“Aassir, Aassir!”
By Krystel Abimeri ZA’ATARI, Jordan, 28 October 2013 – Another long day in Za’atari, the second day of a UNICEF-supported polio vaccination campaign. UNICEF staff are getting ready to hit the streets of the camp to check on the vaccine doses and the cold chain equipment. Community health workers from International Relief and Development Jordan (IRD) […]
UNICEF Executive Director meets with displaced families during immunization campaign in the Syrian Arab Republic
By Razan Rashdi During a visit to the Syrian Arab Republic, UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake meets with mothers and their children, and the people who are working so hard to reach every last one with life-saving services. DAMASCUS, Syrian Arab Republic, 29 October 2013 – During a two-day visit to the Syrian Arab Republic, […]
Global Handwashing Day celebrated in refugee camps
By Chris Niles ERBIL, Iraq, 29 October 2013 —Handwashing is one of the simplest and most cost-effective ways to prevent disease, and in a crowded refugee camp where families are sharing sanitation facilities it’s especially important. There are about 100,000 refugees living in camps in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and UNICEF is working to […]
Marriage, not a girl’s only option
By Melanie Sharpe ZA’ATARI CAMP, Jordan, 29 October 2013 – Like many Syrian girls displaced from their homes and now living as refugees, Manal* was engaged to be married at the age of 16. “In Syria, it was common for girls to get married early and here my father said I have to marry. I […]
Continuing studies amid continuing unrest
By Razan Rashidi At a vocational training centre in suburban Damascus, Widad, Douaa, Georgina and Dalia have been able to continue their studies, amid continuing unrest. DAMASCUS, Syria, 28 October 2013 – It’s morning, and Widad, 19, waits impatiently for Douaa, 18, in the alley outside her house. Douaa finally arrives, smiling and apologizing for […]
In Syria, UNICEF supports vaccination campaign for children
By Razan Rashidi Damascus, 27 October 2013 — “Nurses will visit the school and give you vaccines that will protect you from disease and sickness,” announces Rihab to her sixth-grade students at the end of the school day. It is a scene repeated in thousands of classrooms in Syria ahead of a vaccination campaign that started […]
“That was our goal, to make children happy.”
By: Chris Niles SULIMANIYAH, Iraq, 27 October 2013 —It’s a sight you see all over the world on a Saturday afternoon; boys lined up in their football uniforms, getting ready to go onto the pitch. Football is one of the world’s most popular sports, but for these boys, on this day, it has extra meaning.
“I’m crying every day.”
By Chris Niles ERBIL, Iraq, 20 October 2013 —Dima, 12, dreams of becoming a doctor. There are days, in Kawergosk refugee camp, when that ambition seems very far away. “The situation is not very nice here. I would like to leave this place as soon as possible,” Dima says. The family, which is part of […]
Emergency school supplies help conflict-affected children in Syria back to learning
By Tomoya Sonoda & David Youngmeyer* DAMASCUS, 19 October 2013 – A Back to Learning campaign in Syria has reached more than 400,000 conflict-affected children with school bags and education supplies, although security and funding challenges continue to hamper humanitarian efforts.
Kuwaiti funds build modern sanitation facilities in northern Iraq
By Chris Niles ERBIL, Iraq, 13 October 2013 — On a hot Sunday afternoon in Darashakran refugee camp in Kurdistan, four girls are on their way to collect water. They range in age from 10 to 12 and are carrying plastic water containers and saucepans.
A city surrounded by conflict struggles to cope under weight of displacement
Field Diary By Mougabe Koslengar, Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Specialist, UNICEF IDLEB, 18 October 2013 – As we drive through the countryside of Syria’s north-west Idleb governorate, we pass many villages devoid of life. I see buildings riddled with bullet holes and holed by shells. Part of an apartment block has collapsed.
Happy Eid. Don’t forget us
By Chris Niles ERBIL, Iraq, 20 October 2013 —The Muslim holiday of Eid is traditionally a time for family gatherings, feasting and celebration, one that has extra significance for children. On Tuesday morning, the first day of the four-day holiday last week, Kawergosk refugee camp is quiet. At home, before the conflict, extended families would […]
