“Please, can I have a small plastic basin for my baby to bathe her?” A shy, middle-aged woman whispered these words into my ear. In June 2018, as the conflict in Yemen escalated, this woman, like other displaced families living in this school, had fled her home in Hodeida. I looked at the month-old baby girl in her arms – so weak,… Read more →←
Topic: Insider
When I signed up to be part of UNICEF’s Emergency Response Team, I felt a wave of excitement and euphoria to dedicate myself to a mandate I genuinely believe in: supporting women and children in conflict areas and emergencies. Some of my close family and friends questioned such a career direction as it involved taking risks and putting… Read more →←
Sand, sun, wind … and plastic. Lots of plastic. The small peninsula of La Guajira looks more like a remote part of Sub-Saharan Africa than the Caribbean. This place, known as the indigenous capital of Colombia, is the land of the Wayuú. It is an inhospitable region where pastoralism and tradition mix with small-time retail and… Read more →←
Indiscernible from afar, the seemingly disconnected homesteads scattered across the vast open landscape of Northern Namibia belie an advanced intelligence network. In this hard landscape, people have taken on roles and responsibilities, centred on Indunas (village chiefs in the Zambezi Region), to help them cope. People share the news… Read more →←
Over the past ten years, two things have played a constant in my life— music, and the issue of child marriage. So, when I got the opportunity to help raise awareness about the practice in Niger it was a no brainer: I had to lend my support. Together with UNICEF Niger and Rooftop Productions, I wanted to create a music video that would… Read more →←
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 →←
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 →←