Hend Sabry with Syrian children in Lebanon refugee camps (Photo: courtesy of MAD Solutions)
"Continuing her humanitarian efforts in relieving and helping refugees, Tunisian star Hend Sabry has travelled to Lebanon to join the UN World Food Programme (WFP), which aims at raising awareness of the hunger problem in the Arab world," MAD Solutions, a Cairo-based marketing and PR company for the film and entertainment industry, reported on the stars visit to Lebanon this week.
Sabry met with several Syrian refugees in Lebanon and talked to them about their conditions and concerns.
One of the families lives next to a junkyard and a highway in Beirut without access to running water. Another refugee from Aleppo told Sabry that he lost contact with family in his home country. Another described how in order to cross the border to Lebanon he hid under a pickup truck transporting cattle.
"Over five painful years, I visited Syrian refugees regularly, both in camps and in urban areas, every year passes and the situation gets worse,” Sabry said, according to MAD Solutions.
“This time, all I can say is that I don't see how longer this situation can last. It is a human catastrophe. No person on earth should be living in the back of a truck or think of selling an organ to feed his children. No child on earth should be deprived from the basic chances of survival.”
During her visit, Sabry also highlighted WFP's award-winning mobile phone application ShareTheMeal, which provides an easy means for smart phone users to help feed Syrian refugee children in Lebanon with just a tap on their phones ahead of the holy month of Ramadan.
Hend Sabry visits refugee camps in Lebanon (Photo: courtesy of MAD Solutions)
Sabry is among the most popular actresses in the region, and is currently based in Egypt where she is a regular fixture in local films and TV series.
Her career began in 1994 at the age of 14 when she debuted in the Tunisian production Silence of the Palaces (Samt Al-Qosoor) by director Moufida Tlatli. Her first appearance in Egyptian cinema was in the 2002 production A Teenager's Diary (Muzakirat Murahiqua), a role which paved her way to stardom.
Her later roles include starring in films such as A Citizen, a Detective, and a Thief (Mowaten we Mokhber we Haramy) in 2002, Downtown Girls (Banat West El Balad) in 2005, and Ibrahim El-Abyad in 2009. She also appeared in The Yacoubian Building (Oumaret Yacoubian, 2006), alongside an extensive cast of Egypt's biggest stars.
Her embodiment of an HIV positive woman in Asmaa (2011) brought her several awards.
Apart from her many achievements in the cinema, Sabry is active in social and humanitarian work. Since 2009, she has been working closely with the UN World Food Programme on raising awareness about hunger in the region. In 2010, Sabry officially became a WFP Regional Ambassador against hunger.
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