UNICEF in emergencies: Supporting children through crises

Season 4, episode 3

UNICEF in emergencies: Supporting children through crises

In this episode of the podcast we hear from youth impacted by the war in Ukraine and the earthquake in Syria and Türkiye, and learn about the work UNICEF is doing to support those suffering due to these crises.

Host: Saara Chaudry, UNICEF Canada Ambassador

Guests:

Yulia, UNICEF Youth Advocate, Poland

David Morley, UNICEF Canada CEO and President

Taisia, UPskill participant, UNICEF Ukraine

Producers: Sara Faruqi & Priyadarshini Mitra

Sound Mix: Chandra Bulucon

Episode Transcript: 

[00:00:00.86] Thousands of people are dead, thousands of people still missing. Families looking for loved ones and then people without shelter in the middle of winter. There are some real concerns immediately around water, shelter, some of the things that need to happen very rapidly. But it's really right now the end of the search and rescue phase and the real beginning of the scale up of the humanitarian response. We know that what is needed is at the beginning is shelter. We know that children and people die from exposure. It's bad water, it's health, it's nutrition, and it's protection. A lot of children are separated from their families.

[00:00:42.85] That was Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF's director of Emergency Programs speaking about the devastating earthquakes that hit Syria and Southeast Turkey on February 6. Over 40,000 lives have been lost, including those of children. Thousands more have been injured. Schools, hospitals, and homes have been damaged or destroyed. UNICEF is responding to this crisis by providing urgent life-saving supplies, such as safe drinking water, shelter, winter clothes, and psychosocial support to those affected by this crisis. Responding to emergencies is an important part of UNICEF's work, and we hear a little bit more about it on today's episode of the For Every Child podcast. I'm your host, UNICEF Canada Ambassador, Sara Chaudhry.

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[00:01:50.45] Whenever and wherever disasters strike UNICEF is there immediately delivering life-saving essentials like safe water, shelter, therapeutic food, and medicine. Through natural disasters like earthquakes or when conflict traps innocent lives in their crossfire, UNICEF is always prepared to take immediate action and then remain in the impacted area long after most other organizations to help restore and rebuild lives and communities. Lives like those of 10-year-old Bison in Syria.

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[00:02:37.54] Her family had to move into a temporary shelter as their house collapsed during the earthquake. She used to be top of her class in school and says she hopes to go back to school soon and for her house to be rebuilt. For children like Bison and Syria who are under the age of 12, they have known nothing but conflict, violence, or displacement. Some children have been displaced six or seven times. This earthquake has compounded their already vulnerable humanitarian situation. In Syria following the earthquake, UNICEF is assessing the damage to schools and has even begun repairs at some schools.

[00:03:22.24] Temporary learning spaces are also being set up where schools were severely damaged or rendered unusable. Child friendly spaces and temporary learning spaces are being set up in Turkey, so that children can resume their learning. When disasters strike the impact on students can be devastating.

[00:03:49.96] In February 2022 when the war in Ukraine escalated, 18-year-old Julia, a UNICEF youth advocate, was a regular high school student in Krakow, Poland. She was gearing up for her final exams before University while volunteering as a scout leader in her free time. Overnight things changed, not only for Ukrainians but also for the neighboring countries that opened their borders to accept refugees.

[00:04:21.61] Working with the government and UN agencies, including UNICEF, Julia and her fellow scouts got to work helping in any way they can. From assisting the trains of refugees arriving into Krakow by helping families find the right services, find their loved ones, help buy tickets to other locations to offering tea and food. Hi, Julia. You were at the train station in Krakow every day when the first influx of Ukrainian families started coming into Krakow. What was that experience like?

[00:04:56.47] It was really hard to see that because there were, for example, I was working mostly in Krakow. It starts next to the border with Ukraine. So it was mostly situations like we suddenly got a call from another point closer to the border saying that, OK, guys. There's a train coming to Krakow with like 600 of people. Be ready. There were so many people, when you came to the railway station they weren't empty spaces. There was only one big crowd. And we were, for example, working around people just giving their water bottles that when they were waiting in the lines to get some actual food or to be relocated to the places that they will be sleeping in.

[00:05:49.96] And actually, we were always saying like, OK, I will today come to the railway station for two hours and then I have to go home because I have things to do. And you never worked out after two hours. It was always like five hours later and you're like, OK, now I really have to go. Because there was always something, there was always someone, and we always were saying that if you want to go out of the railway station you have to close your eyes and walk out because there was no other way to not see people or not be like kept by someone and asked for help. So it was really hard to actually go because there were so many people. And so much help was where it was needed.

[00:06:40.06] Those people, most of the time when they tried to get to Poland, they were working for like eight or 10 hours before they get to the border in Poland. So if they took the more things, they weren't able to handle them anymore. So they just throw it and came at Poland empty-handed. Most of the they mostly had just passports and some identification and that was all.

[00:07:11.57] And as a youth advocate and a scout, you've said you were used to helping others in society. But how was this experience different?

