Australian actress Isla Fisher and her comedian husband Sacha Baron Cohen just donated more than one million dollars to help Syrian refugees.
The couple split $US1 million, which is roughly $A1.38 million, between two charities that are helping Syrians trying to survive in their war-torn homeland, and those who ultimately are forced to flee.
Save the Children and the International Rescue Committee received $US500,000 each.
News of the donation was announced by Save the Children over the Christmas long weekend.
“The Syrian conflict is now approaching its fifth year and children are the first victims. There is no safe place left in Syria, with shelling and violence omnipresent. Food and medicines have become scarce and basic necessities unaffordable,” Save the Children CEO Justin Forsyth said announcing the donation.
Save the Children will use their share of the money to vaccinate 250,000 children in northern Syria against the threat of a measles outbreak.
The charity says the disease has become a serious problem.
“Syria’s health system has collapsed and deadly childhood diseases – like measles – which had previously been all but eradicated have now returned, threatening the lives of hundreds of thousands of children,” Forsyth said.
Top Comments
Good on them. I hope this prompts other very rich people to give generously to their causes. A drop in the ocean for them.
I think this is wonderful, I wish that the companies such as Cadbury, Nestlé etc who pay the halal certification (which we as the consumer pay whenever we buy their product), would drop the halal certification, which is a massive rort, and instead donate that money instead to people like the Syrians who really need it.
I make this point because whoever I say howci am against the halal certification people criticise me and makecout I'm a bigot, but in fact I am more than happy to help the people in need whether they be Muslim or not but in the case of these Syrians I would imagine a lot would be Muslim, they are suffering and I personally have already donated some money to MSF, who is working in that area, but I get quite angry that companies like Cadbury instead of doing something good with their money like directly helping the Syrian refugees are contributing money towards a religion who in many cases oppresses these people. Also much of the halal certification is a rort anyway as is making the certifiers, the fat cats quite rich, whilst poor Muslims like the ones in Syria are suffering. The irony of it all is, is that chocolate is automatically halal permissible anyway as it has no meat in it, so it's just some fat cats trying to manipulate things to make money.
I have stopped buying Cadbury and Nestlé because of this, however if tomorrow they agreed to give up the halal certification and instead donated this money directly to Syrians in need then I would happily buy their products again.