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

In Afghanistan, insecurity and violence continue to impede recovery from decades of war and limit progress for all the country’s 25 million people—particularly its children and women.

© UNICEF/HQ07-1080/Shehzad Noorani
A health worker vaccinates a child at Torkham, a town on the Pakistani border. He is part of a mobile team immunizing children as they leave or enter the country. Wild poliovirus is known to still circulate on both sides of the border. The boy is held by his father, who also pulls a cart carrying his three daughters. Nearby, other people carry goods and belongings along the Kabul-Torkham Highway, one of the country’s main roads, linking the port of Karachi in Pakistan to the Afghan capital, Kabul.

© UNICEF/HQ07-1091/Shehzad Noorani
(Left-right) Two girls operate a UNICEF-provided handpump, while several of their classmates wash their hands at Phool-e-Rangeena Government School in the north-western city of Herat.

© UNICEF/HQ07-1086/Noorani
Girls raise their hands in a tent classroom at Phool-e-Rangeena Government School in the north-western city of Herat. Like many schools throughout the country, the facility has been overwhelmed with children returning to classrooms after years of conflict. Some 7,000 children attend class in three daily shifts. Aside from the main building, there are 30 tents on the school’s grounds, donated by the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The hot, harsh, windy climate has damaged many of the tents. UNICEF supports the school with water points, latrines, teacher training and school supplies.

© UNICEF/HQ07-1241/Rich
A girl who is not wearing a scarf covers her face with her hands in a gesture of modesty, in a classroom with other girls at Qalai Sayedan Girls’ School in Qalai Sayedan Village in the central Logar Province. At least three girls have been killed in four separate attacks on the school by anti-government forces.

© UNICEF/HQ07-1246/Sebastian Rich
Rahmatuallah, 14, sits holding his crutches at a UNICEF-assisted reintegration and rehabilitation center for war-affected children in the southern city of Kandahar. Rahmatuallah’s father was killed in the war, and the rest of his family, including his mother and six siblings, were forced to flee their village. Rahmatuallah lost his leg in a landmine explosion last year and is waiting to be outfitted for a new prosthetic. He comes to the center every day on the back of his brother’s bicycle. “I love coming to the center,” he said. “With my new leg and skills, I will be useful again and will be able to help my family.”

© UNICEF/HQ07-1082/Noorani
Noor Ahmad, 15, uses a hand saw to cut a piece of wood while his teacher supervises, during a carpentry workshop at a UNICEF-assisted reintegration and rehabilitation center for war-affected children in the Sara Jama neighbourhood of the southern city of Kandahar. Another boy (left) shaves wood. Noor has never been to school due to poverty and constant conflict around him. He remains traumatized by the death of a cousin, killed in an explosion. And his brother lost a leg in a landmine accident. Some 3,000 children, including former child soldiers, attend such centers, where they learn vocational skills and receive psychosocial counseling.

	Martin Rendón Vice President, Public Policy and Advocacy

Both the House of Representatives and the Senate passed their versions of the State, Foreign Operations appropriations legislation, which includes funding for the U.S. Government’s voluntary contribution for UNICEF. The Senate bill would provide $129 million for UNICEF in Fiscal Year 2008—not quite the $130 million that we (and you!) asked for, but a significant increase from this year’s contribution.

The next step in the legislative process is for House and Senate members to meet in conference, to iron out differences in the two versions. WE NEED YOUR HELP to keep the higher Senate number for UNICEF! Please contact your Members of Congress at unicefusa.org/uniceffunding and urge them to support $129 million for UNICEF in the 2008 appropriations bill!

	© UNICEF/ HQ06-1149
	A poster in Arabic, part of a UNICEF public awareness campaign, provides information to displaced and refugee families about the dangers of unexploded ordnance.

The Senate State, Foreign Operations bill also included other provisions that are important to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. For example, there is a section that for the first time would restrict the sale or transfer of cluster bombs that have a failure rate greater than one percent or less, as well as ensure that any U.S.-made cluster bombs would be used only against clearly defined military targets, and not where civilians are known to be present. As we noted in our advocacy alert on this topic (see http://www.unicefusa.org/clustermunitions), unexploded cluster munitions pose unacceptable risks to children, and this provision takes a step toward protecting children from these dangerous weapons.