[00:07:21.91] There weren't easy feelings, I would say, because it's not something that we could be ever prepared for. Of course, we learned history, of course, we heard from our grandparents how it was when the war was still here or when there was still the communism in Poland or things like that. But it's not something that you can be prepared for. At this site it is, I would say, traumatizing because you're like 18 or something, I was 18 at that time. We were starting our adulthood. Me and my friends were taking really big exams that year that we're about to decide about our universities. So normally, we would only study and keep our heads in the books when this all started.

[00:08:15.85] And it was really hard to see people coming to you with nothing. They were all crying. There was also the sense of think in people that they finally came to some point when they got some food or things like that. And then they had a need to speak, what happens to them. So we heard so many stories how their houses were bombed, how their closest one were killed in front of their eyes. How they had to walk to the border or there were some girls that, for example, were separated from their mother. And we had to fight the way to get them together again.

[00:09:03.37] And those stories were, for us, they were really terrible. But we always tried not to cry in front of them. And especially when, for example, at the beginning I came there and I was mostly at first at the foot point. And for me, it so abstract that someone was coming to me and I gave them just a cup of hot tea, and they were crying from happiness because they got just a cup of hot tea. Me and my friends, we we once came to the railway station, where do you stay, for example, when you decided to not come tomorrow, but the next day there was such a feeling of guilt.

[00:09:46.68] Because we already saw these people and see how much help they did, when you were sitting at home, we were like, wow, I could be doing something right now. And I know that there is need. So it was really a big feeling of guilt. That's what I guess made us still go and work on it.

[00:10:08.80] And one year later, how has this changed? You seeing displacement like this so up close.

[00:10:15.21] I guess we now are way more scheduled and organized to the point where we know how much people is there that are those points at exact time because now people are still coming, but it's not it's such a sudden and big movement. It's unstable I would say because many people started going back to Ukraine. Many the people started going back to Poland. And that way there's always some movement, but it's way smaller, so we can manage that without for example, suddenly calling for 15 more people because there's a need.

[00:10:57.14] There are not situations like that anymore. What I would say is really helpful as well is that we have many informations already written in Ukrainian language that is prepared like some files, and those like-- even some maps and that way we don't have to always try to catch somewhere Ukrainian people who can speak also Polish or things like that because at least they could read.

[00:11:28.34] What are you hoping for in the future? What sort of work are you still doing to help with the refugees? When this whole situation came, I realize how thankful I am for the peace that I have in my country. And I realized how hard it must be in the other countries that have war since six years and there is still nothing done about that. And that's what made me realize how lucky I am to live here. And also, I would say that mine and my friends' perception of our time and what we are doing is different now.

[00:12:16.75] Because, for example, me and my friends who are from, for example, from high school-- those friends are world scouts. They came up to me they were like, yeah, you guys know what to do. Just lead us. Tell us how can we help. And from that moment I can see that they are really motivated to for example, we started our universities. And they're really motivated to do their thing and it's go further and, for example, maybe do some changes in the future. Because we really hated how it all looked like. None of us want to see that again, and none of us want to see that keep on going. Unfortunately, there is still foregoing in the Ukraine.

[00:13:06.43] So we still have to somehow see. Of course, we would ever be able to say it from the perspective from the people who were actually attacked, but we were the ones who saw people who were after such a hard situations. And we don't want to see that, I guess, in the future. And I think all of my friends would do anything to not see it anymore and not see it in the future for their own lives or their children lives.

[00:13:46.69] From Poland we go to Bratislava in Slovakia, where UNICEF Canada CEO, David Morley, recently visited. David met with UNICEF staff and saw firsthand the programs and services being run by UNICEF in Slovakia, including a blue dot center and a play and learn hub. Hi, David. You just recently, very recently came back from your visit to Slovakia. What was the experience like?

[00:14:16.78] I think one of the things about meeting the people who've lost everything and seeing how UNICEF is helping Slovak civil society respond to them-- it's very humbling. It's humbling because talking with people who have children and families, who are living a life that was really in many ways not that different from our lives in Canada. And they just lost everything in the blink of an eye, and they had to drop everything, and they had to flee. And then in Slovakia to see the response that the Slovak people had right away.

[00:15:07.49] One of the things I loved was hearing that all the bus drivers in Bratislava, that's the capital of Slovakia, all the bus drivers when they heard that these Ukrainians were coming across the border, they just drove to the border, so that they could pick up families, people they didn't know using their buses, taking them back to Bratislava where there were places for people to be able to stay and where there were refugee reception centers. And that outpouring of generosity and support was great because Slovakia-- it's very different than Canada in that people tend not to emigrate there.

[00:15:46.63] There were hardly any immigrants in that couple of years leading up to this. And then, last year once the war escalated a million people came through their country of 5 million people, and 100,000 of those people have stayed. So to see how the people of Slovakia want to help, and then for us as UNICEF, how we're able to help the people of Slovakia. It's really, as I say, it's humbling and it is it's inspiring.

[00:16:22.06] It has been a year since the war escalated in Ukraine. So what did the staff working at the UNICEF emergency response in Slovakia tell you about what has happened since, and how did they initially respond and how has that changed?

