arab celebrities, broadcasters, governments and business leaders has been overwhelming. About half of WFP's beneficiaries live in the Muslim world and the comfort that this collaboration brings to them is immeasurable.
