Model Gigi Hadid has paid a visit to Irish aid agency Concern Worldwide’s programmes in Bangladesh – to try and show solidarity with Rohingya refugees.
The 23-year-old travelled to Cox’s Bazar last week in her role as Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF – and spent the day hearing the stories of those who fled from widespread violence in Myanmar last August.
As the first anniversary of the crisis approaches, over 919,000 Rohingya are now living in makeshift structures in the sprawling camp.
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The site where they are is increasingly vulnerable to monsoon weather conditions and other health and protection risks.
During her time in Cox’s Bazar, the former Victoria’s Secret model visited one of of Concern Worldwide and UNICEF’s Outpatient Therapeutic Programme (OTP) Centres.
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The centres offer life-saving and nutritional support to the children living in the region – and, while there, the model spoke to some mothers about their experiences.
The 23-year-old also took some time to play soccer with children living in the camp.
Appealing to her 51.7 million social media followers to support the humanitarian emergency, she said that she hoped to use her profile to “help however I can, wherever I can” to spread awareness and provide “support and positivity” to those in need.
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Concern’s acting Emergency Director, Noel Molony, welcomed Hadid’s visit and called for ongoing support for children affected by the crisis.
He said:
“We were delighted to host Gigi Hadid at our nutrition centres. Nutrition support remains critical in the camps with one-fifth of Rohingya children under five years old currently malnourished and 12 per cent suffering from severe stunting as a result of hunger.
“Concern has screened almost 544,000 children and treated 50,000 since we started our work here last year. We hope to continue scaling up our response with the support of the public.”
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To find out more about the Rohingya crisis, click here.
