Fieldnotes

Nine is too young to be married

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:15:10 -0500


	© UNICEF/HQ95-0154/Shankar
	INDIA: A child bride attends the celebrations leading up to her wedding in the Rajgarh District of Madhya Pradesh State.

Recently, two young girls made a very big stir in Yemen. Nujood, who is ten, and Arwa, nine, gained national attention when they very publicly left their husbands. Yes, you read correctly—they left their husbands. Both girls were married to much older men—marriages arranged by their families.

In Yemen—and a shocking number of other countries around the world—child marriage remains a widely accepted practice, especially in very poor and rural areas. There are a bunch of reasons parents may choose to marry off their daughters when they are quite young. Struggling, hungry families may decide they'd be better off with one fewer mouth to feed. Parents may think an early marriage will protect their daughters from random sexual assault. Or they may see these marriages as a way to ensure their daughters won't become pregnant out of wedlock.

One thing is certain—for so many young girls, child marriage crushes their ability to create their own future. Young married girls usually stop attending school. They often become isolated from their family and friends, with playtime replaced by household chores. Girls married at a young age also face serious health risks from pregnancy and childbirth—a girl under age 16 is five times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth than a woman between the ages of 20 to 24.

Clay Aiken calls for Kenya's kids to return to school

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:28:27 -0500

UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken recently visited the East African countries of Somalia and Kenya, where UNICEF provides children with health care, education, nutrition, clean water and sanitation. This is the last in a series of blog posts he has written about his experience in the field.

In early July, after visiting Somalia, I traveled to Eldoret, in Kenya’s Rift Valley, to visit camps for internally displaced people. This is where some of the worst violence took place following the Kenya elections in early 2008. Thousands of children were made homeless by the unrest.

Everywhere we went, there were the charcoaled remains of homes, schools and shops. We drove for hours and everywhere we went, we saw people trying to get their lives restored.

Although many schools were re-opened, far fewer children are turning up for class than before. And classes are taking place in schools that have been completely destroyed. I saw children sitting on rocks and bricks—which used to make up the foundations and roofs of their schools—using them now as desks and chairs.

Boys need protection too

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:27:53 -0500

Earlier this month, I posted an entry on this blog about girls in Darfur being sexually assaulted when they collect firewood in the wilderness. One of our readers left a question that may have crossed many people’s minds: “How about letting the MEN collect the firewood?!”

When I first researched this subject, I also wondered why girls in Darfur were left to do this risky chore in secluded areas while boys stayed behind at camp. But I later learned that boys in war-torn countries also suffer horrible abuse, violence and exploitation.

In Darfur, when militias raid villages, they sometimes immediately execute the boys along with the men. In times of war, many fighting groups see young men and boys as threats or as potential soldiers, so boys are either killed or kidnapped and forced to serve in militias.

Lucky to be alive, three nomadic boys wander amid the remains of a village reputed to harbour Janjaweed militias in North Darfur State, Sudan. But until these boys relocate to a protected camp for displaced people, their lives remain in great danger.

Copenhagen: It’s not just about supplies

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 15:33:29 -0500


	© Elizabeth de Velasco, 2008

U.S. Fund for UNICEF staff member Elizabeth de Velasco recently traveled to UNICEF's main supply division warehouse in Copenhagen, Denmark, and filed this report.

Sure, there’s a warehouse the size of three football fields. But more than that, the UNICEF staff at the supply division in Copenhagen have an expertise in the procurement, shipment and use of international development supplies.


	© Elizabeth de Velasco, 2008

For example, the government of Sudan requested that UNICEF manage the supplies needed for its census. UNICEF dispatched Omar, a warehouse employee. He spent five weeks there making sure that there were enough pencils, paper, boxes and trucks for the census to function throughout Sudan—which is roughly the size of western Europe, but insecure and with weak infrastructure.

Another warehouse staff member, John, develops innovative ways to pack and distribute supplies in conflict and post-conflict situations. In a Back-to-School campaign in Afghanistan a few years ago, John figured out how to get the education supplies to all of the new schoolchildren from an Aghanistan supply center. But women and men could not work side-by-side, so John just rigged up a bedsheet to partition the room, and work was able to commence.


	© Elizabeth de Velasco, 2008

While the Copenhagen warehouse stores less than ten percent of UNICEF’s supplies—the rest get shipped directly from producers to the UNICEF country offices—it does have the items that are most essential to have on hand for emergencies: buckets, blankets, protein biscuits, School-in-a-Box kits, recreation kits, health kits and more. And then UNICEF gets them anywhere in the world in fewer than 48 hours.

