Homeland star David Harewood has revealed his heartbreaking meeting with a Bangladeshi street kid whose entire family was wiped out by a monsoon.
The British actor, 56, choked back tears as he told how 11-year-old Hassan lost his father, two brothers and sister in a freak flood.
The youngster clung to a fishing net with his mother, Fatema, in the middle of the night before being plucked from the water.
Now Hassan is one of 1.52million children scraping a survival on the streets of the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka.
In an exclusive interview, Birmingham-born star David begged the British public to help solve the child poverty crisis.
David – who starred in BBC1’s The Night Manager and the hit Leonardo Di Caprio movie Blood Diamond – said: “It’s upsetting but also inspiring. With that smile of his you do leave with a sort of sense of hope.
“If he can smile through that and be hopeful through that, I can only but follow in his footsteps.
“They were woken in the middle of a storm, a torrential rainstorm that swept away his village.
“Throughout the night he lost his father and his two brothers and also his sister.
“They were rescued by a fisherman but they had lost all their village, all their friends, they lost everything.
“They boarded a ferry and went to Dhaka and they now live on the streets.”
David jetted more than 5,000 miles to Bangladesh to visit a UNICEF Emergency Hub ahead of this Sunday’s all-star Soccer Aid.
The centres provide children with a safe haven, two meals, toys and games to play with, psychosocial support, a non-formal education and a sheltered place to sleep at night.
Father-of-two David will line up in goal for England in the Soccer Aid fixture this Sunday at the London Stadium to help fund the services.
And In an exclusive interview, he said he didn’t get nervous despite the 70,000 crowd.
But he admitted that he was petrified about going head-to-head with Brazilian World Cup winning legend Cafu, 52, as he lines up for the World XI.
David, a Unicef ambassador who previously travelled to Sierra Leone, said: “I’m looking forward to getting back between the sticks - I didn’t play last year because I was injured.
“So I’m really looking forward to getting back on the pitch with some of these legends.
“I cannot describe what it’s like to be playing alongside some of your boyhood heroes.
“To be in the changing rooms with the likes of Jamie Carragher and John Terry, it’s amazing.
“It’s wonderful to be on the same pitch as these guys and see their skills, but it’s really the cause that makes it even more special.”
Former One Direction star Liam Payne will captain the England side featuring the likes of Mark Noble and Joe Cole.
Olympic legend Usain Bolt, Line of Duty star Martin Compston and singer-songwriter Chelcee Grimes all return for the World XI after playing in last year’s event.
Money raised from Soccer Aid will help Unicef provide vaccines, fight malnutrition, and provide safe spaces to protect children in times of crisis.
Donate now on the Soccer Aid website and every donation will be doubled up to £4 million thanks to The Power of Nutrition.
