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

UNICEF Ambassador Mia Farrow just returned from a week-long trip to the Central African Republic. She brought back some pictures that we wanted to share with you below. She also brought back some sobering news, describing the people of the Central African Republic as, "without question, the most abandoned people on the earth."

© UNICEF/ HQ08-0580/Pierre Holtz

Mia Farrow takes notes during a visit to a "bush school" in the northwestern province of Ouham-Pendé. Working with the Italian NGO COOPI, UNICEF reopened 104 schools in 2007, serving some 32,000 primary school students. More than half of the schools are located in the bush where families have taken refuge, afraid to return to their villages following attacks by armed groups.

The Central African Republic (CAR) has been ravaged by civil war for a decade now, in addition to being affected by the conflict in neighboring Sudan. What's even worse, the people of CAR are terrorized by gangs of bandits who loot property and kidnap children. As a result, many families with children hide in the bush where they are threatened by disease and rape, have little to eat or drink, and have no school for their children to attend. More than 300,000 people are now refugees in their own country, and almost a million people have been affected by the ongoing violence.

This time, it's the children themselves who are taking the pictures. Recently, two groups of kids participated in UNICEF-supported photography workshops in Liberia and Rwanda. The children were given digital cameras so they could document their lives and, by working on specific themes, get a better understanding of the difficulties their countries face. UNICEF has just received the extraordinary images these children took, and we'd like to share some of them with you. The photos will also be shown in a traveling exhibition in Canada, Liberia, Rwanda, Japan and other countries.

© UNICEF/ HQ07-2164/Gay Handful

Liberia: An adolescent boy walks through standing water, a common breeding ground for malaria-bearing mosquitoes, in Fiamah, a slum area of Monrovia, the capital. The photograph was taken by Gay Handful, 14.

The situation for children continues to worsen in Myanmar as thousands of children have been separated from their families, many more are living in desperate conditions in relief camps, and some are drinking water from ponds covered with dead bodies.

Below, a man collects wood near the carcass of a cow killed by the cyclone, some 50 kilometres south-west of the township of Kunyangon. As bodies decompose, the water supply is further contaminated.

Here, a woman breastfeeds her infant in the temporary shelter of a monastery near the village of Pyanpon in the southern Irrawaddy Division. Behind them, another woman and child share the same bed. They have all been displaced by the cyclone.

UNICEF has distributed pre-positioned supplies to hard-hit areas. Below, a man secures a UNICEF aid package to the back of his bicycle, with the help of his two sons, in the cyclone-affected township of Kunyangon in the southern Yangon Division.

More to follow.

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Children and their families living in the Occupied Palestinian Territory of Gaza are facing particularly hard times this year. Because of ongoing conflict in the region, Israel began limiting its fuel supply to Gaza in early 2007. This means that families have limited power and running water in their homes and hospitals are run on emergency generators. School supplies, building materials and even food are also no longer regularly distributed. UNICEF and its partners have stepped up to try and fill this gap by distributing safe drinking water, medical supplies, and education and recreation kits.

In the pictures below, meet some of the children of Gaza.

© UNICEF/ HQ08-0198

Above, a father and three of his children sit in the window of their destroyed home in the southern city of Rafah. They would like to return permanently and rebuild their former home, but under the current restrictions, no building materials are allowed into the territory.

UNICEF just received some new photos from the Pacific Islands that we wanted to share with you. Kiribati, where the photos below were taken, is one of 14 Pacific Island countries, which spread across 12 million square miles in the Pacific Ocean.

Because the population lives on so many small islands, and because the area is vulnerable to natural disasters like typhoons and volcanoes, this region has some unique challenges when it comes to reaching its children. UNICEF is working across all the islands to bring medical services, vaccines, clean water, and education to the children of the Pacific Islands.

© UNICEF/ HQ06-2470/Giacomo Pirozzi
Above, Kavarerei holds his six-month-old baby brother, Naonao, in front of their home in Tarawa, the capital of Kiribati. Their father died and they live with their mother and four siblings.

