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"I've known UNICEF a long time, ever since the second world war when they came to the aid of thousands of children like myself, famished victims of five years of German occupation in Holland. We were reduced to near total poverty as is the developing world today - for it is poverty that is at the root of all their suffering - the not having, not having the means to help themselves. And that is what UNICEF is all about - helping people to help themselves - giving them the aid to develop, thereby allowing them to become self-reliant and live with dignity." Audrey Hepburn
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Photo: UNICEF/HQ92-1065/
John Isaac
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In 1988, Audrey embarked on her second career as UNICEF's international Goodwill Ambassador. With her long time companion, Robert Wolders, and assisted by her dear friend Christa Roth, Audrey traveled for UNICEF with acclaimed photographer John Isaac on behalf of UNICEF. Together they presented to the world a provocative visual context in which to see the urgency of Audrey's message.
For five years, until her death in 1993, Audrey devoted all her energy to working with UNICEF. Her field missions were often physically and emotionally demanding and sometimes undertaken at great personal risk. Audrey learned first hand about the plight of poor and displaced children in countries all over the world. Audrey made over fifty field research visits to UNICEF-assisted projects in Sudan, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea, and Somalia. . These trips enabled her to witness first-hand the distressing conditions of children living in war-torn and drought-ridden areas of the world. Determined to raise awareness and badly needed funds, Audrey applied her first-hand knowledge to inform Special Assemblies at the U.N., shared details with various Press Associations, and lobbied on behalf of children to World Parliaments.
In 1993, Sean H. Ferrer, Luca Dotti (Audrey's sons) and Robert Wolders (her companion) created The Audrey Hepburn Memorial Fund at the U.S. Fund for UNICEF to commemorate the humanitarian efforts she made as a UNICEF International Goodwill Ambassador.
To date, the Audrey Hepburn Memorial Fund at UNICEF has raised over $1 million dollars for educational programs in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Sudan and Somalia.
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Photo: UNICEF/John Isaac,
Bangladesh 1989 | Audrey Hepburn believed that, "Every child has the right to health, to tenderness, to life."
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"If I feel less helpless today, it's because I have now seen what can be done, and what is being done by UNICEF and, most of all, by the people themselves." Audrey Hepburn |
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Ms. Hepburn's last trips with UNICEF were to Africa where the tragedies she witnessed fueled a deeply personal mission to inform the world of the hunger and suffering that result from civil wars, drought, and disease.
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