Fieldnotes: Blogging on UNICEF's child survival work in the field

Kristen Mangelinkx from UNICEF's Boston office is blogging on her trip to Madagascar. This is her third post.

The launch of Mother Child Health Week in Sambava was quite the event! Hundreds of people from this small community came to the health center to be a part of the celebration. Mothers came with their babies to receive free vitamin A doses, de-worming medication, and vaccinations. We were in the middle of all of this and were welcomed so warmly--there was even singing and dancing in our honor!

We visited two other villages a couple of hours away who were also celebrating the launch despite their health centers being ruined by the recent cyclones. The well in one of the villages had broken that day--a very serious situation as it is the only source of clean water for them. A technician was there to fix it and a UNICEF staff person was going to return the following morning to ensure that it had been fixed.

I'm not able to upload any photos from the launch until I return to Antananarivo. I will try to post them on the blog then. In the meantime, please feel free to ask me questions about our visits!

KM

On Wednesday night, American Idol devoted two hours of primetime programming, corporate sponsorship, celebrity support and the largest audience in television to raise funds for children affected by poverty in the U.S. and Africa.

On behalf UNICEF, we offer our gratitude for the privilege of being one of nine esteemed organizations to benefit from the Idol Gives Back event. As a result of this generosity, UNICEF will be able to purchase vaccines, provide clean water, distribute antimalarial bednets, and administer medicines to continue saving the lives of children in Africa.

In addition to the much needed financial support generated by Idol Gives Back, there is another very important outcome of the broadcast.

At a time when nearly 30,000 children die each day from preventable causes, Idol Gives Back succeeded in bringing the needs of the some of the world’s least visible children to the center stage of America. For 120 minutes, viewers were able to learn about issues that threaten to destroy childhood for hundreds of millions in the United States, and worldwide.

Idol Gives Back brought Americans closer to each other, and the world that night, as we watched children share their life stories with Simon, Ryan, Paula and Randy. Whether the child was struggling to survive on the streets of L.A. or trying to overcome the agony of AIDS in Kenya, it was understood that children are the same no matter where they live.

Music, images, and the words of children proved to be a powerful truth that motivated people to contribute more than $30 million dollars in two hours. At UNICEF, our truth is that children deserve protection, education, health and dignity regardless of geography, race, religion or politics.

On behalf of the world’s children, we’d like to give a standing ovation to Idol Gives Back, CPEF, FOX, News Corporation, the corporate sponsors, performers, contestants, and viewers who made the evening a resounding success. Your participation is a sign that America is willing to stand with us and make sure that all children survive and thrive.

Kristen Mangelinkx from UNICEF's Boston office is blogging on her trip to Madagascar. This is her post from Sunday, April 22.

We flew north to Sambava this morning. Located in the Sava region, known as the vanilla capitol of the country (a main export of Madagascar), Sambava is a beach town on the Indian Ocean with almost no tourism.

We met with UNICEF staff as well as representatives from Madagascar's Ministry of Health, who, together, have planned this week's launch of Mother Child Health Week. Throughout the week, UNICEF and its partners--with the help of community volunteers--will reach 95% of mothers and children under 5 years old in the country with basic health services. We are all so excited to be here for this impressive outreach effort.

Informally, we talked with UNICEF staff a lot today about another issue in the country: the rise of sex tourism and its effect on children here. We were horrified to see this ourselves today--what we are told is a common sight--young Malagasy girls with much older Western men. We spoke with UNICEF staff at length about their efforts to work with the government on implementing laws to combat this.

We are getting up early tomorrow to attend the launch, so I am off to bed!

KM

Kristen Mangelinkx from UNICEF's Boston office is blogging on her trip to Madagascar. But internet connections are not always available in the field -- we've just received her post from Saturday, April 21. More to follow.

We arrived in Madagascar’s bustling capitol city of Antananarivo (or Tana as it is often referred to) yesterday afternoon. It is Saturday afternoon and everywhere we go people seem to be working: making bricks, building, working in the rice fields, washing laundry in the river, or selling products in the markets. There are children everywhere and nearly every woman we see is carrying a baby; evidence to support the fact that over 50 percent of the population is under the age of 18. We have not left the city yet and already the poverty is visible and overwhelming.

