Iman Rallies Supermodels to Bring Attention to the Famine in Somalia
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When Iman calls, you pick up the phone. So when the supermodel decided to wrangle some of the runway’s finest to raise awareness about the ongoing drought and famine crisis in Somalia, models like Lily Aldridge, Coco Rocha, Hilary Rhoda and Christy Turlington Burns jumped at the chance to help.
“Who’s going to say no?” Rocha tells PEOPLE. “Once a fellow model asks if you can help with something, you know in the long run it’s going to come around — that we’re all going to need each other’s support for something.”
Together, the women joined forces to promote the Modelinia Beautiful Friends Forever (BFF) bracelet by nOir Jewelry, a piece co-designed by Iman and the sales of which benefit Save the Children; in turn, the funds raised will aid children plagued by malnourishment in Somalia.
“The United Nations declared that this is the worst [drought] in 60 years in that region,” Iman, a Somali native, tells PEOPLE. “Children have been carrying children for hundreds of miles just to get to feeding centers.” Already, more than 50,000 children have perished there due to lack of food, she says. “Mothers have had to make the choice … leaving children who are very malnourished behind to die and saving the others to take them to feeding centers,” she continues. “It’s something that should never be faced by any mother anywhere in the world.”
