** Warning:d There’s some grim photos at
the end and you might not want to be eating while reading this
**
We all remember Audrey as the
cutesy call girl in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The iconic photo of her standing in
front of the window at Tiffany’s became a staple of the 1960′s
But did you know she fought
against the Nazi’s in WWII? She helped raise MONEY
for
the Dutch resistance and hid messages in her shoes. True story.
She also won every award
possible; including an Oscar, a Tony, an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Golden
Globe
And graced every magazine cover
imaginable
She could’ve been a NYC
socialite – living in a penthouse, attending galas every night, and drinking
fine wine. Audrey had the world on a string…
Photo by Pierluigi
Praturlon
But she didn’t want to do
that…
Instead she joined UNICEF and
from 1988 to 1992 she traveled to the worlds poorest countries. Her first stop
was in Ethiopia where she visited the orphanages of starving
children
“I have a broken heart. I feel
desperate. I can’t stand the idea that two million people are in imminent danger
of starving to death, many of them children…”
Then she went on an
immunization campaign in Turkey
Then South America: Venezuela
and Ecuador
Then Central America: Honduras,
El Salvador, Guatemala
Went to Sudan for “Operation
Lifeline” where she helped ferry food to people during civil
war.
How about Bangladesh?
Yup.
“Often the kids would have
flies all over them, but she would just go hug them. I had never seen that.
Other people had a certain amount of hesitation, but she would just grab them.
Children would just come up to hold her hand, touch her – she was like the Pied
Piper.” – UN
Photographer
I wish I knew what was so
funny…
Another immunization, this time
in Vietnam? Yup.
And in 1992, four months before
she died of appendiceal cancer, Audrey went to Somalia
“I walked into a nightmare. I
have seen famine in Ethiopia and Bangladesh, but I have seen nothing like this –
so much worse than I could possibly have imagined. I wasn’t prepared for
this.”
September 1992, Audrey Hepburn
in Somalia. © Robert Wolders
September 1992. Somalia. ©
Robert Wolders
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