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
Comments (1)
Hi, Kristen:
I'm just catching up on the Fieldnotes. Glad to hear you arrived safely in Sambava.
I don't know how I would handle seeing some of the things you describe. I think I might alternate between tears and fury in private, but I hope I would be able to keep a positive attitude while I was talking to and learning from the people I met. I believe in the possibility of change, and I admire your strength and dedication.
It is wonderful to hear about the outreach for Mother Child Health Week. I look forward to hearing how everything went!
Good wishes and stay safe.
Posted by mmberkeleyca | April 29, 2007 2:15 AM
Posted on April 29, 2007 02:15