A look back at 2022: In crises, hope prevails for children

Season 4, episode 1 

A look back at 2022: In crises, hope prevails for children

In this first episode of a new season, UNICEF Canada President and CEO David Morley hands over to our new host, UNICEF Canada ambassador Saara Chaudry.

Join Saara as she looks back at 2022, exploring the crises in Ukraine, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa. She speaks to UNICEF experts on how these crises have impacted children and learns what hopes they have for the coming year.

Host: Saara Chaudry, UNICEF Canada Ambassador

Guests:

Salam Al-Janabi, Communications Specialist, UNICEF Afghanistan

Kenan Madi, Emergency Manager, UNICEF Ukraine

Rania Dagash, Deputy Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, UNICEF

Producers: Sara Faruqi and Priyadarshini Mitra

Composed and Mixed by: Chandra Bulucon

Episode Transcript: 

[00:00:00.15] --on taken land where we stand, fire consuming the Earth.

[00:00:04.17] --gender and race-based violence threatening our peace.

[00:00:07.44] In today's divided world, we must assess our worth.

[00:00:11.43] --to grant equitable health care for all and for violence to cease.

[00:00:15.96] We may only be young today--

[00:00:18.15] --we may not be the world's decision makers--

[00:00:20.61] --we may be ignored on global issues--

[00:00:23.73] --but we will fight for justice and what is right--

[00:00:26.04] --because we are the leaders of today and tomorrow.

[00:00:29.32] I am Owen.

[00:00:30.42] Khadija.

[00:00:31.20] Sun Min

[00:00:32.10] Olivia.

[00:00:32.70] Are you ready to listen?

[00:00:35.11] A powerful message on listening from UNICEF Canada's youth advocates sets the stage for season four of the For Every Child podcast. Hello, everyone. I'm David Morley, president and CEO of UNICEF Canada. I've also been your host on the For Every Child podcast since its launch. It's been a pleasure speaking with the talented people working in some of the toughest regions of the world for UNICEF, touching upon topics that impact children the most. As some of you may know, after working with children who are furthest from opportunity for more than 40 years, I am retiring from UNICEF Canada this summer.

[00:01:17.72] Hearing directly from youth, ensuring, that they're truly heard and can play a role in shaping the futures they will lead, has been a key part of UNICEF Canada's work, and we intend to do more of it. So as we head into a new season of the podcast. I'm looking forward to listening to more youth voices, hearing about the world from their perspective. And with that, I'd like to hand over the mic to our newest ambassador Saara Chaudry.

[00:01:47.81] A Canadian actress and freshman at Harvard University, Saara's work with UNICEF Canada started as a youth advocate herself, like those you heard in our opening. Now, as an ambassador, she's taking on a new role, that as the host of For Every Child podcast. So, Saara, over to you.

[00:02:09.10] [SOFT UPBEAT MUSIC]

[00:02:22.51] Thank you, David, and hello, everyone. As David said, I'm Saara Chaudry, and I'm so excited to begin this journey as your new host. And I will share this role with other youth advocates on For Every Child podcast. I'll take you along as I explore stories from around the world, bringing you inspiring experiences of those who make sure UNICEF's work truly touches the lives of children to defend their rights, to keep them protected, healthy, and educated.

[00:02:52.26] As 2022 draws to a close, our podcast today looks back at some such stories from this past year. For our first story, we traveled to Afghanistan, where this August we marked one year since the Taliban seized power. Decades of conflict had already left the country on the brink of collapse, with disastrous consequences for children. However, with the new ruling power in the country, much of the aid has also halted to Afghanistan.

[00:03:23.02] I speak to Salam Al-Janabi, Communications Specialist at UNICEF Afghanistan, on what he has seen over the last year and how he sees hope in these dire situations. So Salam, what has 2022 been like for children in Afghanistan?

[00:03:41.32] Afghanistan has always been a difficult place for children, unfortunately. Even when I first joined the UNICEF in Afghanistan, the situation for children had already been bad. We had seen a number of the major indicators declining. We were seeing more children getting malnutrition. We were seeing lots of children engaged in child labor because already there were droughts.