We leave tomorrow morning for the Sava region to attend the launch of mother child health week. I’m not sure what kind of access I will have to the internet, but will try to write.

KM

Malaria infects hundreds of millions each year and kills one child every 30 seconds in Africa alone. But solutions exist: an insecticide-treated bednet costs only $6. Please watch this video and let us know how you are marking Africa Malaria Day.

UNICEF Ambassador Mia Farrow will sit down with the ladies of ABC’s The View tomorrow morning at 11:00 am EST. She'll be discussing the humanitarian situation Darfur and how the crisis there has spilled over to Sudan’s neighbors, Chad and Central African Republic. As is always on The View, the discussion is sure to be lively!

Having made multiple visits to the region, Mia has become an outspoken advocate on the issue of Darfur. She has written opinion pieces in newspapers nationwide and has visited many college campuses to rally for support. Just last week, Mia gave testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee about what she witnessed during her visits.

Learn more about the situation in Darfur by reading Mia's blog entries from her recent trip and consider donating now to support UNICEF's emergency relief efforts in Sudan.

Tonight the six remaining American Idol finalists will sing songs about compassion and hope. After the show, we will be able to vote for our favorite contestants via toll-free numbers and text messages, as usual.

For this special Idol Gives Back episode, we will also help change the lives of children around the world. American Idol sponsors Coca-Cola, AT&T, and other partners will make a donation for each vote cast to children in need here in the U.S. and in Africa. UNICEF will receive some of these funds.

On Wednesday, April 25, the special two-hour results show will be a star-studded evening featuring world-renowned artists and celebrities—including Gwen Stefani, Josh Groban, Pink, Michael Bublé, Annie Lennox, Il Divo and popular Kazakhstan journalist Borat Sagdiyev (Sacha Baron Cohen) among many others.

Yesterday was the final day of Clay Aiken's ten day appeal for Afghanistan.

Congratulations! We raised $181,783.03 for the kids of Afghanistan during this ten day campaign. That's $80,000+ more than the original goal we set for this campaign!

This total includes all online gifts made online in the U.S. and Canada. We're expecting some checks to come in through the mail and will post a final total next week.

We appreciate your generous support of this appeal. Hundreds of you posted this appeal on your web sites, blogs and boards and forwarded the campaign to your friends.

My colleagues and I will continue to keep you posted on UNICEF's work in Afghanistan and around the world. We'll show you how your gifts are being put to work in the field.

We started working on Clay Aiken's field report yesterday afternoon. I thought you might like to see the cover we're working on.

We're sorting through the pictures and they're great. I'm looking forward to hearing more about the trip to Afghanistan my UNICEF colleagues when they get back to the office next week.

We will e-mail a PDF copy of the field report to all donors who give $50 or more to Clay's Afghanistan appeal. We'll mail a printed copy of the Field Report, autographed by Clay Aiken, to all donors who are able to give $1,000 or more.

Today is Day 8 of the campaign for Afghanistan and we've already far surpassed the goal. Clay Aiken asked us to share his thanks with you.

Also, Clay is scheduled to appear tonight on Entertainment Tonight. Tune in to hear Clay's thoughts on his trip with UNICEF.

Please subscribe to our channel on Yahoo! Videos to see future videos from the field and from our UNICEF Ambassadors.

Kristen Mangelinkx from UNICEF's Boston office will be blogging on her trip to Madagascar. Here's her first post. Please feel free to ask her questions about her trip and wish her well.

Hello, my name is Kristen Mangelinkx and I work in the Boston office of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. I am traveling to Madagascar this week to see UNICEF's work in the field.

It will be a very different trip than we had first anticipated. The country, where 68% of the population lives in poverty, has recently been hit by severe cyclones. The storms have destroyed crops and homes in the northern part of the country, resulting in a dangerous situation for children. We will be traveling to these areas and I will try to post updates when we have access to the internet.

Right now I am preparing for my long flight and just picked up Alison Jolly's book about Madagascar: Lords and Lemurs: Mad Scientists, Kings with Spears, and the Survival of Diversity in Madagascar.

