Ronaldinho, the charismatic Brazilian renowned for his smile and his ability to score jaw-dropping goals, will use his global celebrity to help WFP in its fight against child hunger.
SPORTSPERSON
This World Cup winner with Brazil in 2002 helped his team Barcelona to win the Spanish title in the 2004/5 season. He will now be helping WFP draw attention to the plight of the 300 million hungry children around the world in his capacity as a WFP Ambassador Against Hunger.
“I grew up with children from very poor families, and I’ve seen the effect hunger can have,” said Ronaldinho. “I was lucky - soccer rescued my family from poverty. Now I want to help WFP rescue other kids who aren’t so fortunate.”
Ronaldinho, a hero of Brazil’s “favelas”, or shanty towns, whose father died when he was just eight, grew up in an impoverished quarter of Porto Alegre, in the south of the country.
WFP ACTIVITIES
In his new capacity as an Ambassador Against Hunger, Ronaldinho will first visit a school feeding project at a school with its own amateur soccer team in a shanty town on the outskirts of Bogota, Colombia, where WFP provides food aid to some 15,000 internally displaced people.
Columbia has between two and three million internally displaced people - many as a result of the ongoing conflicts between the government and illegal armed groups.
“I hope that as a kid from a poor family who has managed to fulfill his dream, I can inspire other children who are fighting to escape poverty and hunger,” said Ronaldinho.
“But more than this, I hope that the fame I enjoy will mean that I can draw attention to their plight.”