Almost every year Mozambique is hit by floods during the rainy season, and thousands of families must often leave their homes. This year, 50,000 people have so far been displaced. The government of Mozambique is working on relocating people to safer areas permanently, but until then, UNICEF and many other agencies are on the ground helping out.

With your support, we're able to supply safe drinking water and proper sanitation, distribute mosquito nets to prevent malaria, set up temporary schools, and make sure that children are protected during this difficult time. Here are some pictures from the Baue resettlement centre in Mutarrara, Tete Province.

© UNICEF/Thierry Delvigne-Jean
A UNICEF communication specialist speaks with Rita Mello, 10, and her mother to help identify the needs of the people in the resettlement center. Rita and her mother are waiting to be registered in order to receive a plot of land and basic material to build a shelter.

© UNICEF/Thierry Delvigne-Jean
A boy named Tcholo, 10, stands in front of his shelter. Tcholo and his family were relocated to Baue in early January after their house and plot of land along the Zambezi River were flooded by the rising water.

© UNICEF/Thierry Delvigne-Jean
Several thousands people have been displaced to Baue Resettlement Centre over the past few weeks from low-lying areas along the Zambezi River. The center was set up as a permanent resettlement area. However, since January 2008, the number of people in the centre has doubled due to the current flooding.

© UNICEF/Thierry Delvigne-Jean
A young girl holding a plate waits for her family to be registered.

Children have been especially affected by the devastating cyclone that hit the Bangladesh coast on November 15. We've been reporting on UNICEF's emergency response, and below is a series of images that illustrates one young girl's experience in the aftermath of the cyclone: Lisa, a nine-year-old in the village of Amua.

If you want to donate to support relief efforts to save kids' lives, click here.

© UNICEF/HQ07-1809/Shehzad Noorani

Above, Lisa stands near her home. Amua is in Barisal District, one of the areas hardest hit in the storm. Below, she's gathering wood debris from the house. It can't be used for rebuilding, but can be used as fuel for cooking.

© UNICEF/HQ07-1811/Shehzad Noorani

Below, Lisa stands with a younger brother and her grandmother in front of her uncle’s house. They survived the cyclone by standing with her uncle’s family on a platform under the roof of the house.

© UNICEF/HQ07-1812/Shehzad Noorani

Lisa helps her father lay fishing nets, and is also taking care of the younger children in her family.

© UNICEF/HQ07-1814/Shehzad Noorani

© UNICEF/HQ07-1817/Shehzad Noorani

We'll share more photos from Bangladesh as they come in...

UNICEF runs vaccination campaigns around the world. We've been reporting on some of them recently -- in Afghanistan, in Indonesia... The campaigns are tailored to the locations, but one thing always seems to be the same: kids don't enjoy them. Here's three-month-old Vishal, crying as he's vaccinated against polio, at a community health center in India's Rajasthan State.

© UNICEF/HQ05-2387/Anita Khemka

Forty percent of the world's children receive immunizations through UNICEF's leadership. That's a lot of tears, but also a lot of young lives saved.

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.

In Liberia, children continue to suffer the consequences of a 14-year civil war that displaced more than 800,000 people and decimated infrastructure and services. UNICEF and its partners continue to provide health care, education, protection, clean water and sanitation for thousands of children living in camps for internally displaced populations.

© UNICEF/HQ07-0642/Giacomo Pirozzi Children play outside Honduni Public School, a combined primary and secondary school in the village of Honduni in the north-western Lofa County. UNICEF supports the school’s Accelerated Learning Program (ALP), which condenses six years of primary schooling into three to enable children to make up for years lost to armed conflict. UNICEF also provides learning materials, teacher training, and water and sanitation services.

© UNICEF/HQ07-0628/Giacomo Pirozzi (Left-right) Moses, 12, and Patrick, 10, study together at Kobelema Public School, a combined primary and secondary school in the village of Kobelema in north-western Lofa County.

© UNICEF/HQ07-0644/Giacomo Pirozzi A girl points to the blackboard during science class at Honduni Public School, a combined primary and secondary school in the village of Honduni in the north-western Lofa County.

