Press stories on Ralph Fiennes |
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Ralph meets children at a school in Guite, Chad. Built in 2005 for the nomadic community, UNICEF supplies the school materials and other basic equipment.
© Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images
Ralph in Maharastra, India, on a five-day mission to investigate the impact of HIV and AIDS on children.
© UNICEF India/2007
Brief biography
Award-winning actor Ralph Fiennes has been involved with UNICEF since 1999 and was appointed a UNICEF UK Ambassador in 2001. He has visited UNICEF projects in countries such as Romania and Uganda, Kyrgystan and Chad to learn more about UNICEF’s work with vulnerable children.
Ralph recently recorded a video message about the world's greated promise: to protect the right of every child to a childhood, to be educated, to be healthy, to be treated fairly and to be heard. Watch Ralph's promise to children.
In May 2009, Ralph travelled to Chad, to draw attention to one of the world's unreported humanitarian crises. This landlocked country shares a border with Darfur, Sudan and has received more 250,000 Sudanese refugees crossing the border to escape their country's desperate situation. There are also approximately 180,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) affected by the conflict. Many are vulnerable children who have been recruited as child soldiers.
Whilst in Chad, Ralph visited a UNICEF rehabilitation centre in N'Djamena for former child solders. The children are undertaking vocational training and activities aimed at integrating them back in the community. He then travelled to Goz Beida in Eastern Chad to meet refugees and IDPs, many of whom shared their harrowing stories with the actor.
Ralph also visited a therapeutic nutrition centre and learnt about the effects of malnutrition, which continues to be a major concern in Chad with little improvement over the years. In response, UNICEF has trained local health workers in treating malnutrition and delivered enough therapeutic feeding materials to cover the immediate and mid-term requirements of these children.
Ralph's diary of the trip has been published by the Sunday Telegraph, together with powerful visual images of the people he met with and the places he visited.
In 2007, Ralph accompanied UNICEF India Ambassador Sharmila Tagore on a five-day mission to Maharastra, India, to investigate the impact of HIV and AIDS on children. In July 2008, he hosted a private dinner for UNICEF donors after a performance of his West End play God of Carnage. Re-united for the evening with Sharmila Tagore, both Ambassadors spoke passionately about their experience of India, the problems faced by children in the country and the importance of funding girls' education.
In 2006, Ralph hosted a private screening of his film The Constant Gardener. During the evening, he shared his experiences of being an Ambassador for UNICEF and of filming in the Kenyan slum Kibera. He also took part in a lively Q&A session with UNICEF Children and AIDS Advisor for Eastern and Southern Africa, Doug Webb, chaired by fellow ambassador Andrew O’Hagan.
Ralph Fiennes says:
“The problems go deep but I cannot help thinking that the best people are here, devoting themselves to opening up the road to stability, security, health and education for the citizens of Chad and that alongside many agencies, UNICEF exemplifies the greatest gesture of one human being to another – to assist.”