Five days left to vote for UNICEF

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:21:07 -0500

In my last post, I told you all about the i'm Talkathon, a project started by an i'm Initiative fan named Parker to help raise awareness about this incredible program from Microsoft that donates to a social cause every time you send an IM or email. UNICEF is one of the causes, and there are just five days left in the Talkathon!

In these final days, there's a simple way you can help raise awareness for UNICEF and possibly even help us win a big donation from the social netoworking site Facebook. Facebook has pledged $15,000 to the social cause that gets the most votes in their i'm Initiative poll.

Here’s the deal: On the "i’m Making a Difference" Group page (www.facebook.com/im), look for the poll on the right margin. Simply vote for your favorite cause. You can see the results in real time.

UNICEF is currently in third place. Help make us #1! Rally your friends. Get out the vote. The more friends who get behind UNICEF, the better we will do. That's what community is all about.

And let's have a round of applause for Facebook's generous pledge. Very cool.

Pneumonia is our nemesis

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:40:16 -0500

Not long ago, my very curious niece asked me to explain UNICEF's work. I told her about child survival issues, about how, in certain parts of the world, kids get sick and even die from things that she will never have to worry about: they don't have clean water, don't get enough to eat, come down with pneumonia…

A baby with severe pneumonia lies in the pediatric ward of a hospital in the Solomon Islands. He has a breathing tube in his nose and an intravenous needle taped to his hand.

"Pneumonia!" she said. "Isn't that what old people get when they go outside in winter without a coat?" She's not alone in imagining pneumonia as an elderly man in a wheelchair, coughing quietly from the dim corner of a nursing home. Would you be as shocked as she was to learn that pneumonia is the number one killer of children under five? That more children die from pneumonia than from AIDS, malaria and measles combined?

Key Clubbers catch the Halloween spirit

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:48:28 -0500

At this year’s annual Key Club International Convention in Denver, Colorado, our four new ambassadors dressed up in Halloween costumes that mirrored the characters on the new Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF box.

Pictured here are Abigail, Lance, Anna and Jared, who promoted Key Club’s participation in the Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF campaign and the Swazi Children Care Project—a program that helps Swaziland’s children who have been impacted by HIV and AIDS. In addition to creating a costume buzz, Key Clubbers created cards and messages to send to the children of Swaziland, which will be sent later this summer.

Over 1400 Key Club members were in attendance at the four-day long convention, where they not only learned about UNICEF and other partners, but also elected a new president, vice president and leadership board. Stay tuned for more Key Club updates, and let us know what you think of the new box!

Somalia: Keep spreading the word

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:45:23 -0500

For children in Somalia, the situation is dire. But, it's just amazing to me that UNICEF is still able to make a difference in children’s lives in one of the most dangerous places on earth.

For instance, while I was in northwest Somalia—where 45 percent of the population are children and women—I observed how UNICEF improves water, sanitation and hygiene conditions for everyone in the region. One of the ways they do this is by drilling "borewells" so that clean drinking water is easily accessible and readily available. Without these borewells, children would have to walk hours to fetch water instead of going to school and getting an education.

Do good and earn miles

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:58:53 -0500

Usually, all that you'd expect in return for a donation to UNICEF is the deep satisfaction of knowing you've helped some of the world's most vulnerable children who are struggling for survival every day.

But this month, our corporate partner, American Airlines, is offering an added incentive to donate: bonus miles! American Airlines AAdvantage® members who donate $50 or more at www.unicefusa.org/aa will receive a one-time award of 250 AAdvantage bonus miles. Donate $100 or more and earn 500 bonus miles.

Every donation made at www.unicefusa.org/aa will help UNICEF save and improve children's lives in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar and/or the recent earthquake in Sichuan, China.

Donate today, because this special offer only lasts through July 31, 2008.

NewsNet: Crises in the Horn of Africa

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:12:54 -0500

UNICEF and other aid agencies have warned that a combination of crises in the Greater Horn of Africa—including drought, conflict, disease and rising food and energy prices—is imperiling the lives of children and their families.

A broad array of news organizations has covered the potentially calamitous situations in Ethiopia, Somalia and other countries in the region, focusing particular attention on the threat of malnutrition. Read these reports from IRIN, AllAfrica.com and Bloomberg News.