[00:16:37.03] Again, using Slovakia as an example. There are many things. We've opened blue dot centers, which are reception centers where as people come in the blue dot center that people get legal services. And in Slovakia they were very generous. They said that Ukrainians can have the right to work right away. So they get those papers. They may get some medical check up for emergency medical help. There was also a number of people who are-- this is a bit more longer term-- but doing language training for the Ukrainians, so that people can learn more about how to speak in Slovakia.

[00:17:29.37] There was a child friendly center. I mean, it was a big room. Looks like a big kindergarten. Just a place where kids-- they've come, they've been totally uprooted and while their parents are going through all the refugee processing stuff, the little kids are able to play with toys. And then there was a place where bigger kids could be playing video games and more gross motor activity, sporting activities and stuff. It was great to see that, that UNICEF has set up. And then we've also been helping in some other areas where refugees are being housed.

[00:18:18.21] Helping with again, early childhood development centers. So amongst the refugees were teachers and ECE teachers, early childhood educators. And so helping them set up centers for the little kids and then also, we've been providing support to schools that are now having to deal with this influx of young people who are coming into the Slovak school system that they weren't ready for. So we're helping with employing teachers who speak Ukrainian for those Ukrainian children. So it's helping the people of Slovakia provide those services.

[00:19:04.41] Then we've also been working with things. Things like training border guards and you might go, well, why are you training border guards, but I was told by one of our colleagues there who's been involved in training of border guards to-- how do you spot a child or young person who perhaps is being trafficked. Because these times of a great societal upset like happen in Ukraine, young people get trafficked. And so these border guards said to our staff, said to the UNICEF staff, we've been doing this forever. We don't need any training on this, but OK. We'll take it.

[00:19:49.00] And this one border guard told Susana, who was the UNICEF staff person that was doing the training at the end of a two week session, he said I realized I had so much to learn. There's so many cars coming across our border. I have 30 seconds to decide whether or not, if there's a young person in the car, if that person is in distress or not. And if I can help stop-- it's a child maybe getting trafficked. So that training, that kind of awareness raising is what is a big thing that we've been doing to try and protect those young people from getting trafficked into who knows what.

[00:20:34.02] And really helping the local governments with how to respond to such an influx of refugees. Slovakia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary-- these aren't countries that are used to having big influxes of people. And UNICEF is able to help those governments provide services, so that the people of Ukraine-- they've lost everything. There are people who are coming from [INAUDIBLE], and Mariupol, and Sabaricha, the cities and towns that are on the front lines, that are in our news headlines all the time.

[00:21:23.01] But for these people it's their home. It was their home and it's been destroyed. And so we're providing those services and psychological support and the physical support. And sometimes, families who don't have anything, it's giving them money, so that they can be buying things for their kids, to do something to try and alleviate the suffering that these families are going through.

[00:21:51.04] Thank you, David. As we heard from Julie and David, families fleeing Ukraine have had to deal with so much and so have the countries that have taken them in. In this time there has been a lot of learning for the countries from the initial chaotic days to the preceding months of helping families and children settle in, reunifying loved ones, and providing essential services to the many who came. At the same time, many Ukrainian families who fled with nothing are learning to adapt and live in a new country. It hasn't been easy for anyone, but imagine living in Ukraine as a young person where while the war wasn't at your doorstep, you still had to run for shelter in the middle of class every time the air sirens went off.

[00:22:45.15] And we're hearing news of destruction, death, and displacement from other parts of your country daily. 15-year-old Tayshia from Alexa in Alexandria, Ukraine, knows this too well. Hi, Tayshia. How has it been for you since the war escalated? How have you been coping?

[00:23:08.36] Sort of. At the start it was terrible. I couldn't just handle. I was crying a lot because of this and again, it was very hard in that it's currently happening right now with our people, with our country. When the air alarms start to get off in my school when I was in school, we started to go to the bunkers under the school. And we are sitting there and praying for the God, for it to not affect our studies, to not affect the lives of Ukrainians. And no one should die because of this air alarm. And it's more has effect on our mind, on our mental state.

[00:23:56.42] Because I don't know, it's very difficult. And right now it is happening too, but I am more used to it, so I was seeing the news about this from the very start. And right now I say to you each day, every day when I turn on the TV or my Telegram Messenger, News Center. So I got quite used to it, but it is not very good.

[00:24:28.23] It sounds very, very difficult. It's been a year of war. What are your hopes for the future?

[00:24:37.68] Actually, I'm praying every day for our country. I'm praying about the safety of our people and for people to live in their houses and not thinking about that they can die at any minute because of the attacks of the bombing. And it would be great if our economy went back to normal and our country could start to improve again, and not just suffer because of the situation.

[00:25:11.50] Thank you, Tayshia. The stories that we heard today showcase the resilience and strength of children and young people and also the work UNICEF is doing to protect every child. However, despite all of UNICEF's efforts the needs of the children suffering crises are enormous. And the challenges are many and complex.

[00:25:38.55] More support is needed everywhere. More safe water, more warmth, more shelter, more medicines, more funding. Everyone listening can play a part today. Log on to unicef.ca and make a donation. Every dollar counts. I'll end today's episode with that appeal. Thank you so much for listening.

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