Fieldnotes: Blogging on UNICEF's child survival work in the field
Entries from Fieldnotes tagged with 'field visit'
Protecting the next generation from HIV/AIDS in Zambia
Elizabeth Merola recently visited UNICEF programs in Zambia. In this post, she recounts the experience of visiting a rural health clinic.
The drive to Keemba Rural Health Clinic from the closest town is a long and bumpy ride due to the uneven dirt roads. Looking out the window I see children walking to and from school alongside the road and across fields that are being prepared for the first rains of the season. Cows are crazing and ox carts are transporting people from one village to the next.
When we arrive at the clinic, mothers with their children are waiting for post-natal and prevention of mother-to-child treatment (PMTCT) care. The nurses dressed in white stand out among the women with colorful wraps.
I am immediately drawn to Brenda who is 7 months old and attached to the back of her mother, Rolina. Rolina waits patiently in line for her turn to speak with the nurse. Her calmness gives me the impression that there is no urgency for her visit and she has been in this position many times before.
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| © U.S. Fund for UNICEF/2009 |
| Rolina and Terrance with daughter Brenda. |
Rolina is HIV positive and is enrolled in the clinic’s PMTCT program. She and her husband Terrance married in 2002 and they have three children; Terrance is also HIV positive. Both Rolina and Terrance are doing everything in their power to ensure that little Brenda stays safe and healthy which is not the case for Brenda’s older sister Constance. Constance is 4 years old and HIV positive. Constance is on pediatric treatment which is keeping her strong. Their older brother Clayton does what he can at 7 years old to look after his two younger sisters.
Putting children first in Tanzania
The past decade in Tanzania has been marked by successful reforms, steady economic growth, and political stability. Despite this progress, Tanzania’s challenge for the future is to create better living conditions for the rural poor, control the spread of HIV/AIDS, address the needs of the largest refugee population in Africa (due to neighboring conflicts), and through education develop the next generation of leaders. Sonya Renner was part of a U.S. Fund delegation from Texas and Georgia and witnessed firsthand how UNICEF impacts the lives of Tanzania’s children, and through them, Tanzania’s future.
Is it a childhood luxury to be able to attend primary school? Are dreams for the future a privilege for a limited few? While the American public education system and its schools face challenges, particularly now, we have an advantage that many countries don’t have: a long and deep-rooted belief that quality education is a right for all children. We work to insure that education is free and compulsory. We teach our children that they can—and should—dream of a future.
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| © U.S. Fund for UNICEF/Renner/2009 |
| Students at a school not in the child friendly school pilot program talked of their need for more classrooms, windows, floors, desks, books, paper, and pencils. |
UNICEF believes that every child around the world has an equal right to education and should dream of a better future. This can become a reality for more children through UNICEF’s child friendly school model, which focuses not just on academic skills but also teaches basic life skills—lifesaving skills—such as hand-washing, hygiene, and preventing the spread and impact of HIV/AIDS. The child friendly school program then can have a major role in achieving zero child deaths from preventable causes.
A real-life Norma Rae in Guatemala
Jennifer Dorian, member of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF’s volunteer Marketing Committee and a true friend of children, visited UNICEF programs in Guatemala this week and sent this post from the field.
Growing up, my favorite movie was Norma Rae.
I loved the character--the way she stayed a welcome member of her community without suppressing her natural leadership. She was unstoppable despite her odds and humble beginnings. She led her mill town to a better life with charisma, strong opinions and courage.
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| © Dorian/2009 |
| A real-life Norma Rae: Jennifer Dorian with Marileni. |
Today I met a real-life Norma Rae in Nuevo Concepcion, Guatemala. She is young (21), childless (by choice), charming and beautiful. Her name is Marileni.
Peru: "Napaykullayki" from Ayacucho
Kendra Flowers works with the U.S. Fund for UNICEF at our national headquarters in New York City. She's currently in Peru visiting UNICEF programs.
