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Lending A Hand

2009-09-16 02:15

 

Tonight, the UN General Assembly Hall rocks with hiphop music.

[Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, Creator/Co-writer "The 99"]:
"I think at the very least there is awareness now. There is, you know, over 2000 people more that know about the problem, who've been asked to do something about it."

[Dr. Samina Ahmad, Founder of SSGWI]:
"They have no homes, they have no shelter, no food. And it's so important to keep talking about their cause they are 3 million people. Out of that, 72.000 women were pregnant."

SSGWI is the host for this fundraising concert for Pakistan. It's a New York based NGO, founded by Salman Ahmad, a musician and also a UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador.

[Dr. Samina Ahmad, Founder of SSGWI]:
"Everybody came there with a good heart and with feelings to help make a change for the internally displaced people in Pakistan." 

Among the supporters are Sting and Deepak Chopra, who send a message through a video conference call. 

[Dr. Samina Ahmad, Founder of SSGWI] ;
"This concert was more than a human effort. The help came from God and from wonderful people. The Pakistani American population living here, they came forward, and then wonderful people flying in from like... the groups which performed, the participants, the speakers, they all created the magic.  And I would say it was more than successful because it resonated with the cause so much." 

[Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, Creator / Co-writer "The 99" Comic Book]:
"I have little children. I am worried about their future so it's a very human issue for me."

[Adnan Sabih, Audience]:
"Personally, it was very moving to see such a wide variety of celebrities, you know, all here in a unity event to support the cause of the Swat Valley in Pakistan."   

[Dr. Riffadulmuntaha, Audience]:
"I will request my doctor friends, and we all together will make, although a little, but maybe a valuable contribution."

A movie director and producer, Jeff Skoll, makes the first move.

[Adnan Sabih, Audience]:
"My take away from this is to basically, you know, I am going to let my friends know about it, let my colleagues know about this and just try to do whatever I can, by either word of mouth or whatever donations I can make myself, and that's what everyone can do. If everyone chips in, everyone puts in some degree of effort into this or in any cause, we can definitely make an impact."

Henny Chen, NTD, New York