In November 2011 the GPA Ambassadors for UNICEF Ireland, Joe Canning & Dermot Earley visited Swaziland on their first field trip with the international children's organisation. Their visit to a country where child malnutrition is a daily reality for families, coincided with the launch of UNICEF Ireland’s annual “Just One” Appeal which runs for the month of November. UNICEF Ireland is asking everyone in Ireland to donate just €1 each to UNICEF and help save a child’s life. During their week in Swaziland, Joe & Dermot saw for themselves the reality of life for children and families who survive on less than €1 a day.
In the country with the highest HIV prevalence in the world1, their very first stop was to a UNICEF Neighbourhood Care Point in Nkambeni. Neighbourhood Care Points are located throughout Swaziland and they are safe spaces within in a community where neighbours come together to provide care for children who have been orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS. As well as providing emotional support and care for children, children who attend the care points receive a daily hot meal, basic health services, clothing and educational and life-skill lessons as well as many different play activities.
Please donate online to support UNICEF’s relief efforts for children in emergencies.
“It’s hard to imagine how difficult these children’s lives would be without the daily support they receive from the Neighborhood Care Point” said Dermot, speaking after their visit. “It is very humbling to watch children, some as young as 2 and 3 years of age arrive at the care point to receive their only meal of the day having walked for over an hour to get there. You could see the worry on the faces of the volunteers when we asked them about the challenges they face as they try to help the children. With UNICEF's help they are trying to ensure that every child that arrives each day at the care point gets enough food, care and medical attention when necessary. No child should have to face that every day but the sad reality is that many thousands of children do just that here in Swaziland.“
The second visit was to Tikhuba Clinic, a rural community health clinic in Lubombo. At the clinic, UNICEF provides all the equipment to montior children's nutrition as well as therapeutic foods for children to help them recover from malnutrition. Here, Joe & Dermot also met nurses and rural health workers who explained the community-based monitoring and health promotion services they provide with UNICEF’s support, which identifies malnourished children in the rural community and they make sure that the children attend the clinic for medical attention.
Please donate online to support UNICEF’s relief efforts for children in emergencies.
Child malnutrition is a daily reality for families in Swaziland. With over 70 percent of families living below the poverty line, UNICEF estimates that nearly 40 percent of children living in the small African kingdom suffer from stunted growth as a result of malnutrition. At the clinic, Joe and Dermot watched on as 3 year old Andile Gamedre was weighed and monitored as she is currently under-weight for her age. Andile's mother Busioiure received more plump'nut at the clinic to continue feeding Andile at home. Just €1 buys 3 sachets of plump'nut – a therapeutic peanut paste that helps children recover from malnutrition.
Joe and Dermot then moved onto the UNICEF supported Good Shepherd Hospital in Siteki, where they visited a children’s ward, where severely malnourished babies are admitted for therapeutic feeding. Dr. Joyce Mareverwa, the paediatric doctor at the hospital told the UNICEF Ireland Ambassadors that on average they are treating over 100 children every week who are admitted to the hospital suffering from malnutrition.
“We read the UNICEF statistics about child survival in Swaziland before we arrived here” said Joe Canning speaking after the visit. “But it wasn't until I was sitting in the hospital ward, holding a little 6-month old baby and talking to his grandmother, who was now looking after him and his four other young brothers and sisters because her daughter had passed away from AIDS, that you not only really begin to understand the immense challenges that children in Swaziland face, but also, the difference UNICEF is making to children's lives.”
“Once the children start on a course of the therapeutic milk, they make a good recovery in such a short space of time, but the challenge for UNICEF is that there are more children who need our support and funding is always a challenge. By supporting the Just One Appeal and donating €1 to UNICEF, people across Ireland will help UNICEF save children's lives. I've seen for myself the difference UNICEF is making here in Swaziland and met children's whose lives have been saved with UNICEF's help” continued Joe.
Dermot and Joe also visited Ezulwini Community Primary School near Mbabane, where nearly 800 pupils are currently enrolled. Both Ambassadors were taken aback when a teacher commented that many children at the school do not look forward to summer holidays as they rely on the school for their only meal of the day. During their visit, Joe & Dermot helped assist with the preparation of the daily school meal, which consisted of maize and beans and visited the school's vegetable garden, where vegetables for many of the school dinners are grown.
With support from UNICEF, Ezulwini is one of 223 schools across Swaziland that have introduced a 'Life Skills through Sport' programme. Here through various sporting activities such as soccer, netball, volleyball and rugby, children learn many key HIV prevention lessons. Since the start of the programme, many more children at the school have got involved with the various sporting activities, and they were queueing up to try their hand at hurling after Joe and Dermot had given a short demonstration.
”We had such a great time at the school this morning and we really didn't want to leave” said Joe, “But, I'll take away what the teacher told us as we toured the school. Back home, children look forward to their summer holidays with such excitement and anticipation. It's a real eye-opener and gives you a different perspective on life , when you hear a teacher describe how some of the pupils dread the holidays as they worry where their one daily meal will come from.”
Speaking on their return, Dermot said “Joe and I are so grateful for this opportunity to see for ourselves the work that UNICEF is doing in Swaziland and the challenges that they face as they try to build a better future for Swaziland's children. We hope our visit will help draw attention to the challenges faced by children every day not just in Swaziland but across the world"
Thanking Dermot and Joe for making the time to visit Swaziland on behalf of UNICEF Ireland, Lisa-Nicole Dunne, UNICEF Ireland's Director of Public Fundraising said “We are extremely grateful to both Joe and Dermot for taking the time to make their visit to Swaziland this week and help us draw attention to the child survival challenges faced by children in Swaziland. We are also very thankful for the continuing support of the Gaelic Players Association and their commitment to helping us draw attention to the plight of the world's most vulnerable children.”