I'd like to begin this entry by sending wishes of support to those presently suffering in the aftermath of Pakistan's recent earthquake. Having just left the devastation of Pisco and Chincha—still recovering from their own devastating earthquake of over a year ago—I am somber, yet so glad to know that UNICEF is working tirelessly in Pakistan to ease the suffering of children and get aid to those in need.
After Tuesday's seven-hour drive through the beautiful Andes, and a little light-headedness at over 12,000 feet, the lights of Ayacucho in the valley below were a welcome sight. Wednesday morning we journeyed over an hour back into the Andes to the indigenous communities of Rosaspata, Arizona, Chullucapampa and Huamanguilla.
There we learned directly from the community leaders and parents all about their early childhood stimulation programs and child health surveillance centers. Early childhood stimulation practices the concept that children fare far better socially, physically, and intellectually when they're sung to, played with, and engaged in activities as infants and toddlers. Surveillance centers are posts where child growth is measured and local health promoters are trained in an effort to combat chronic malnutrition in indigenous communities.
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| © US Fund for UNICEF/K. Flowers |
| UNICEF-trained heath promoter in Rosaspata community of Ayacucho District, Peru. |
We were all struck by how utterly committed these communities are to their children's physical and emotional health. The president of one community program was so impassioned when he proudly explained their meticulous charts and graphs that one needn't have any knowledge of Quechua (the native tongue) to know his community's priorities revolve around its children. UNICEF trains health promoters within the community to monitor families and ensure they are educated in how to nourish and protect their children. The promoters report back to the center with height, weight and other general health measurements revisiting the children's progress each and every month.
Sierra Leone: In honor of Fatima
U.S. Fund for UNICEF President and CEO Caryl Stern recently visited Sierra Leone with Pampers "One Pack = One Vaccine" campaign spokesperson Salma Hayek and Pampers representatives, to witness the effect of tetanus on mothers and newborns, and the positive impact of the Pampers/UNICEF program. She sent this post from the field.
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| © UNICEF/ HQ98-0510/Pirozzi | |
| SIERRA LEONE: An adolescent girl holds her baby in her lap near Freetown, the capital. |
UNICEF's Dr. Yvonne Hardy and I sat on the floor with 19-year-old Memunata as we watched her tiny newborn daughter struggle for her life in a small crib next to her. Memunata had given birth to her first child exactly seven days prior. The delivery took place at home with the assistance of a traditional (but unskilled) birth attendant.
The labor went well by all accounts, and the baby girl screamed and cried on her arrival as anyone would expect. But within 48 hours, the baby was crying relentlessly and stopped nursing. Her jaw was clenched shut.
Memunata was frantic and found the birth attendant who told her to go to a local health facility. When she arrived at the clinic, the baby was diagnosed with tetanus and immediately referred to Ola During Children's Hospital, the only pediatric facility in Sierra Leone.
Yvonne went to the hospital in the early afternoon to meet with Memunata and her baby in advance of the rest of our group.
We arrived in time to learn that Memunata had just expressed her breast milk into a plastic cup, eager to feed her baby with a syringe. But the baby couldn't take it. We heard tiny gasps and watched as the baby convulsed, her back arched and her arms locked. She did that every so often, over the course of a few hours. The pain she was feeling was obvious. We all felt it.
Our first day in Zambia
Casey Marsh is part of a delegation of U.S. Fund for UNICEF staff and supporters currently visiting UNICEF's country programs in Zambia. She will be reporting on her experiences in the field all week.
I arrived this afternoon in Lusaka, Zambia after being 'stuck' overnight in Johannesburg. It seems that everyone in our group experienced some type of delay, and we all agreed that we need to adjust to a new cultural rhythm in Africa. Nothing moves quickly.
