On November 18, a magnificent crystal ornament began to illuminate the heart of Manhattan from high overhead at 5th Avenue and 57th Street. Enormous and delicate, the 3,300 pound UNICEF Snowflake is 28 feet tall and 23 feet wide and contains 16,000 individual crystal prisms. This glittering emblem and its crystals represent an inspired and committed community who have pledged to safeguard the world’s children. Like many events in New York during this holiday season, the raising of the UNICEF Snowflake inspires both celebration and contemplation. And while the appearance of the Snowflake symbolizes the commencement of the holiday season and serves as a tribute to UNICEF’s lifesaving work, it is also an acknowledgement of how far we still have to go.

Before Sandy devastated New York, New Jersey, and other parts of the U.S., it hit Haiti, heaping new misery onto a country that has already seen far more than its share. Still recovering from 2010’s monster earthquake, the western hemisphere’s poorest country has suffered cholera outbreaks, drought, and the damage of Tropical Storm Isaac in August. Now, add Sandy’s wrath.

Around 20 Team UNICEF runners came out to run for children this week, despite the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy in New York and the cancellation of the 2012 ING New York City Marathon. The marathoners joined hundreds of other runners for a 6-mile loop around the park and were cheered on by friends and family members. Over the last nine months, the 60 Team UNICEF runners have raised over $227,000 for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.

In 40 years of friendship, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF and Zonta International have worked together on a variety of projects for the world’s women and children. In recent years, we’ve been privileged to partner on two lifesaving programs in Rwanda: the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV and support for survivors of domestic and gender-based violence.

UNICEF Communication Officer Zeeshan Suhail recently toured the flood-devastated Sindh province of Pakistan. He and UNICEF photographer Asad Zaidi came to talk to families, in particular children, who were displaced by flooding due to this year’s monsoon rains, which have affected over 5 million people. Here is his account highlighting the severity of the situation on the ground as well as UNICEF and partners’ work to support people through this crisis and beyond.

Global Handwashing Day is a day started five years ago to promote and raise awareness about one of the easiest, yet most important, hygiene practices. Handwashing is a simple thing most of us do every day, but washing hands actually saves lives. Each year, diarrheal diseases and pneumonia kill almost 3.5 million children under five in developing countries. Our hands are the principal carriers of disease-causing germs, and if widely practiced, it is estimated that handwashing with soap could avert 1 million of those deaths.
That’s why the Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing, founded by UNICEF and other partners, is encouraging the world to help promote handwashing with soap.