[00:04:10.30] It was just at the end of COVID, and lots of families didn't have incomes. This impacts children in multiple ways. They're out of school. They're having to work. They're not accessing health services. There were a couple of months that were very scary for us and for families here in Afghanistan, where the health sector looked like it was going to collapse.

[00:04:30.82] When the Taliban took over, everything just accelerated. All this downward trend just got worse. A lot of what has happened is because a lot of the international aid had stopped coming in. So it was really worrying at the beginning. And then, of course, the support started slowly coming in for us, for the World Food Programme and others within the family, and we started to be able to support.

[00:04:58.33] Glad to hear that much-needed support is trickling back into Afghanistan. Over the last year, Salam, what role has UNICEF's work played in Afghanistan?

[00:05:09.11] I think one of the things that people forget sometimes when we talk about UNICEF is how large UNICEF's impact can be. When we move up the scale, we move in when we are faced with such a crisis. I've worked in many country offices, but I think this is one of the biggest operations because We're basically supporting the whole health system. 26,000 health workers are being paid through UNICEF and with the help of our various donors.

[00:05:43.06] We are supporting the hospitals with equipment. We are supporting millions of children in public schools and almost 300,000 children in community-based education. So there is this big image, picture, that sometimes gets forgotten about how UNICEF operates when we are faced with such a crisis. And, of course, all of this also translates into the community, because we work within mobile health teams that go into communities and into homes. We support education at community-based classes, and these are in people's homes and in mosques that are within the community.

[00:06:20.00] So what's amazing about UNICEF's action here in Afghanistan is how large it is, but also how close it comes to the families and children.

[00:06:29.80] That's a really important point, Salam, the impact seen in the communities. You spoke about education, and I know a lot of progress has been made in the last 15 years. Can you talk a bit more about that? I also wonder, what is the situation like for girls in secondary schools who are banned from attending classes this year?

[00:06:51.49] So Afghanistan, after decades of support by the international community, moved from having around 2 million children in schools to about 10 million, 9-and-a-bit million children in schools, almost half of them girls. So that was quite a magnificent achievement to be done sort of within 15, 20 years. It came all to quite a scary point where we were afraid that this progress would be lost when the takeover happened.

[00:07:28.19] So at this point, public schools are open for boys and girls for primary education, and then it is when girls go up to secondary education, where they've been banned. So for us, there are two things that are important. First of all, we need to figure out ways to make sure that secondary-school girls continue to learn despite all the difficulties, but also to make sure that these millions of children who are already in school, boys and girls, don't lose on the chance to learn. These two things need to be supported at the same time.

[00:08:13.98] We continue supporting female-teacher education, and we keep praying and hoping that girls will go back to secondary school when the school reopens next year to make sure that female teachers are available. Within the broader political picture, things get complicated. Still, we are here. That's why we continue.

[00:08:37.50] We are here. We continue to support, and we make sure that the schools are ready. Hopefully, once they open their doors again for the secondary-school girls to come back their classrooms are ready. They have the books. They have the place, and hopefully things go as we wish for for all children here.

[00:08:55.98] I think we are all hoping for exactly what you said, Salam, that the girls get back to classes soon. This reminds me of when I voiced the role of Parvana in the animated feature film The Breadwinner, which is set in Afghanistan in 2001. It's really unfortunate to see that 20 years later, girls in Afghanistan are facing the exact same difficulties that they once did. As we wrap up the interview, Salam, I want to ask, what is your hope for children in Afghanistan in 2023?

[00:09:31.63] I wouldn't be working with UNICEF if I wouldn't start from a point of hope. I think what I've always seen in lots of places where I've worked with UNICEF is that sort of blue color and the tents and whatnot, as if hope just manifested into these places. When you see within large communities of here and in rural areas or the mud houses, and then you see a blue UNICEF tent or a UNICEF flag and you hear the voices of children, whether they're in a classroom, and they're all sort of reciting something, or even children crying because they're getting their vaccines, it is hope, right?

[00:10:18.82] So I think what is important is that we continue delivering this hope. The past year was a very difficult one for children in Afghanistan, and what we were able to do is give for some of them little bridge across this difficult time.