Betty Chella Nalungwe, the Communications Assistant for the UNICEF office in Lusaka, greeted me at the airport. It was wonderful to see a bright blue UNICEF t-shirt and a warm, friendly smile as soon I stepped into the terminal. I was quickly moved through the VIP/Diplomat line at passport control, which is an indication of the esteem in which UNICEF is held within the country.
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| © US Fund for UNICEF |
| Maryanne and Paul Harvey with Betty Chella Nalungwe stand next to the UNICEF Range Rover at Lusaka Airport. |
Betty gave up most of her weekend to fetch me and the other visitors, which she seemed to do happily. In fact, Friday was her birthday, and she spent many hours at the airport waiting for Sean and Griffin Flannery, 2 members of our group from the Boston area, to arrive. None of that put a damper on her energy, though!
Somalia: Keep spreading the word
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 second in a series of blog posts he will write about his experience in the field.
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.
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| © US Fund for UNICEF / 2008 / Nick Ysenburg |
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.
Somalia: Where is the outrage?
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.
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| © US Fund for UNICEF / 2008 / Nick Ysenburg |
| UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken with children he met on his recent visit to Somalia. |
Spotlight on Somalia
You may have heard, UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken was in Somalia, meeting lots of children and learning about the catastrophic conditions under which they struggle to survive every day. Once Clay is back in the U.S., he'll be blogging right...
Heartbreak and hope in Angola
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| UNICEF/ HQ98-1137/Giacomo Pirozzi | |
| In this photo, taken during a different trip, a girl is examined at one of the many hospitals and health clinics in Angola that receive vaccines and other essential supplies from UNICEF. |
A look at UNICEF's work in Angola
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| © UNICEF/ HQ96-0110/Giacomo Pirozzi | |
| This photo, taken during a different trip, shows an Angolan boy in a UNICEF-assisted center for children orphaned by the war. |
[In the Field] Visit to Rwanda
Hello, my name is Linda Naugle and I work for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF in New York. For the next week, I will be traveling in Rwanda with UNICEF supporters, visiting our program sites and meeting the people of Rwanda while learning more about UNICEF's incredible successes in this country.
[In the Field] UNICEF delivers health and nutrition to Panama's Ngobe community
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| © U.S. Fund for UNICEF | |
| Jessica Dolan of the Chicago office makes some new friends. |
Lucy Liu shows DRC refugees that water is safe to drink
UNICEF Ambassador Lucy Liu shows residents of a camp for internally displaced people in the DR Congo that a UNICEF-supplied water source is safe for drinking. For more information visit: unicefusa.org/drc Donate now to support UNICEF's work in the DRC:...
[In the Field] Lucy Liu witnesses internal refugee crisis in DRC
UNICEF Ambassador Lucy Liu witnesses the internal refugee crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo, specifically its effects on children. For more information visit: unicefusa.org/drc Donate now to support UNICEF's work in the DRC: unicefusa.org/donate/drc...
[In the Field] Lucy Liu visits with children at a Heal Africa hospital in DRC
UNICEF Ambassador Lucy Liu visits a UNICEF-supported hospital for women and children in the Democratic Republic of Congo. For more information visit: unicefusa.org/drc Donate now to support UNICEF's work in the DRC: unicefusa.org/donate/drc...
[In the Field] UNICEF programs in DRC give children a new chance at life
© U.S. Fund for UNICEF/2007/McKenzieLucy Liu shows photos to young girls outside a UNICEF-supported education center for street youth in Goma, Eastern DRC.Awoke in Goma, which is a city of 1 million on the far eastern corner of the DRC...
[In the Field] Lucy Liu reaches Goma, DR Congo
© U.S. Fund for UNICEF/2007/David McKenzieArrived in Kigali, Rwanda late last night. Had a short amount of time in Kigali before we crossed the border to Goma, DR Congo and spent it at the Kigali Memorial Center. The center was...
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Welcome to Fieldnotes. Blogging gives us the ability to quickly report from the field, alert you to media coverage of interest, and share the success of UNICEF's lifesaving work around the globe.
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