Children go back to school in Vanuatu

Pupils sit inside a UNICEF tent, being used as a temporary school
structure © UNICEF PACIFIC/2015/Sorkhin

After a disturbing event like Cyclone Pam it's important to get children back to learning and playing as soon as possible. Unfortunately, many of the schools in Vanuatu were heavily damaged and will take months to rebuild. But, thanks to UNICEF's support, pupils from St Joseph's College and Vila East Primary school were able to get back to school yesterday.

A father prioritises his daughter’s education amidst the destruction

Story of 10 year old Joana from Black Sand area on her experiences when TC Pam hit Port Vila and how she and her family fled to her aunty’s house for safety. Her father, Edward, says that despite losing their home and their crops and not having enough money, his priority as a father is to get his children educated. UNICEF Pacific/2015/Further Arts

Edward Bani understands sacrifice. He supports his family in Black Sand, one of Port Vila’s poorest communities, by working as a labourer building roads on Tanna Island, a boat journey of several days from Vanuatu’s capital. He was there when Cyclone Pam, an unprecedented Category 5 tropical cyclone, hit Vanuatu, bringing absolute destruction and affecting more than half the country’s population on 22 islands.

600 children can resume their education after UNICEF school supplies reach Cyclone-hit Tongoa Island in Vanuatu

UNICEF Education emergency supplies arrive in Tongoa
on the 23rd March. UNICEF Pacific/2015/Kyaw

600 children on Tongoa Island, one of the 22 islands in Vanuatu hardest hit by Category 5 Tropical Cyclone Pam, have received school supplies from UNICEF that will allow them to return to school. 

Khin Maung Kyaw is an Education Field Officer from UNICEF Myanmar, who has been deployed to Vanuatu following a request from Vanuatu’s Ministry of Education and through the National Disaster Management Office to assist with the emergency response. Although this is his first time to Vanuatu he is no stranger to emergency repsonse including Cyclone Nargis which badly affected Myanmar in 2008. He tells the story of UNICEF’s efforts to get essential school supplies to children on remote Tongoa Island.

Cyclone Pam affects everyone in the family

L-R. Joyleen, Nathan and Lawrence in the health clinic where they sheltered from Cyclone Pam with five other families. One family is still sheltering there after their home was completely destroyed. UNICEF/2015/Sohkin

Joyleen (16) comforts her little brother Nathan (4) as he recovers from the brief shock of a potentially life-saving measles vaccine injection. The tears soon disappear and he is quickly back to his curious and social self. 

Cyclone Pam interrupts lives and creates a heavy load for girls.

Nellie carries a bundle of tree branches as part of community clean-up efforts nationwide after Category 5 Tropical Cyclone Pam caused unimaginable destruction across Vanuatu. © UNICEF/2015/McGarry    

Nellie is dwarfed by the pile of tree branches she is dutifully carrying as part of community clean-up efforts on Ifira Island, one of more than 22 islands in the Vanuatu archipelago badly damaged by Category 5 Tropical Cyclone Pam. 

UNICEF provides life-saving medical equipment and medicine to Vanuatu’s children

UNICEF is providing life-saving medical equipment and
medicine to Vanuatu’s children, through its implementing
partner, IMC. ©UNICEF Pacificy/2015/Sevenier

22 March 2015 - UNICEF and partners have been called upon by the Vanuatu Ministry of Health to respond to the emergency situation following Super Tropical Cyclone Pam. As part of its response UNICEF today provided Interagency Emergency Health Kits in order to prevent and manage serious threats to the survival and health of the children of Ambrym, one of Vanuatu’s most affected islands. The kits include medical equipment and medicines sufficient for 5000 people over a three-month period.

UNICEF’s implementing partner, IMC (International Medical Corps), will dispatch these kits along with mobile medical units, including doctors and local nurses, to Ambrym. 

Tropical Cyclone Pam

Updates from Alice who has been deployed to Vanuatu to assist with preparations for the imminent arrival of Tropical Cyclone Pam. 

If you've ever wondered why Vanuatu seems to get so many disasters this vlogs also explains many of the reasons why preparedness is so important for a disaster-prone country like Vanuatu. 

What types of disasters affect your country? Share your experiences below!

Note: To view other Vlogs click the playlist 

Celebrating 25 Years of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in the Cook Islands

Girls and boys during their water break with
UNICEF Pacific’s Deputy Representative, Isabelle Austin.
©UNICEF Pacificy/2012/Olul

Twenty-five years ago the world made a promise to children; promising that we would do everything in our power to protect and promote their rights to survive and thrive, to learn and grow, to make their voices heard and to reach their full potential. This promise was called the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and in 2014 we spent the year celebrating its 25th birthday by working with children and communities to highlight the rights that it promised for children, and supporting children to enjoy them. These are just some of the ways that we celebrated the anniversary in the Pacific: 

A right to play: 

Providing tools for life: Solomon Islands educators and artists come together for children.

Participants of the Getting Ready for School and Life. Innovative
Communication and Learning Materials for Early Childhood Education (ECE) workshop 

A workshop organised by the Solomon Islands Ministry of Education and Human Resources with support from UNICEF proved to be unexpectedly life-changing for many participants. 

More than 50 talented and well-known Solomon Islands graphic designers, illustrators, photographers and Early Childhood teachers came together in February for a workshop facilitated by Barbara Kolucki from UNICEF, an expert in communicating with children.