Gandhi and Mandela influenced my life: Priyanka
OLLYWOOD and Bollywood superstar Priyanka Chopra told a media conference in Johannesburg on Sunday how Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi influenced her life, resulting in her becoming an ambassador for Unicef, which aims to fight child abuse and neglect.
“Not only because I share my birthday with Madiba, which I do show off about a little; but because of the man he was and what he stood for,” Chopra said.
“I feel both Madiba and the Mahatma somehow bring South Africa and India together and we’ll always be together because of that relationship,
“Both these great men stood for the rights of children and talked about how children were the foundation of our society, and our society can never get better if we ignore our children.
“Their learnings are always examples not just to me, but to the children of both our countries and to all of us.”
Chopra was ending a fleeting visit to Zimbabwe and South Africa as the UN agency’s Goodwill Ambassador at the first fund-raising
250 Bollywood Encounters banquet in Johannesburg of the South African chapter of the organisation, helping raise R600 000 for projects to counter child abuse run by Unicef.
Giving harrowing details of sexual abuse of children she had met during visits to Unicef projects in both countries, by people close to them supposed to be their guardians and protectors, Chopra called on the media to move away from trivial matters such as the clothes she was wearing, and rather focus on creating awareness of the projects assisting children in these situations.
“We do tend to get a little desensitised towards the future of the children who are the future of our countries.
“The biggest reason for this, my first trip outside of India as a Unicef Goodwill Ambassador, was because the statistics are staggering – one out of three children under 18 in Zimbabwe have faced some form of sexual violence, and in South Africa that number is one out of five,” Chopra said.
She urged people, though, not to concentrate on the statistics, but to rather think about what could be done as individuals to save children from this and to promote the activities of Unicef.
“Unfortunately, what people like to read is what I wore at the Gala, which is fine. As a public person that is also part of my life, but I really want people to follow my journey on social media, where I have posted so much in the past four days. Use me – I want to be used!” Chopra said.
Commenting on the role of cinema in promoting anti-child abuse activities, Chopra said there was no moral obligation on anyone in any arts medium to reflect this, because their artistic creativity should not be tampered with.
“Art is an expression of the person who creates it and a moral responsibility cannot be placed on us.
“But it is an individual responsibility, and if through art we can do that, that is also great,” she said.