I will write more when I arrive in Antananarivo, Madagascar's capitol. For now I need to keep packing...

KM

Our new total is $161,798.82 as of 9 a.m. this morning. This total, in US Dollars, now reflects the donations made in the U.S. and in Canada.

Speaking of Canada, I had a conference call with my colleagues from UNICEF Canada this morning. They heard from UNICEF Canada Ambassador Ben Mulroney, host of Canadian Idol, and asked me to pass along this message:

"We were excited to see Clay’s Canadian fans join this campaign with such enthusiasm and generosity," said Ben Mulroney. "Thank you so much to Clay and all his fans for your support!"

Here's our afternoon update. As of an hour ago (1:34 p.m.), we've raised $150,802.31 for UNICEF's work in Afghanistan. Thank you!

Today's Day 7 and we're already more than $50,000 ahead of the goal. Three more days to go . . .

We've heard from hundreds of you today. Thanks for your comments here on Fieldnotes, your emails, posts on your own sites, and of course your donations. Again, congratulations on exceeding the $100,000 goal.

Want to know what the new total for Clay Aiken's Appeal for the Children of Afghanistan? As of 5:15 p.m. tonight, we're at: $145,902.31 here in the US. We'll post a total from Canada soon too.

LC made a comment this afternoon that stood out to us: "I trust Clay & UNICEF to follow up with us on exactly how the funds are being put to good use." Over the coming weeks and months, we will use the Fieldnotes blog and our eNewsletter to update you on UNICEF's work in Afghanistan.

Tents and hand pumps are two key products UNICEF provides in Afghanistan. We wanted to give you an inside look at how your donations can be put to work helping children in Afghanistan.

• Large tents are used for temporary classrooms and community programs. Each tent costs $700.

• Hand pumps bring clean water to families in Afghanistan. My colleagues in the field in Afghanistan tell us that only 23% of people living in Afghanistan have access to clean water. The Mark II hand pumps UNICEF is providing in Afghanistan, like the one in the picture above, cost about $206.29 each.

Look at it this way: If this campaign raises $200,000, UNICEF could provide 333 tents or 970 water pumps. What a powerful way to make a difference in the lives of thousands of kids in Afghanistan. If you haven't made a donation to Clay's campaign yet, I hope you'll consider helping UNICEF provide clean water and education to children.

Photo: UNICEF/AFGA00001P/ROGER LEMOYNE

Hello, we have some big news and a big number to share this morning. Together we've raised $139,778.60 (as of 11:04 a.m. this morning) for Clay Aiken's 10 Day Challenge for the Children of Afghanistan. Congratulations and thank you for your amazing support of this program!

Clay Aiken's Fieldnotes post from Monday told us about the great need he saw first-hand in Afghanistan. Schools are struggling to provide school supplies to every boy and girl who wants to learn. Your gifts will make a tremendous difference in the lives of these kids.

Today is Day 7 of the challenge. We've got three more days left and we've already exceeded Clay's $100,000 goal. How much more do you think we can raise for the children of Afghanistan in three more days? Post a comment and let us know.

I'll be back with another post tonight to update you on how much we've raised today. If you haven't made a donation to Clay's campaign yet, I hope you'll consider making a donation to help UNICEF provide clean water and education to children in Afghanistan.

Also, I've received some emails from people in Canada asking how they can join in. If you are in Canada and would like to make a gift in support of this campaign, please click here.

Finally, please consider signing up for our eNewsletters if you haven't yet. Our emails are one of the best ways we share the news of UNICEF's work for the world's children.

UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken wrote this blog post for Fieldnotes, reflecting on his visit to UNICEF field sites in Afghanistan.

It's not that fun being wrong.

Fortunately for me, I don't have to do it very often! HA HA!

Okay... I'm kidding. I spend plenty of my time on the side of inaccuracy. But, few of my misdirections or misconceptions could possibly compare to how far off of the mark I was in my assumptions about my trip to Afghanistan.

