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

It was soooo easy!

In less than an hour, I recruited three restaurants in my New York City neighborhood to participate in the Tap Project. All I did was explain how simple it is to join, the free publicity Tap Project generates through websites and local media, and all the good a one dollar donation can do (for example, with one dollar UNICEF can provide up to 40 gallons of clean, drinking water). And voila! They registered.

© U.S.Fund for UNICEF

Me (on the left) and the very cool staff at Ricardo's Steakhouse, a new Tap participant.

Last year, 300 restaurants participated in New York City. And with the Tap Project campaign going national this year, we hope to multiply that number many times through our corps of volunteers.

Some volunteers have started organizing on social networking websites. In San Antonio, they coordinate via Meetup.com, in Washington D.C. it’s through Idealist.org. And then there’s Facebook, where volunteers from all over the country come together.

Restaurant and food blogs like Kelly’s Grape Times, Grub Street and Peter’s Mostly Food have also joined the effort.

Only three weeks left before World Water Week. Have you registered restaurants? Any suggestions for volunteers? Tell us about it.

We want as many young people to enter the J-8 competiton as possible, so we have extended the deadline for this once in a lifetime opportunity!

Schools and youth groups across the nation are encouraged to recruit teams of four young people, aged 13 to 17, to draw from their knowledge, understanding and perspectives on a range of global issues and compete through this essay contest for the opportunity to represent the U.S. at the J8 summit scheduled to take place in Hokkaido, Japan in July. Along with the 500 word essay, teams must also submit a written declaration or a multi-media project.

The winning U.S. team will join youth delegations from the other G8 member countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Russian Federation and the United Kingdom. Then, a representative from each country will meet with the presidents and leaders of those countries to share their ideas!

For more information on criteria and rules of competition and to download a contest application please go to: www.unicefusa.org/youthaction.

Chores. They’re a drag and if you’re a kid, you probably have a few to do every week. But while chores in America may mean washing dishes or mowing the lawn, many kids in developing countries have the grueling and daily task of collecting water from distant streams and springs. Not only is it backbreaking work, hauling water can take several hours and keeps children out of school.

With that in mind, students in the Big Apple have helped organize the NYC Tap Project Water Walk. On March 15, families and kids from fourth to twelfth grade will carry up to a gallon of water in a gesture of solidarity with children who must fetch water every day. These students are helping fund UNICEF programs through sponsorships. And a little goes a long way! For example, with a dollar UNICEF can provide 40 liters of safe drinking water.

So register today if you’re a New York City student and help UNICEF save kids’ lives!

The countdown begins! We are officially a month away from World Water Day and from turning Tap on full blast. Check out our new public service announcement, which will air in more than 600 local TV stations across the country in the next few weeks.

At the top of the Tap Project to-do list for volunteers this weekend is registering restaurants. I plan to enlist some restaurants in my neighborhood and raise my water IQ by checking out other water-awareness events.

Here in New York City, the American Museum of Natural History is currently showing Water: H20 = Life, a fascinating exhibit that explores the importance and impact this precious resource has on communities and ecosystems around the world. For those of you in Washington D.C., you can attend the Environmental Film Festival, which pays tribute to World Water Day by showcasing water-themed international films.

If you’re looking for more “active” events — and a good excuse to burn the carbs from your Tap dinner –– click on the World Water Day website for info on walks in Los Angeles, Seattle and New York.

Besides taking part in Tap (of course!), is there anything else you’re planning to do during World Water Week?

We're so excited that the Tap Project is growing so quickly....more than 1,200 Tap Project Volunteers have registered in under six weeks! to help UNICEF provide children around the world with clean, safe water

Volunteers around the country are taking action and using all the resources available to them, including the Tap Project Restaurant Online Trainings or the customizable Tap Project flyers.

We hope you'll join us, get organized and promote the Tap Project in your community! Register today at tapproject.org/volunteer.

UNICEF Ambassador Lucy Liu recently visited a UNICEF-sponsored program for orphans and children with disabilities in Moscow, Russia and shares her experience in the following post.

Last week I was in Russia, and on Friday I had a chance to visit UNICEF's “Maria’s Children” project in Moscow. The facility is in a basement in the center of the city and has two small rooms where orphans and children with disabilities can go and express themselves through art. In addition to the art facilities, they also teach children cooking and other life skills to help them once they “graduate” from the facility.

© Aaron Poirier

Unfortunately, in Russia there is a stigma attached to children with any type of handicap and children who have been orphaned and therefore institutionalized. They are at a great disadvantage, not only educationally but socially as well. UNICEF is currently working on an inclusion program, helping schools slowly integrate these children to have a more normal and connected lifestyle with other kids and with society in general.

Studies have shown that they receive a very limited education, not only because they are alienated from society but also simply because handicap access on buses and in schools does not exist. Some children will only receive what would be a 4th grade education for their entire lives. This, of course, limits their possibilities for their futures.

© Aaron Poirier

The orphans I had the pleasure of meeting were wonderful. We spent the day with kids who ranged from 8 to 13 years old creating a giant collage about Moscow. It was a very involved process and took about 6 hours. We started with drawing the images, and then painting with watercolors. Then we cut the images out and glued them onto paper to create a beautiful and incredibly colorful collage.

© Aaron Poirier

The little boy that you see me hugging in the photo looks 7 or 8 years old, but he is actually 13 going on 14 in April. His growth was severely stunted because of lack of nutrition from the time he was born. Sadly, there is nothing that can change that now; he will be quite small for the rest of his life. We worked together on the same sheet of paper sharing thoughts on color and what animals to draw to create our very own idea of what trees and animals and people lived in Moscow. Incredibly, though neither of us spoke the other’s language, we were able to communicate through art. It’s really special to be able to express your thoughts and imagination with children this way and to also help push them to have more self confidence and fun in their lives.

