The Weeknd
The singer donates one million US dollars to Ethiopia
The Weeknd wants to help the people of Ethiopia with meals.
© Christian Bertrand / Shutterstock.com
A bloody conflict is raging in the Ethiopian region of Tigray. The musician The Weeknd wants to help with a generous donation.
The Weeknd (31, “Blinding Lights”) was born in Toronto, Canada, but is of Ethiopian descent. In the north of his parents’ country of origin, a bloody conflict has been raging in the Tigray region for some time. To help the people there, the musician has now announced a generous donation – in the amount of one million US dollars.
In a post, which the 31-year-old music star uploaded to Instagram on Sunday morning (April 4), he explains that “innocent civilians” are “senselessly murdered”. In addition, “entire village populations out of fear and due to destruction” are forced to leave their houses behind. For this reason he will donate “one million US dollars so that two million meals can be provided with the aid of the United Nations World Food Program”. He also wants to “encourage people who can,” to do the same, The Weeknd wrote on.
The Grammy Award winner, whose real name is Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, added two photos of Ethiopian children to his post. His parents Makkonen and Samra Tesfaye both come from the East African country and immigrated to Canada before he was born. As a child, The Weeknd learned not only English but also Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia.
In 2020, The Weeknd donated around $ 1.8 million
As “Variety” writes, it is not the first time that the 31-year-old musician has shown himself to be extremely generous. In the past year alone, he donated around 1.8 million US dollars for humanitarian purposes – including the fight against Covid-19, the “Black Lives Matter” movement and to help the victims of the explosion in the Lebanese port city of Beirut.