Marshalina John, 13 I remember the night before I got my first period. I was sleeping next to my mother when I suddenly developed severe stomach pain. I didn’t know what it was. I thought I was sick. My mother put a cold cloth on my stomach to relieve the pain, but it was unbearable. I could hardly sleep. In the morning, I felt a… Read more →←
Topic: Insider
The dreaded day had finally come. I woke up with an excruciating stomach pain and my back felt so hot that it could easily work as a stovetop. I wasn’t sure which was worse: the stomach pain or the back pain. I was not sure what the problem was until I got up from my bed. My next dilemma was how to tell my mother, as we had never… Read more →←
An anthill. That’s the closest image that comes to mind when you try to describe what happens on the Simón Bolívar bridge. The bridge separates (and unites) Venezuela and Colombia, in the Colombian province of Norte de Santander. An incessant flow of people walking — old and young, with empty hands or overloaded with… Read more →←
This past week, the UN in Syria mobilized one of its largest humanitarian aid convoys to bring much needed lifesaving supplies to 40,000 people stranded at Rukban camp, in the arid desert on the south-eastern border between Syria and Jordan. We went with 118 supply trucks and more than 300 humanitarian workers from UNICEF, the UN and the… Read more →←
When our team — UNICEF Chad’s Education colleagues, the Ministry of Education and partners — was leaving Sido Bemadji primary school in the Moyen Chari province, we learned that someone from the school’s Mothers Association had been waiting to talk to us. I hesitated for a second as we were already late. I looked at the person… Read more →←
In October, UNICEF and Comics Uniting Nations launched the first global School Superhero Comic Contest, calling on the world’s young people to design a superhero with powers to defeat the ultimate supervillain — The Silence. Newly unmasked and menacing, this supervillain uses its powers to prevent students from speaking out about… Read more →←
As New Zealanders, we feel we are a privileged nation with accessible, clean water and great health care. We are not under a massive threat of genocide or human trafficking. To many other countries we are a great place to be a child. But we can be better. Mental health, trauma and suicide are dark parts of New Zealand’s landscape. They… Read more →←
The second symposium on Adolescents and Youth in the MENA Region took place from 25-26 September at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is home to approximately 124 million adolescents and youth. The region has the highest youth unemployment rate in the world, the world’s highest levels… Read more →←
A little over 40 years ago, my father walked into the classroom where he taught and wrote on the blackboard. He turned to his six and seven year old pupils and triumphantly announced “A great New Zealander was born today!” The children looked at the board and looked back to him before one boy piped up. “Why’d you name him that?… Read more →←
In the early 1950s, about 50 per cent of primary school age children were out of school. In 1970, that figure stood at 28 per cent. Today, it has come down to 9 per cent. Progress has been slow, and there is still more to be done, but many millions of children have realized their right to education since that time. For the vast majority… Read more →←