In a bold move, the Senate appropriations bill also proposes a substantial increase in funding for bilateral programs focused on child survival and maternal health—like immunizations, medicines to fight diarrhea and pneumonia, and basic health services for pregnant mothers. The Senate legislation would provide $476 million next year for child and maternal health, an increase of 33 percent over current funding for those programs.

As UNICEF’s recent announcement on progress in cutting child mortality rates shows, we know what it takes to save children’s lives—but now is not the time to rest on our laurels. Rather, now is the time for resolve to maintain progress in reducing child mortality rates—and to accelerate efforts in Sub-Saharan Africa, where progress remains minimal. The U.S. Fund for UNICEF applauds the Senate for its commitment to child survival.

Click here to send a letter to your Members of Congress supporting $129 million for UNICEF in 2008.

An editorial in today's Houston Chronicle shared the good news:

The United Nations Children's Fund reports that for the first time since record-keeping began, in 1960, global child deaths have reached a record low, falling below 10 million per year to 9.7 million, down from almost 13 million in 1990. While too many children still die before their fifth birthday, usually from easily preventable causes, this milestone illustrates how much can be accomplished in a comparatively short time and bodes well for greater gains in the future.

Thanks to all who helped us reach this milestone -- and all who are working to help us reach the next. Please use the comments to tell us how you're doing it.

That’s right YOU are a yellow star! Thank you everyone who has helped the US Fund for UNICEF over our first eBay hurdle – positive feedback. After receiving our tenth positive feedback this week we were awarded a gold star. Vaulted over the initial temporary eBay status and on or way to many more colored stars.

I encourage everyone to set up an eBay account and start selling before the end of September. eBay is waiving all insertion fees for the month of September, making it a great month to begin eBaying for UNICEF.

The UNICEF store has added a few more auction items that I encourage you to look at. Happy Bidding…

Hi from Jessica! Today, our last day in Chiriqui, Panama, we set out to visit a UNICEF-assisted health center. On the way, we had a special opportunity to visit the home of Omyra, a member of the indigenous Ngobe community, and a mother of three beautfiul children.

© U.S. Fund for UNICEF

Jessica Dolan of the Chicago office makes some new friends.

Omyra is just nineteen years old, has been married for five years, and is eight months pregnant with her fourth child. She has big dreams for all her children: she wants them to go far in school and get education, which means providing them with the health care they need to get the best start in life. So she regularly journeys thirty minutes on foot up a steep, rocky, and muddy mountain road to the nearest health center. Riding along the road in our SUVs was tough, so I can only imagine how hard it must be to make this walk, and how dedicated Omyra is to ensuring her children's health.

© U.S. Fund for UNICEF

Two of Omyra´s children in their home.

© U.S. Fund for UNICEF

Two women pump clean water near the community center's food preparation area.

At the the health center we visited, Omyra, and others like her, recieve immunizations, prenatal care and nutritional support free of charge. These services are crucial to ensuring that children in this area reach their full potential. Malnutrition is an especially big problem for the Ngobe community, where more than 70 percent of children do not have enough healthy food to eat.

Luckily for Omyra and her children, the trip to the health center, while difficult, is not too far and they are able to go regularly to get the care and support they need. But for the majority of women and children in Latin America´s indigenous communities, a trip to the nearest health center can mean a three or four day journey. UNICEF is working with the Panamanian Ministry of Health to change this, ensuring that all mothers and children can get access to these life altering services.

© U.S. Fund for UNICEF

We are flying back to Panama City tonight. We have learned so much from our time in the field and we are all so grateful to have had this experience. The faces of people I have met, both the community members and the UNICEF field staff, and the thought of their dedication and passion, will stay with me for the rest of my life.

© U.S. Fund for UNICEF

Kimberlea Tracey of the New England office receives a handmade gift from a young boy at the community center.

Hi, this is Lizzy of the New York Office again with my first entry from the field! We took an early morning flight to Chiriqui in the far north of Panama. Here in this remote part of the country, UNICEF's projects focus on providing health care and education to the indigenous Ngobe-Bugle community.

© U.S. Fund for UNICEF

Our group received a warm welcome from the schoolchildren.

© U.S. Fund for UNICEF

Children at the school are allowed to wear traditional dress, removing the financial burden of purchasing school uniforms.

