Every child has a story

Ted Chaiban, UNICEF Director of Emergency Programmes, visited South Sudan last week and writes about the urgency of funding preparations for the rainy season.

In the Central African Republic, a million people have fled their homes, and around half the population is in urgent need of assistance as a result of violence during the past year. Among the most affected are children, who have suffered increasingly from malnutrition and become targets of violence.

Abu Ibrahim runs around the school playground kicking a ball with his two-year old son. It’s the first time he’s seen the little boy since his wife and four children fled the besieged city of Old Homs.

Ahida, her husband, and four of her children fled the old city of Homs during the UN monitored evacuation mission two weeks ago. While living under siege, they were forced to eat grass and other weeds to survive.

This convoy was part of a comprehensive plan by UNICEF and other partners to access the hard-to-reach areas inside Syria with vital emergency supplies.

Soon after arriving in the Central African Republic, I visit the country's only paediatric hospital and it quickly becomes clear why so many have had to flee their homes. One small boy has his head wrapped up snugly in white bandages. His name is Bruno and he is 11 years old.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, today added his support to a campaign led by UNICEF and partners that calls on people to become Champions for the Children of Syria as part of the new No Lost Generation strategy.

Last weekend, UNICEF and the City of Tacloban threw a party 1,500 survivors of Typhoon Haiyan. Brothers, sisters, and friends, together with 500 adults, hopped on Jeepneys – a stretch Jeep which is commonly used as public transport here – and hopped out at the Rizal Plaza.

20 year-old Nyakuma is one of three mothers who gave birth to babies on Christmas day at the military hospital in Tomping, Juba, South Sudan. Her baby girl, born in the early hours of the 25th, does not yet have a name - or a home.