Black Eyed Peas and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon aid UN tsunami relief

Following in the footsteps of football players from the United States and an Australian rugby star, will.i.am of the famed US hip-hop group Black Eyed Peas and Malaysian movie star Michelle Yeoh have become the latest celebrities to aid the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in its emergency tsunami relief operations.

The two, along with Nori Abdullah, daughter of the Prime Minister of Malaysia, and Malaysia’s Special Envoy for Tsunami Relief Razali Ismail, made a one-day visit to Aceh, Indonesia, the area worst hit by December’s tsunami for the Force of Nature Foundation (FON), a Malaysia-based non-profit relief organization.

The delegation took part in a WFP distribution of fortified biscuits at Tanjung Selamat Primary School in the provincial capital Banda Aceh, where 200 children, some of them tsunami orphans, performed a traditional Acehnese dance and sang a song about the tragedy in an area where virtually every family lost relatives in the disaster that killed more than 200,000 people in a dozen Indian Ocean countries.

“I am a Force of Nature,” shouted the schoolchildren after musical coaching by Ms. Yeoh, star of the acclaimed film “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” and will.i.am. The children also sang the Indonesian version of “Happy Birthday” to will.i.am, who turned 30 yesterday.

“We are happy with the visit of public figures who can bring worldwide attention to the overwhelming needs of this region,” WFP Country Director Mohamed Saleheen said. “As they see for themselves the scale of the devastation, they will be able to help us to spread this message to the world.”

Last month former Australian rugby captain Nick Farr-Jones and New York Giants quarterback Kurt Warner and wide receiver Amani Toomer visited Aceh.