World Humanitarian Day campaign inspires good deeds around the world

(New York, 20 August 2012): The World Humanitarian Day 2012 campaign that asked people to do something good for someone else on 19 August has seen thousands of people around the world highlighting their good deeds via social media.

The World Humanitarian Day campaign website, www.whd-iwashere.org, yesterday launched an interactive map where supporters are encouraged to place a pin on their location with a description of their action and promote it via social media to inspire others. The site also features the ‘I Was Here’ music video Beyoncé donated to the campaign, encouraging individuals to leave their mark.

“The response has been overwhelming with six pins being dropped every minute on the map. In the first 24-hours, more than 10,000 people had contributed. Pins have been dropped in every continent of the world,” said David Ohana, the campaign coordinator with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

People shared inspiring stories of teaching young people to read and write in Santa Rosa, the Philippines, contributing to a community project to plant trees in New York, and helping a 70-year-old lady that plants flowers across the street from one contributor’s in Boulder, Colorado, the United States.

Actions included simple deeds such as giving away a metro card, cleaning the neighborhood park, and helping the elderly: ‘I will take a lonely, elderly lady out for a walk and afternoon tea’ posted a lady in Somerset, United Kingdom.

One woman shared how she paid the grocery bills for five people in the supermarket line ‘Each time I was met with shock and disbelief and then extreme gratitude and hugs. I was amazed that people would be so blown away that someone would want to just help.’

Others committed to helping the humanitarian cause: ‘I want to take part in an NGO to help the people living in western China who suffer from hunger’ posted an man in Jiangsu, China, ‘We are doing what we can to support the victims of the food crisis in Yemen’ posted one woman in Sana, and ‘I will fix a solar panel to power a borehole pump’, wrote a man in Marsabit, Kenya.

World Humanitarian Day was officially celebrated yesterday on the 19 August, but the campaign organizers plan to build on the momentum created and the success of the campaign to date, which saw more than a billion messages of good will shared on the day.

For more information, please contact: Kirsten Mildren, WHD Spokesperson, mildren@un.org, +1 646 675 6398