Here's also a recent UNICEF Television report on malnutrition in Ethiopia:

When kids end up on the street

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 15:27:44 -0500

Have you ever visited a city and been followed down the street by a scrum of children asking for money or pens, or desperately trying to sell you gum or some limp flowers? Our visit last week from UNICEF Laos Child Protection Officer Amy Delneuville got me thinking about one of the world's saddest, most overlooked groups: street children. Here in the U.S., there aren't many street children but in developing countries, poor countries, countries fractured by conflict, there are many.

A boy sleeps on a cardboard box on the street in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic.

It's impossible to know for certain just how many children spend their time living in the streets. Not surprisingly, it's a very difficult group to track. An estimated number that often pops up, though, is 100 million. If accurate, that's 100 million kids living, working, struggling and sleeping on the streets of cities. I can't imagine what it must feel like to be a kid and not know where you'll sleep that night. Or whether you'll be safe.

Somalia: Where is the outrage?

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 07:00:00 -0500

UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken recently returned from Somalia, where UNICEF provides children in the war-torn nation with health care, education, nutrition, clean water and sanitation. This is the first in a series of blog posts he will write about his experience in the field. I recently returned from a UNICEF field visit that took me to northwest Somalia. What I saw there was both amazing and heartbreaking. In many ways, the children I was able to meet are doing better than their counterparts in the rest of Somalia. But in other respects, the situation there is still quite serious.

UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken with children he met on his recent visit to Somalia.

For starters, the lack of a permanent central government has contributed to Somalia's status as one of the poorest and most volatile countries in the world. Decades of civil conflict have shattered social structures and exacerbated poverty. In such conditions—combined with an extremely arid environment and difficult terrain with settlements scattered over vast distances—a Somali child's chances of surviving to adulthood are among the lowest of children anywhere in the world. Fortunately, UNICEF is there. It has been on the ground since 1972 and is the humanitarian organization with the largest presence in Somalia.

Meeting world leaders

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:30:44 -0500

We've heard from our four young people who are representing the United States at the Junior 8 Summit, shadowing the G8 summit in Japan. Here's their third blog posting, written by Manogna, who represented the United States when meeting with the G8 leaders.

Today was an interesting day. It was the day we were all waiting for! The nine representatives of the J8 delegation, including me, left an hour earlier than everyone else to get ready for the meeting with the leaders. During this meeting, we went over possible answers to various questions that could be asked and the basic schedule that we needed to follow.

The 39 youth delegates to the J8 Summit gather at the Citizens’ Cultural Center in the city of Chitose on Hokkaido Island.

As our extra hour was drawing to a close, we began talking about the action plan. By then, the rest of the J8 delegation had arrived, and we split into three groups—Poverty and Development, Global Health and Climate Change. We perfected our Action Plan and ended with a final agreement. So, with both the Chitose Declaration and Action Plan completed, we were set to go meet the leaders!

Manogna's thoughts on the J8

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:03:40 -0500

We've heard from our four young people who are representing the United States at the Junior 8 Summit in Japan, shadowing the G8. Here's their second blog posting, written by Manogna, a rising high school junior from California.

Today was a very fun day! Our group, the global warming group, got to present our topic to the rest of the J8 community. We had an expert come in and give us a presentation on his views on global warming, too. He was a very interesting man and taught us a lot of important information.

Once we finished with that presentation, we separated into four individual groups and went more in depth into the topic.

The U.S. delegation team to the J8 Summit

Throughout the day we engaged in many different conversations, and in the end, we concluded with the first draft of the Chitose Declaration. We also decided what sub-groups we wanted to join and had a couple minutes of discussion with those groups also.

Once we got back to the hotel, we had dinner and then started our cultural presentations. All of the presentations were very lively and fun to watch. I am glad that we all got to learn a little more about all the cultures.

Tomorrow's topic is going to be poverty and development, so we are all looking forward to it.

Ask the G8 to keep its promises

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:51:04 -0500

The U.S. Fund for UNICEF is a proud partner of the ONE Campaign, a grassroots network of more than two million Americans who care about issues of global poverty, hunger and disease, and efforts to fight these problems in the world's poorest countries. UNICEF advocates might be interested in ONE's message to the G8 leaders meeting this week in Japan. ONE is asking Americans to send a simple message to the G8: make good on your commitments to help poor countries with health care, agriculture and education. Take a moment to add your support to this message at www.one.org/2008g8.