Our first stop was a visit to the UNICEF supported Hato Juli elementary school. Most of the children enrolled here are members of indigenous communities, a group often excluded from education in Panama and Latin America. After driving up a very steep dirt road, we were met at the school gates by the smiling students. Each of the school's nine classrooms were decorated with bright learning materials and staffed by an attentive UNICEF-trained teachers passionate about providing a safe and positive learning environment. Parents are also involved in the school community, with mothers taking turns to cook school lunches in the open air kitchen.

© U.S. Fund for UNICEF

© U.S. Fund for UNICEF

It is clear that the children are flourishing in this environment. Leaders of the sixth-grade student council gave formal introductions to groups of their fellow students, who sang local songs and performed a traditional Ngobe-Bugle crab dance. We then visited some of the classrooms, including one filled with 1st graders who sang us a song about animals. The children and teachers were very proud and seemed even more excited than we were about our visit.

© U.S. Fund for UNICEF

John Tsacrios and Karen Turney of the Houston office, along with Casey Marsh of the Chicago office, met with a group of schoolchildren in Hato Juli

The next program we visited was a water project. After a 20 minute hike through rugged terrain and across a creek, we reached a community that is benefiting from a UNICEF-constructed aqueduct. Egido, chief of the community's water committee, explained that they did not have access to clean water prior to its construction. Now, every household pays $0.25 per month to have clean water piped to their houses. While this may not seem like a lot to us, it is a significant sum to the people of this indigenous community. But this $0.25 represents the community's commitment to the upkeep of their water system.

When we asked how the aqueduct has changed their lives, Egido smiled and said, "Now, the children are not sick"—he pointed to his stomach—"they have less belly pain, and we do not have to walk down to the health clinic as often." It was very rewarding to see how UNICEF's work is making a direct impact on these peoples lives.

Hola from Panama!

My name is Jessica Dolan and I'm from the U.S. Fund for UNICEF's Chicago office. I'm writing this entry Monday evening and we've had an eye-opening first day in Panama City.

In the wealthiest parts of the city, newly constructed glass towers and beautifully restored colonial homes dominate.

© U.S. Fund for UNICEF

But just a short drive away squatters live precariously in crumbling buildings. Here it is easy to see how statistics don't tell the whole story. Although Panama appears from the outside to be a wealthy country, a huge number of Panamanians still live in poverty while wealth is concentrated in a few hands. This is true for the Latin America and Carribean region as a whole.

Neverthless, UNICEF is supporting great programs that focus on those in poverty who are otherwise excluded and invisible. Today we visited PROBIDSIDA, one of the most effective HIVAIDS advocacy and care providers in Panama. PROBIDSIDA provides support, testing and counseling for those living with or affected by HIV and AIDS, as well as preventative education in hospitals and schools. We met some of the courageous people leading this effort, including Orlando, who has been living with HIV for 20 years and used his status as a respected physician to found this organization, and Edith, the first woman in Panama to come forward to speak about her HIV positive status. She now leads support groups and provides counseling for newly diagnosed women.

Note: In Panama, as with much of Latin America, HIV and AIDS still carry a heavy stigma. We refrained from taking photographs at PROBIDSIDA to preserve the privacy of those we met there.

After leaving PROBIDSIDA, we went over to Movement New Generation, a UNICEF-supported youth center in the Chorillo neighborhood of Panama City, one of the poorest and most dangerous areas.

© U.S. Fund for UNICEF

Linda Naugle of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF New York office speaks to Byron, a 13-year-old who has been coming to the center for about a month. He spoke to our group about how proud he was to have an opportunity to "rescue our peers from violence and drugs."

Children here are vulnerable to violence and the lure of the sixteen gangs that lay claim to the area. But the center—clean, bright, cheerfully noisy with the voices of children—provides a safe space amidst conflict, and a constructive way for kids to spend their time. Children can participate in soccer tournaments or spend time in the well-furnished computer center or the upstairs library.

© U.S. Fund for UNICEF

Lizzy Repass gets a tour of the computer center.

The center was founded by Hector, who was born and raised in this neighborhood. He and other community volunteers preside over the center, and their pride in it is evident, but they are commited to doing so much more. Soon, a second center will be opened nearby. It is a vibrant and hopeful place.

© U.S. Fund for UNICEF

Our group watched a soccer game, part of a tournament organized by the center. Here's a group of the players on a brief break.

Tomorrow, we'll be getting up at 4 AM to travel by plane to Chiriqui, a northern province of Panama. We may not be able to send in another update until we return to Panama city on Wednesday night. Thanks for checking in with us!