© UNICEF/HQ07-0572/Giacomo Pirozzi A health worker vaccinates an infant against polio at Redemption Hospital in New Kru Town, a neighbourhood of Monrovia, the capital. UNICEF supports the hospital’s breastfeeding, growth monitoring and immunization programs, and provides staff training, medical equipment and essential drugs and supplies.

© UNICEF/HQ07-0580/Giacomo Pirozzi An infant is weighed in a sling scale, as part of a UNICEF-assisted growth monitoring program, at Redemption Hospital in New Kru Town.

© UNICEF/HQ07-0589/Giacomo Pirozzi A mural shows two families in bed, one being attacked by mosquitoes, the other beneath an insecticide-treated bednet, with the words ‘Use Mosquitoes [sic] Bed Net to Avoid Malaria’, at Redemption Hospital in New Kru Town.

In Côte d’Ivoire, UNICEF supports children who continue to suffer the consequences of a civil conflict that broke out in 2002.

© UNICEF/HQ06-2763/Bruno Brioni Ilias, 2, a malnourished child, drinks a cup of fortified milk, while his smiling mother watches, in a health center the central city of Bouaké. UNICEF provides supplementary feeding and works with the World Food Program to provide monthly food rations, consisting of oil, soy and maize flour, rice, salt and beans, to area families. UNICEF also provides the center with voluntary HIV/AIDS testing and counselling, and essential medicines and supplies.

© UNICEF/HQ06-2800/Bruno Brioni An infant is weighed at a hospital in Yopougon, a neighbourhood of Abidjan, the country’s commercial capital. UNICEF supports the hospital’s primary care and antenatal programs, including an initiative to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS.

© UNICEF/HQ06-2748/Bruno Brioni Maryam, 8 (left), and Aminata, 8 (right), stand outside their primary school in the north-eastern town of Bouna in the rebel-controlled zone. They are holding backpacks that bear the logos of UNICEF and the EU. Above their heads, the entrance to the school is decorated with the logos of the Ministry of Education, UNGEI, the EU and UNICEF, as well as with a campaign poster that shows a girl who wants to go to school. UNICEF helped rehabilitate the damaged school and now provides learning materials and teacher training.

© UNICEF/HQ06-2758/Bruno Brioni Students poke their heads into their classroom, through the decorative holes of a concrete wall, at a UNICEF-assisted primary school in the village of Douakankro, near the central city of Bouaké in the rebel-controlled zone.

© UNICEF/HQ06-2801/Bruno Brioni Boys watch their teacher write on the blackboard during a tutoring session at a primary school in the village of Béoué, near the western town of Man in the rebel-controlled zone. They are former child soldiers participating in a UNICEF-supported demobilization and reintegration program. The program, which has helped demobilize over 4,000 child soldiers, offers education, vocational training, psychosocial support and health care within an integrated community setting. One boy (foreground) wears a T-shirt showing a pink ‘X’ through the word ‘violence’ and bearing the program's slogan ‘Protect our Children’ (in French).

As new sanctions are imposed and G8 ministers prepare to discuss the situation in Darfur, UNICEF is continuing its lifesaving work for the millions of children caught in the crisis.

Clean water, nutrition, medicine -- these are all critical needs in the camps, and UNICEF is meeting them. Equally important for kids' survival are education and the opportunity to play.

Here in a UNICEF-supported children's center in the Al-Riyad Camp for the displaced, a teacher helps a young girl with her lessons. The dirt-floor classroom contains a large blackboard, as well as individual slates for children. The center also provides teaching and learning supplies, toys and games, psychosocial support, and a program of recreational activities for the kids.

© UNICEF/HQ06-2184/Georgina Cranston

The boys below are playing soccer at the Madinat-Al-Hujaj ("Pilgrims") Camp, where UNICEF is the lead agency for child protection. UNICEF's sport and recreation programs create safe environments and opportunities to play for these kids.