I doubt it would come as a surprise that my mother was none too thrilled when I told her I would be traveling with UNICEF to a country that many consider to be one of the most dangerous in the world for Americans. My brother had just returned from his second tour as a U.S. Marine in Iraq when I let my mother know, so her blood pressure probably stayed high even after my return. I wasn't so at ease about it myself. Hostage takings, suicide bombings, and insurgent attacks are all seemingly daily occurrences in many parts of the country. At least that's what we see on TV and read in papers and magazines.

I couldn't have been more wrong about Afghanistan. And I couldn't have been farther off target about the Afghan people. With the exception of maybe my grandparent's house, I have never felt more welcomed. The Afghan people are some of the most gracious and inviting people on Earth.

After centuries of having their land filled with travelers and explorers, I guess they have hospitality down to an instinctive science. Everywhere we traveled we were greeted with warmth and welcome. Even on the streets of Kabul and the rugged hills of Bamyan. But nowhere as gracious as the schools and UNICEF programs that we visited. Despite the most meager accommodations, we were always invited in and shown every simple resource with the utmost of pride.

And, why shouldn't they be proud. Until a few years ago, most of these students were forbidden by the Taliban regime from going to school. And now?.... Now over 6 million children are piling into broken down buildings and UNICEF tents everyday to catch up on the lessons that they have missed out on for years. That's if they are lucky. Many, if not most, haven't even the luxury of a tent. Just a dusty ground outside in one of the world's most beautifully scenic landscapes. And still, they come to class. Many walk for miles; for hours.

With frankness I'll tell you, there is little to show off at these schools. The schools I visited had such limited resources that most made the average American 3 year-old's bedroom look like a learning lab. I can remember my own collection of books as a 2nd grader, and it looked liked the Library of Congress compared to the school library I saw at a school for over 2000 students. (And, I doubt I ever read half of them.)

Yet, the hunger and desire to read and to learn is so strong that, despite no enforced laws making schools compulsory in Afghanistan, children are clamoring to go to schools.

As I saw on my trip, UNICEF is there. UNICEF is providing tents so children can study away from the elements. UNICEF is struggling to provide school supplies to every young boy and girl in Afghanistan who wants to learn. UNICEF is providing literacy courses for women who have been forbidden far too long from a right of education that so many of us take for granted. But there is so much more that needs to be done.

Afghanistan is so far from the "lost cause" that I had expected to find in the rugged hills of south Asia. It is, I believe, one of the world's countries with the most potential. The people are perhaps it's most valuable natural resource. They are determined to break through the years of oppression they have endured. They are sponges for knowledge, and poised for success.

Winter is over in Afghanistan. It's time to get ready for amazing growth in Afghanistan's spring.
The people... make that the COUNTRY of Afghanistan showed me and my fellow travelers such AMAZING hospitality despite meager means.

As a people of substantially more means... we can help UNICEF return the favor.

Photos of Clay Aiken's trip to UNICEF field locations are continuing to come in to our office. We've just posted three additional photos to our Flickr site.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF's work in Afghanistan and support Clay's appeal.

We’re celebrating National Volunteer Week this week and thanking our volunteers for helping to save the world’s most vulnerable children. Your commitment helps UNICEF continue its important work.

We’re recognizing 15 outstanding and inspirational individuals and groups who have dedicated themselves to UNICEF’s work by honoring them with the President’s Volunteer Service Award. We have also posted new volunteer resources and tools in the Online Volunteer Center including a self-guided training, updated toolkits, and more.

If you are a registered volunteer, we encourage you to review the resources and give us your feedback. Thank you for making UNICEF and the world’s children a priority in your life and your community.

And if you haven’t registered as a volunteer yet, we hope you'll take a few minutes to register today.

Working together through UNICEF we have saved the lives of more children than any other humanitarian organization in the world. Whether we’re at the scene of a humanitarian disaster or on the ground fighting disease in a developing country, UNICEF is protecting children’s rights, helping meet their basic needs and expanding their opportunities to reach their full potential. In addition to UNICEF staff providing lifesaving programs to those who need it most or raising funds, you -- our vast network of volunteers and supporters -- are working together to increase awareness of global issues of child survival and to raise funds for UNICEF. So to truly describe all of UNICEF, we must acknowledge the work of our volunteers who support UNICEF right here at home.

