Roger Moore on a UNICEF mission to save children - visits Alberta to promote cause

11-Nov-2003 • Actor News

Roger Moore, perhaps best known for pitting himself against diabolical villains as the debonair 007, in real life battles a greater evil - extreme poverty and disease affecting millions of the world`s children.

Sir Rogeris in Alberta this week to promote the organization`s latest push - helping girls in underdeveloped countries have access to education.

"People say, `Is this an emergency?` Yes it is," the British film, television and stage actor said in an interview Wednesday.

"One hundred and twenty million children are denied access to primary education and 80 million of those are girls."

One of the biggest emergencies in the world, particularly in Africa, is the HIV-AIDS epidemic, he observed, then added that a girl who has an education is far less likely to be susceptible to the devastating illness.

"She is going to be able to read literature, she`s going to able to listen and understand what HIV-AIDS is. We`ve been to villages in Africa where there are no parents, just children and very old people."

Moore, 76, eloquent as the UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, is travelling with his wife, Kristina. The couple came directly to the frozen, dry Canadian prairie from hot and humid Cambodia where Moore advocated for salt iodization, and Vietnam, where they visited UNICEF projects for water and sanitation and childhood injury prevention.

Despite a gruelling travel schedule - they haven`t been home since he was knighted at Buckingham Palace on Oct. 9 - Sir Roger and Lady Moore remained gracious and friendly as a steady stream of reporters arrived for back-to-back interviews in a downtown Edmonton hotel.

Moore first became involved with the humanitarian agency in 1991 through his friend and neighbour, the late Audrey Hepburn, herself a passionate UNICEF supporter and former goodwill ambassador.
It has become his life`s work.

Moore will be guest speaker at UNICEF fundraising galas in both Edmonton and Calgary before going home to Monaco on Sunday. He plans to be in Los Angeles for a star-studded event Dec. 3 to commemorate 50 years of celebrity support for UNICEF.