They started out quite shy but still very curious, as all kids are! By the end of the day, they were showing me how to wash up for dinner and giving me lots of hugs. I was heartbroken when it was time to leave, but so happy for the time we shared together.

It's been awhile in the making, but we've just put the final touches on Clay's album of photos from his holiday visit with kids at UNICEF programs in Mexico.

Everyone who donated $50 or more to Clay's appeal for Mexico will be getting a link to a PDF of the album this week via e-mail -- and signed copies for folks who were able to give $1,000 or more will be going out by postal mail shortly.

Keep your eyes open for yours, and let us know what you think!

Dina Montes is on staff at the U.S. Fund for UNICEF and will be blogging regularly about the Tap Project. This is her first post.

With World Water Day just a month away, newspapers and magazines articles are generating buzz. The March issue of Family Circle reminds readers to save the date (March 22) for Tap, while a Feb. 13 article in the New York Times business section covers the U.S. Fund’s partnership with 14 top advertising agencies across the country and the cool, cutting-edge ad copy created in cities like Los Angeles and Chicago. The fabulous work is pro-bono, which means more money goes straight to UNICEF water programs!

Smaller cities like Richmond, Va. are also participating this year and dishing out info on Tap. Just this week, the Richmond Times-Dispatch published a story about a group of graduate students who created an ambitious marketing campaign for the Tap Project. It’s just one great example of how everyone can get involved in this innovative, grassroots fundraiser.

Are you involved in the Tap Project? Tell us about it!

©UNICEF/HQ02-0567/Pirozzi A boy embraces his grandmother in a village near Maseru, capital of Lesotho. He is one of three grandchildren she is caring for since the death of their parents from AIDS.

UNICEF recently took a close look at the needs of children around the world and published its annual Humanitarian Action Report. In the report, UNICEF pinpoints 39 countries which are caught up in man-made or natural emergencies and which need emergency funding. UNICEF is asking for $856 million in donations to help the women and children in these countries.

The worldwide emergencies include the ongoing refugee crisis in Sudan, the continuing recovery in Pakistan from its 2005 earthquake, the huge number of malnourished children in West Africa, and the rape and abduction of girls and women in war-torn regions.

But there is hope. With the help of UNICEF, and with the support that UNICEF can give to local governments and other organizations, these situations can be alleviated. Families fleeing from war in the Democratic Republic of Congo are given shelter. In Sudan, refugee women are taught how to best feed their babies. UNICEF’S emergency funding is used to feed malnourished children in Kashmir, train midwives in Afghanistan, and prevent a mother in Haiti from transmitting HIV to her unborn child. We make sure Iraq’s refugee children can continue going to school, and we help former child soldiers heal.

©UNICEF/HQ05-1963/LeMoyne A malnourished child in a hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The country is the poorest in the Americas and 1of 12 of its under-five children die from mostly preventable causes.

We will be telling you more stories on this blog about the women and children caught in crises and what UNICEF is doing to help them. Come back often to learn about the lives that need our help. Is there an issue that affects you the most? Please use our comment section to let us know what’s on your mind.

If you would like to learn more about the report, go to UNICEF’s Humanitarian Action Report page. And if you would like to answer UNICEF’s appeal for emergency funding, you can go here to donate to UNICEF’s emergency programs.

Last week, Madonna and Gucci hosted a fundraising event here in New York to benefit UNICEF.

The evening, which was entirely paid for by Gucci, was dedicated to raising money and awareness for the millions of children orphaned or affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa. 11 million children in sub-Saharan Africa have lost one or both parents to AIDS, and 2 million are currently living with HIV/AIDS.

The evening featured musical performances by the African Children’s Choir, as well as Timbaland, Rihanna, and Alicia Keys. UNICEF Ambassadors Téa Leoni and Lucy Liu were among the many guests who showed their support.

	©Jeff Connell, UNICEF, 2008
	Téa Leoni

	©Patrick McMullan
	Lucy Liu

And the best news? Almost $3 million dollars were raised for UNICEF, to support UNICEF's Schools for Africa program.

UNICEF thanks Gucci, and everyone who supported the event, for helping children in need!

©Jeff Connell, UNICEF, 2008
Members of the African Children’s Choir

As the House and Senate raced to finish their legislative business for 2007, the legislators did not forget UNICEF! The bill agreed upon by Congress and the President provides a contribution of $129 million to UNICEF for the fiscal year 2008. This is the largest amount the United States Government has ever given to UNICEF.

Thank you for supporting our advocacy efforts through your e-mails and other communication to legislators. Your concern and action make these advances possible.

Take action again! Visit our Take Action page to thank your legislators for their funding of UNICEF in 2008.

© Reuters/Andrews

The violence in Kenya is not letting up. Since Kenya’s disputed election in late December, the people of this country have been subjected to widespread violence, including lootings, the burning of their homes, and physical attacks. 300,000 Kenyans have already left their homes and are now living in displacement camps--100,000 of them are children.

UNICEF is on the ground assessing the situation and distributing food, water, and medical supplies. $6.6 million dollars are urgently needed to help the displaced women and children. The funds are needed for basics like food and shelter, as well as for keeping children and women safe, and to set up schools and play centers for children.

You can read more about UNICEF and the situation in Kenya here and here. And if you would like to make a donation, please go to our donations page, where you can choose to support UNICEF’s emergency relief efforts in places like Kenya.