Please post a comment here to share your ideas with us about how volunteerism is an important part of UNICEF’s mission to save children’s lives.

Kristi Burnham, Rachael Swanson, and Devi Vat-Ho
Volunteer and Community Partnerships

We've posted two new photos on Flickr. The photos really do help tell the story. Please post them on your site to share the news of Clay's trip. As more photos from the trip come in, we'll share more photos here on Fieldnotes and over at Flickr.

Thanks again for your support of this program.

GOAL UPDATE: As of now (4:41 p.m.), Clay fans have helped UNICEF raise $69,638 for this program. Amazing, right? On behalf of the children of Afghanistan and my UNICEF colleagues, thanks for your amazing response to this program.

We also wanted to let you know that Clay will be blogging from our Fieldnotes blog next week, sharing more details of his trip. Thanks for your interest in UNICEF's lifesaving work for kids!

Thank you, Clay Fans!

What an excellent Friday! It is only 3 p.m. on Day 2 of Clay Aiken's $100,000 Challenge for Afghanistan. We're thrilled to tell you that we've already raised $59,635. That's more than half of our original goal . . . and we've got 8 more days to go.

This money will be used to help kids in Afghanistan. UNICEF will provide medical supplies, text books and meet other urgent needs.

Thanks to so many of you for forwarding Clay's appeal to fund UNICEF's work in Afghanistan to your friends and posting it on your blog.

We also wanted to update you on the field report Clay and UNICEF will provide to donors who reply to this appeal. If you contribute $50 or more by April 22nd, UNICEF will e-mail you a link to a PDF file of Clay's exclusive field report by May 15. The report will photos from Clay's trip that won't appear anywhere else. For those who able to donate $1,000 or more, UNICEF will mail an autographed copy of the report. All donations made through the email link, the Clay's Appeal link on the homepage of UNICEFusa.org, and the link on Clay's offical site will be eligible to receive the field report. Even if you made the donation before you got the email, we'll still send you the report.

Have you posted Clay's Afghanistan challenge on your blog, site, MySpace page? Please let us know what you're doing for this program by posting a comment here.

So we've already raised $59.635. How much do you think we can raise in 8 more days to help the kids of Afghanistan?

Yesterday Fieldnotes reader Sheila asked if we could give advance notice when UNICEF is going to be featured on TV. We do our best, but sometimes we’re also taken by surprise!

Last night during American Idol there was a great clip of Simon Cowell in Kenya, featuring UNICEF’s school in a box education kit. UNICEF’s school in the box is an innovative way to ensure that kids receive an education no matter what circumstances they face. The kit is essentially a portable school that can teach 80 kids, for only $183. Simon Cowell, who has a reputation for being overly harsh, revealed a softer side while he was with those children in Kenya talking about education.

Simon and Ryan’s trip to Africa is part of the Idol Gives Back effort. On April 24 and 25, American Idol will help raise funds to avert poverty in the U.S. and Africa.

My favorite part last night’s show was after the clip. Ryan asked Simon if he would sing if Idol Gives Back raises $20 million – Simon said no, Ryan said, how about $22 million? Still a firm “no” from Simon. I agree with Simon, let’s set our sights higher. My challenge is, will Simon sing for $50 million? I think $50 million is totally achievable, and if we come together and make a difference.

Here’s how it works: for each vote sent on April 24th, a donation will be made to fight poverty, and on April 25th viewers can phone in their donations directly. American Idol has 35 million viewers, and to reach $50 million, that’s just $1.42 per viewer. That’s half the price of a gallon of gas these days!

Let’s come together to help children in need, and finally hear what Simon’s pipes are like! Actually, let’s take the heat off of Simon and ask the all of the judges sing together for $50 million, it can be their turn to be on stage. More importantly, this is our chance to do our part to see that children can have a brighter future, for just $1.42.

If you want to hear Simon, Randy and Paula sing for $50 million, please e-mail idolgivesback@fox.com. Post a comment here to let us know what you thought about last night's show.

Tune into “World News with Charles Gibson” on ABC tonight to get an unfiltered glimpse of being done to reduce child mortality in some of Africa’s most impoverished countries.

