The poverty-stricken streets of Africa were the backdrop for 19-year-old Super model Gemma Ward.

Gemma Ward spoke to an Australian Newspaper for the first time after a recent trip to Malawi brought her face to face with the crushing poverty that makes her life on the catwalks seem almost comical.

Several super models have lent their name (and faces) to important causes around the world, though a good many more have not taken advantage of their fame to help a charitable organization. It’s great to see that at such an early age, Ward already has that sense of giving back.

For Ward, going to Malawi was a life-changing experience.

Her career is white hot and planning to capitalize on that, the 19 yr. model has a goal of raising $500,000 in the next four years to fight poverty in Africa.

“One of the most touching experiences I had in Malawi was meeting a 17-year-old girl who lived with her 1-year-old son in a one-by-three-metre straw hut,” Ward said. “She left her husband from her first arranged marriage because she did not want to be one of his many wives.

“She told me she would never marry again. She had nothing to eat for dinner that night.”

They decided that after their trip they would raise money to build a community house, to help the Malawi locals.

“Visiting Malawi was one of the most inspiring and truly awesome experiences of my life,” Ward, an aspiring actor and former Shenton College student, said.

“The people of Malawi touched and moved me with their strength, grace and pride. I was moved by the gratitude they have even in the most dire of situations. One of the most important things I saw in Malawi was the difference between The Hunger Project and other organisations,” Ward said.

“THP really teaches the people how to change their mind-set from being resigned and saying,
“No, we can’t change our situation’, and relying on handouts, to the belief that with the community and a vision and empowerment, that they themselves can make a difference.”

Ward is planning a celebrity event and auction in New York, where she lives, early next year to raise money for the community center.

She said the auction would most likely include tickets to a rock concert with a supermodel escort, a cruise to the Antarctic and lessons from a celebrity golfer.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 at 3:50 pm and is filed under Hot Supermodels. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.