[00:10:37.87] Thank you, Salam. What an insightful conversation. And I agree. Seeing the UNICEF blue does offer hope for so many. Since I spoke to Salam in this past week, the Taliban de facto authorities made a decision to ban all women from higher education in Afghanistan. To echo Salam's words, we can only hope that girls and women are allowed to continue their studies. The empty classrooms await their return.

[00:11:11.86] From Afghanistan, we move on to another big focus of UNICEF's work this year-- Ukraine. After over eight years of conflict that had caused lasting harm to children, war escalated in the country and posed a threat to the over 7.5 million children that call Ukraine their home. No doubt it was one of the biggest crises of this year, and UNICEF went straight to work to assist families and children in need of support. From access to essential services, including health, education, protection, water and sanitation, as well as other lifesaving supplies, UNICEF has been in the country responding to the urgent needs of children and their families.

[00:12:00.48] I'm joined by Kenan Madi, chief of UNICEF's Dnipro field office in Ukraine. Hi, Kenan. Thanks for joining us. I know you have been working in eastern Ukraine, in an area UNICEF just gained access to. This area was recently taken back by Ukraine. So tell me, after almost 10 months of war, how have the children been impacted? Take us through what you're seeing.

[00:12:29.31] Children are living in fear. The sound of the siren is all day long. In some location, it's more or less, and that's really hard on the mental and the psychosocial and the psychological and all aspect for children. It is cold. There's no heating. There's no electricity. The child is not able to go to school.

[00:12:53.07] They are separated from their friends and maybe family member. Then they are not able to be warm in their own house, so they have to wear thick clothes inside their houses. They are really not able to go outside because it's not really safe outside. And there's no light outside.

[00:13:14.49] So it's becoming more isolated for the children. It's becoming more tough, and the winter specifically now is imposing a different level of pressure on the children's daily life. All that I have mentioned has a big impact, but the biggest impact mainly is on the mental health. And this is something we are worried and concerned about and we are taking care of and trying to support as much as we can.

[00:13:50.28] You touched upon a very important issue-- the mental health of children impacted by conflict and war. I know to help children cope, UNICEF has been setting up Spilno points. Can you explain what they are?

[00:14:04.25] We are working on the community level, specifically in the area impacted by war, to create those centers and access, and we call them the spindle point, where it's a safe place where the children come to have psychosocial support. If I want to put it in a simple term, it's just, try to be a child. A child needs to be in a warm place. Those places, those spindle space, we make sure they always have electricity, they always have lighting, and then they have, of course, the activity, the psychosocial support activity. Then you have the recreation activity, and it's always there.

[00:14:48.51] But children really enjoy just interacting with other children. So just to give you an example, a mother of a child told me in this spindle spot, her child's highlight is coming to the spindle for two hours, and this is the only place where the child does not go through a hardship of the war and the impact of the war on the Ukrainian children. So it is what we want to maintain in addition to all the other services we are providing-- of course, the lifesaving services and responding to the basic needs and the education and all of that, but also those spindle spaces and what they are providing for the mental health and the support for the mental health of the children and their parents also.

[00:15:44.78] Because when parents see their children relaxed, as I said, just acting as children, happy, laughing, they are also more comfortable. And this is UNICEF's message here with the Ukrainian government, to provide those safe spaces, child-friendly spaces for every child in Ukraine.

[00:16:09.78] Being a child living in an active war zone, it must be devastating. But like that parent said, two hours of recreational time in a child-friendly space is sometimes all it takes. I am so glad the spindle points exist for children in Ukraine. For my last question, since this is a year-end podcast, I have to ask, after being on the front lines of the war in Ukraine, working with families and children, what would be your wish for the new year?

[00:16:44.80] I just wish to go to sleep tonight and wake up tomorrow to no war and just to the news that the war is over, to a news where people can return to their houses, to their communities, to their families, to see the schools full with children again, to go and see cars and buses and trains full of people coming back from the neighboring country, coming from where they are residing and displaced and going back to their area of origin, to their cities, to their homes, the children to go back to their schools, to their teacher, to their friends, for a child to not go through the cold they are going through every day, for a child to have a warm home, a normal home, and just for a child to be a child.