Bill Weir is reporting from Zambia--where health indicators are at critical levels, with under-five mortality estimated at 182 deaths per 1,000 live births.

Zambia is one of 25 sub-Saharan countries where UNICEF has rolled out its Accelerated Child Survival and Development (ACSD) initiative. ACSD is an integrated program that works with national governments to deliver low-cost, high-impact interventions that dramatically improve child survival over a short period of time.

An excerpt of Weir’s report will air on the “World News” webcast at 3 p.m. (EST) today at http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/.

This evening at 9:00 PM (EST) UNICEF Ambassador Mia Farrow will appear on Fox News Channel's Hannity and Colmes. Host Alan Colmes interviews Ms. Farrow on the Darfur crisis. Please check your local listings for additional information.

Learn more about the situation in Darfur by reading Mia's blog entries from her recent trip. Donate now to help support UNICEF's emergency relief efforts in Sudan.

Today, April 4, is the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action and I'm writing to my Senators to ask them to support S. 594, the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act of 2007. I hope you will use our online Action Center to do the same.

A class in session to educate children about the dangers of unexploded munitions in southern Lebanon. Video: UNICEF correspondent Kun Li reports on UNICEF-supported mine safety education for children in southern Lebanon. Low | High

Cluster bombs are canisters containing numerous small explosive devices (sub-munitions, bomblets or bombies) that open in mid-air, scattering them over a wide area. The bomblets may be delivered by aircraft, rocket, or by artillery projectiles. They come in a variety of colours and shapes. Cluster munitions have a wide dispersal pattern on the ground resulting in an area of impact or ‘footprint’. Their use in areas with high concentrations of civilians has often resulted in large numbers of civilian injuries or deaths. On impact, the bomblets spread out up to a half mile radius before detonating. These deadly bombs are intended for use in combat zones—but in practice, they also pose a real threat to the safety of civilians in post-conflict situations when the bomblets fail to detonate.

Duds become de facto landmines, capable of exploding much later when touched by a child. What's worse, the bomblets come in interesting shapes that attract children's curiosity. Some cluster munitions look like tiny bottles with short ribbons; some are yellow with tissue parachutes; some look like little gray tennis balls; some are small canisters with a white ribbon attached. All are deadly for children.

Please take action on this today. It's a meaningful way to mark Mine Awareness Day.

Today is April 1. Here at UNICEF, that means preparations for our annual Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF program are kicking into high gear

While we’re busy working with donors to find ways to send millions of dollars to children in need around the world, The New Yorker decided to make a joke of our Trick-or-Treat program. I’m sure some of you have read the piece by Simon Rich, a former president of the Harvard Lampoon. His Shouts & Murmurs satire is a play about his third grade perception of UNICEF. To be honest, it’s really not a flattering image of UNICEF.

Rich’s satire portrays UNICEF as a ‘greedy’ ‘evil king of Halloween.’ And there’s more… he suggests that kids are better off keeping the money they collect trick-or-treating for UNICEF… and claims UNICEF funds “the Russians so they could build a bomb.” Oh, come on!

Don’t get me wrong. My UNICEF colleagues around the world and I have a sense of humor, especially on April Fool’s Day. Calling UNICEF the ‘evil king of Halloween’ made a few of us smirk, just a little. But, when a writer in such a well-respected publication implies that UNICEF doesn’t use its donor’s money efficiently, I need to take a stand.

The U.S. Fund for UNICEF has received the highest rating from charity navigator and BBB wise giving; two of the toughest charity watchdogs around.

Now, speaking of third graders, I bet Mr. Rich doesn’t know that last week, UNICEF announced that six million kids are going back to school in Afghanistan! This is possible because of UNICEF and our friends and donors and Trick-or-Treaters. UNICEF sent funds and supplies to build schools, train teachers, and provide school supplies to eager kids who dream about gong to school and getting an education.

I’d like to introduce the New Yorker to a third grader in Afghanistan – in school for the first time because of UNICEF’s work. I’m confident that if we ask for her image of UNICEF, we’d hear a very different answer.

- Christine Squires