MBC presenter’s mission to bring toys to needy Arab kids

posted on: May 8, 2015

When news presenter Mouna Elhaimoud visited Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, she was supposed to report on the economic impact of the Syrian war – but found it impossible to ignore the human plight she witnessed.

The Moroccan journalist returned to Dubai to file a report for the news channel CNBC Arabia, where she then worked, but could not forget the people she met at the camp.

It was the young children of Zaatari – now estimated by the U.N. Refugee Agency to number more than 34,000 – that made the biggest impression on her.

“I was surrounded by kids – all of them very little – and I could see that they were living in very bad conditions,” she said.

“But my job was to ask questions on numbers and the effect of that on the economy of Jordan… It was heartbreaking, because I was just a machine [asking] questions. I went back to Dubai, finished the report, and that was it. I felt really empty – how could I forget those kids?”

That was in April 2014. A year later, Elhaimoud has still not forgotten the children of Zaatari – but is now doing something positive about it.

The news presenter – who now works for MBC Group, of which Al Arabiya News is part – has started an initiative called Toys With Wings, which has one bold aim: To give a toy to every single needy Arab child in this region and beyond.

Source: english.alarabiya.net