Hepburn Gets Surprise $4,000 to Aid Somalis

When U.S. sailors and Marines heard that actress Audrey Hepburn was making a surprise visit to the Marine assault ship Tarawa off the Somali coast Monday, they decided to surprise her: In 90 minutes, they raised $4,000 for the hungry children of Somalia.

Hepburn, a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. Children’s Fund who is on a fact-finding mission to Somalia, burst into tears when Capt. Braden J. Phillips, commander of Amphibious Squadron One, presented her with the check, according to UNICEF officials.

“I came to Somalia determined not to cry,” she was quoted as saying in a speech to 1,000 sailors and Marines gathered on deck.

“Nobody should ever tell me again about compassion fatigue. . . . I am so touched by this gesture of compassion for the children of Somalia. You young Americans are giving from your hearts.”

Hepburn, who has been touring relief centers and hospitals, changed her schedule to go to the Tarawa. The ship had only 90 minutes’ warning of her arrival, UNICEF spokesman Ian MacLeod said.

The sailors and Marines cheered her speech and then besieged her, pushing forward pieces of paper to get her autograph.

Phillips said the sailors and Marines recognize “that UNICEF is probably working in the neediest place in the world, and because we’re here, too, it was a natural that we should make a contribution.”

The Tarawa is the flagship of a four-ship U.S. amphibious task force that is monitoring U.S. military aircraft flying 500 armed U.N. troops from Pakistan to Mogadishu to protect humanitarian relief shipments from looting.