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.

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 

Harvesting the Heavens to adapt to Climate Change

Issue

In the Pacific region, climate change is causing serious degradation of the coastal environment and natural resources on which Pacific islanders depend. Increasingly variable rainfall, cyclones, floods, droughts, and decreasing water quality are so significant that they threaten the economic development and the health of their population.

When giving up is not an option

Villagers helping Susan with weighing the babies before 

vaccination. © UNICEF Pacific./2014/Thakkar

Susan Wokeke is a 30-year old nurse in the village health center of Big Bay Bush on Santo Island (one of Vanuatu’s 83 islands). Fresh out of nursing college, she was posted here at the tender age of 20. With a heart full of aspirations, she wanted to make a difference in the lives of the people here, reach out to them and help them with their health concerns. She soon realised that it was not going to be easy at all.

Who are you?

Over the weekend, I conducted an exercise asking people around me a simple question, “Who are you?” Think about this question for a moment. Have a quick three-sentence response in mind?

In my experience, invariably, the answer began with a name followed by either what one did for a living and/or where they came from or lived. Please do share and tell us more about who you are with #whoareyou. 

Did you PLAY today?

Rorona Kalsakau, Just Play Project Manager leading a
Just Play session at the at the Vanuatu Society for
Persons with Disabilities in Port Vila, Vanuatu.
©UNICEF/Pacific/2014/Alcock

Everyday around the Pacific region, children gather in open spaces, at community schools and on empty pitches to take part in Just Play sessions. Equipment bags come out, cones and balls line the field. 

Children gather around their coach and wait in anticipation as the Challenge of the Week from the last session is reviewed. Hands fly into the air in response to their coach’s question: “Who worked hard to make health lifestyle choices, eating 2 fruits and 3 vegetables today?” Smiles can be seen, and applause heard coming from the group acknowledging their accomplishment. 

The moral of the story is in the data

Participants:  Data for Development: Workshop to Build Capacity in
Statistical Literacy and Data Use to Support Child-Relevant Planning,
Decision-Making and Advocacy. © UNICEF Pacific./2014/Thakkar

Last week my colleague Rebecca (Monitoring and Evaluation Officer for UNICEF Vanuatu) asked me if I could join her and our colleagues Bjorn and Asenaca from the Suva office for a workshop organised by UNICEF and Vanuatu National Statistics Office (VNSO). She said it would be handy if I could write up a press release for the local media. Seemed like a simple task so why not. Then she told me the subject of the workshop, which was “Data for Development: Workshop to Build Capacity in Statistical Literacy and Data Use to Support Child-Relevant Planning, Decision-Making and Advocacy”. 

World Cup Fever in the Pacific and Just Play

Football World Cup 2014 has managed to mesmerise the world in unprecedented ways. Even countries like the USA and India who weren’t typically known as “football countries” have not been able to escape the charm of the game and the contagious enthusiasm of its fans. Vanuatu is no exception to that phenomenon. Yes, World Cup fever has gripped even the countries of the Pacific!

Plastic basins keep children alive during flooding in Solomon Islands

By Atenia Tahu, UNICEF 

More than one week after devastating floods in Honiara, Solomon Islands, over 9,000 people are still sheltering at evacuation centres. While those who are able go out during the day to work and try to repair or rebuild, mothers and children stay there day and night. One of the evacuation centres is a big room at the Holy Cross Cathedral. 

Three babies - Alistair Iroga, Lester Maemalaohu and Harry Sareto’oma, all survived the flash floods on 3-5 April because their parents put them in plastic basins and pushed them across the flood waters to safety. The flood destroyed the homes and possessions of the babies’ families.

UNICEF Pacific donates tents and tarpaulins

By Atenia Tahu

UNICEF Pacific donated three 80m² tents and 20 tarpaulins to the Honiara City Council, for use by people who fled from floodwaters between 3-5 April. The tents are erected at the Festival of the Pacific Arts (FOPA) compound that is being used as an evacuation centre, and the tarpaulins are used on the roofs of leaf huts to prevent leaking when it rains. Around 350 people are currently sheltering there.

Honiara City Council volunteers assist in transporting UNICEF tents to the FOPA compound. © UNICEF Pacific/2014/ATahu

Baby Clera celebrates two week birthday in evacuation center

Story by: Vika Waradi
Communication Officer, UNICEF Pacific





Miracle baby Clera and family survived Solomon Islands floods.
She is two weeks old today. © UNICEF Pacific/2014/VWaradi

A mother’s joy of giving birth to her healthy baby girl turned into a fight to save her daughter’s life. Only a week after returning home from hospital with her new bundle of joy, Madeline Hiro, found herself desperately trying to save her family from the raging waters that took their family home during the recent flash floods in Honiara. She now joins 52,000 people who have been affected by this disaster that has also claimed the lives of at least twenty-one people, many of which were children. 

Eight-year old carried away by flooded river out to sea but bravely survives Solomon Islands flash floods while relatives tragically perish

By Atenia Tahu
Communication for Development Officer, Solomon Islands

Isiah Andrew, 8 years old, may be one of the youngest to survive the dreadful flash floods that swept hundreds of homes away, leaving 17 dead, 30 missing and an estimated 12,000 people homeless as of yesterday.

Isiah lives with his parents in Wagina, a settlement in Choiseul province. A week before the floods, he came to Honiara to spend his one week school break with his sister as he always does. But little did he know, this holiday would be a haunting one for the rest of his life.

Isiah Andrew at West Kola-Ridge. © UNICEF Pacific/2014/ATahu

Solar power enhances learning

Photo of Ivory Kete, during her maths class at 1:10pm © UNICEF Pacific/2014/ATahu

Ivory Kete, 14, is a grade five student at the Titinge Primary School, located on a ridge along the southern outskirt of the capital, Honiara. I met her recently when I accompanied a UNICEF photographer capturing world class photos of children and children’s issues in the pacific.

Solomon Island youth to use radio to save lives

Youths and WASH stakeholders from various organizations
© UNICEF Pacific/2014/ATahu

In early March 2014, 6 youth from the Solomon Islands were trained to produce an interactive radio show to engage with other youth around this Pacific island nation and promote awareness and adoption of life saving key family practices focusing on water, sanitation, hygiene, health, child protection and education.

Queen’s Baton spends Christmas with children in Vanuatu photo story

The holiday season in Vanuatu was even more special with the visit of the Queen’s Baton Relay over the Christmas break.

Queen’s Baton spends Christmas with children in Vanuatu

A small girl in one of the villages
welcomes the Queen Baton Relay

The holiday season in Vanuatu was even more special with the visit of the Queen’s Baton Relay over the Christmas break. The Baton Relay is currently taking place around the world in the lead up to the XX Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and has recently finished its leg of the journey through the Pacific.  UNICEF is the charity partner of the Commonwealth Games, providing a great opportunity to focus on the children of Commonwealth countries, highlighting what a contemporary Commonwealth country looks like and the dreams and lives of the children that live in them. Vanuatu was the last Pacific country to host the baton. But it was not just a relay that was held in honour of the visit – there was also a UNICEF-supported fun event held in Port Vila for children and their families to highlight the importance of play and sport in children’s development and learning. This is an issue of critical importance in Vanuatu due to challenges children face in accessing quality care and education.