[00:17:49.79] No one actually deserves to go through what the Ukrainian people are going through now and specifically children. It's really hard to imagine what's happening here. The impact is massive, and it's just coming at different shapes and layers for the children here. That's my only wish.

[00:18:14.10] Thank you, Kenan. We are all joining you and hoping for a quick end to the war and, like you said, for a child to be a child once again. From Ukraine, we now move to another part of the world which, too, has been impacted by the war in Ukraine-- the Horn of Africa. This region sources much of its wheat from Russia and Ukraine. The Horn of Africa, which includes Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Eritrea, and Djibouti, is facing a climate-induced food crisis which has far-reaching consequences for the lives of children.

[00:18:54.88] I spoke with UNICEF's deputy regional director for eastern and South Africa, Rania Dagash, on the crisis. Hi, Rania. Can you tell us a little bit more about how the war in Ukraine has exacerbated the food crisis?

[00:19:11.55] The war in Ukraine has increased the risk of food insecurity in the Horn of Africa. They are connected. The lives of children in the Horn of Africa are also at increased risk because of the war in Ukraine. Somalia alone used to import 92% of its wheat from Russia and Ukraine, but supply lines are now blocked. The war is exacerbating, spiraling global food and fuel prices, meaning many people in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia can no longer afford the basic foodstuff they need to survive.

[00:19:49.08] These pressures are also impacting our response. The cost of lifesaving therapeutic food that UNICEF uses to treat malnourished children is projected to rise by 16% globally. This also means UNICEF has to source millions more extra funding to cover that increase in price.

[00:20:09.66] On the one hand, we have conflict in Ukraine, as well as the Horn of Africa itself, which is causing this massive crisis, but climate, too, has played a huge role in what is happening right now. Can you talk a bit more about the impacts prolonged drought have had?

[00:20:26.07] The Horn of Africa is a region that is prone to crises. For decades, we have seen children and families losing their homes, their livelihoods, and their loved ones because of conflict and climate shocks. Right now, at least 10 million children are facing severe drought in the region, the worst in the last 40 years. Four consecutive dry seasons in almost two years have driven hundreds of thousands of people from their homes, killed vast amounts of livestock and crops, fueled malnutrition and increased the risk of disease.

[00:21:03.87] Thanks for sharing what is happening in the Horn of Africa, Rania. While it seems bleak, all is not lost. There are many children who have been impacted by the drought but, thanks to lifesaving therapeutic food, are recovering. Earlier this year, Rania visited Dolo in Somalia, where she met baby Farah. Farah is recovering from severe wasting, the most life-threatening form of malnutrition, and is being treated at a UNICEF-supported health center.

[00:21:35.64] Children like Farah come a long way to access health support and services.

[00:21:41.24] "Farah" in Arabic means "happiness," and Farah and her mother and her father and sibling walked for three days to get to this nutrition center. She has diarrhea, is vomiting, and is receiving her treatment with the support of UNICEF in this old tepee. Farah is nine months old, and her mother thinks she'll be a doctor when she grows up.

[00:22:10.08] Displacement and the long walking exhausts the children. It compounds with food insecurity, lack of water, disease, and the combination is what's fatal for many of these vulnerable children. This is what, potentially, increases mortality, and we should try and prevent that as much as we can. We should get our services to Farah and children like Farah closer to where they live.

[00:22:36.97] What do you think, Farah? You agree, don't you?

[00:22:42.24] Sharing Farah's laughter and the experiences of Rania, Kenan, and Salam gives me hope and leaves me with a sense of pride, pride for what UNICEF's work has been able to achieve in a year that saw some unprecedented challenges, and hope that this work would help us reimagine a better future for children in 2023 and beyond. Most of this work would not have been possible without all of our supporters, so I want to thank each one of you-- every donor, every supporter, and every listener-- on behalf of every child you have helped this year.

[00:23:25.68] That brings us to the end of our episode. But we'll be back in January, so don't forget to listen in. If you liked what you heard and want to listen more or support the work UNICEF is doing, visit UNICEF.ca. That's UNICEF.ca. Thanks for listening. I look forward to continuing this journey in 2023.

[00:23:52.23] [SOFT UPBEAT MUSIC]