© UNICEF/HQ06-2173/Georgina Cranston

UNICEF staff are working to save kids just like Madiha and Maria below. If you'd like to help, please click here to make a donation.

© UNICEF/HQ06-2182/Georgina Cranston

The situation of children and women in the Darfur region of Sudan remains tenuous. The civil conflict that began in 2003 has killed up to 450,000 people and driven 1.8 million people from their homes. UNICEF is currently providing humanitarian assistance to some 2 million vulnerable children, who represent over 60 percent of the region’s population. These photos begin to speak to the broad range of services necessary for kids to survive in camps.

Below, children and women are filling jerrycans with clean water from a UNICEF-provided Mark II-type handpump at Ardamata Camp for displaced people, on the outskirts of El-Geneina. UNICEF has helped ensure that 60 percent of the conflict-affected population in Darfur has access to clean water, and 50 percent to improved sanitation. But water-borne diseases such as diarrhea and cholera are still responsible for one-third of under-five deaths in the region.

© UNICEF/HQ06-2208/Georgina Cranston

This boy washes his hands with a pitcher of water and a bar of soap after using a tent latrine at Al-Riyad Camp, also on the outskirts of El-Geneina.

© UNICEF/HQ06-2193/Georgina Cranston

Late last year, a UNICEF-supported nutrition assessment found that malnutrition among children under five in the Darfur region remained close to the global-emergency threshold of 15 percent. Supplemental feeding programs in the camps begin to address the situation, and children improve quickly with good nutrition.

Below, twenty-month-old Gassim Shak Juma has his arm circumference measured by a health worker (right) as he sits in his mother’s lap, at a UNICEF nutrition center in the Ardamata Camp. Gassim is being treated in a supplemental feeding program and health workers are monitoring his growth and progress.

© UNICEF/HQ06-2200/Georgina Cranston

This is six-year-old Halima Abaks Sanasi, at the same nutrition center. She has gained weight since starting the feeding program, but must still gain more. The infant behind her is also malnourished.

© UNICEF/HQ06-2197/Georgina Cranston

I'll post some more photos to give you a sense of UNICEF's education and recreation programs for kids in the camps of Darfur soon. In the meantime, if you'd like to support UNICEF's work for the children of Darfur, please click here.

Kristen Mangelinkx from UNICEF's Boston blogged on her trip to Madagascar. She's back in Boston now, and we've got some of her pix to share with you.

This baby is waiting to receive vitamin A and de-worming tablets at the health center in her village.

This mother and child are at one of the UNICEF health centers in the Sava region.

Members of the group taking advantage of the latrines at a school supported by UNICEF:

More to follow...

In May 2006, an earthquake hit the island of Java, killing some 5,700 people. More than 37,000 others were injured in the disaster, which severely damaged or destroyed infrastructure, transportation and communication systems, homes and schools. About 40 percent of the roughly 130,000 people displaced in the region were children. With the generous support of donors, UNICEF has been working to restore these children's lives.

© UNICEF/HQ06-1861/Josh Estey

Above, two girls play with hula hoops near a UNICEF tent at the children’s center in Wedi Village. They are among more than 1,500 young survivors receiving care and protection at UNICEF-established children’s centers in the earthquake-ravaged area. The centers provide trauma counselling and safe spaces for children to learn and play.

© UNICEF/HQ06-1837/Josh Estey

Here, UNICEF Project Officer Dr. Kinny Peetosutan explains the dangers of measles to families in Oepura Village and tells them how to protect their children from the virus. The area has experienced repeated outbreaks of the disease, which is a principal cause of blindness in children and can lead to pneumonia, encephalitis and other fatal illnesses. UNICEF is providing vaccines as well as vitamin A supplements for children under five, to boost their immune systems, as part of a national measles campaign to immunize at least 90 percent of the country’s children against the disease by the end of 2007. The two girls below are waiting to be vaccinated at the Kopeta "Puskesmas"’ (community health center) in the north-eastern port town of Maumere.

© UNICEF/HQ06-1798/Josh Estey