I have always been interested in the UNICEF organization. Ever since I was a little girl and brought home the little orange box at Halloween time. Today I choose to dive a little deeper and look into the Eastern and South African region. I choose this region to research because I really only know very little about it.
I learned about many challenges children in this part of the world are facing. For example about 17 percent of children in Malawi have a birth certificate. According to UNICEF this means "Without a birth certificate, children are at higher risk of such abuses as child trafficking and early marriage. They are also most likely to have limited access to social services such as healthcare, and an education."
In Somalia, because of families having very little money, girls are not becoming educated. Both boys and girls suffer but in this culture priority is given to boys when it comes to being educated.
Both these issues as well as other ones mentioned on this site have a negative effect on children. Both lead to higher risks of abuse and lower chances of finding a better quality of life. These issues limit children from becoming all they can be in life.
These issues were hard for me to read. My heart breaks thinking about these struggles. It is so easy to get caught up in my problems or our countries problems and forget that their are other children in the world who need help and need the things we take for granted.
Reference
UNICEF. (n.d.). UNICEF - UNICEF Home. UNICEF - UNICEF Home. Retrieved October 20, 2012, from http://www.unicef.org
Talk about not having an identity. Oh, my Hailey. It is difficult for me to get my head around the fact that these children virtually do not exist and can be and are victimized by the harsh and uncaring world that they have come to.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your report. There is much being done and yet so much more to do.
Hailei,
ReplyDeleteBeing without an identity is really hard not only because this limits their access to social services as healthcare, and education, but it als limits their future opprtunities if they want to leave the country somewhere because without a birth certificate the person can't get any passport or any other identification document. It is heartbreaking to read about these issues and all what we can do is advocate for these children. I also did my search in Afghanistan, tese chidlren also siffer a lot from malnutrition thta realy affect their social emotional development. We should really appreciate all the efforts of Unicef in these ignored areas. they are trying to do their best to help reduce deaths rates in these areas. Thank you so much for sharing.