The best kind of traffic jam

 Long line of pick-up trucks loaded with tents and other education emergency
supplies ready for distribution to 11,000 children in more than 120
cyclone-affected early childhood centers and primary schools

Normally I dislike traffic jams, but I couldn't be happier to see this one. It doesn't matter that it’s 30 degrees Celsius here on Tanna Island, Vanuatu and that I’m drenched in sweat; seeing a long line of pick-up trucks loaded with tents and other education emergency supplies ready for distribution to 11,000 children in more than 120 cyclone-affected early childhood centers and primary schools makes my day. 

A magic suitcase to bring back hopes and dreams

By Elodie Berthe -14 May 2014

After a short drive from the UNICEF office in Port Vila, through streets lined with homes and shops in various stages of post-cyclone reconstruction, we arrive at Fresh Wota Field; a big empty grassland with two goal posts. Small houses of different shapes and colours surround the young people engaged in an intense game of football despite the equally intense heat. 

We park under a tree to escape the heat and wait … and wait … for our scheduled rendezvous. We talk to the football players, make some phone calls and, just when we are about to leave, there they are; fifteen children carrying balls, water, a bright blue UNICEF bag and a big metal box.

Children of Fresh Wota, Port Vila, carrying the recreation kits distributed by UNICEF
© UNICEF PACIFIC/2015/Elodie Berthe 

UNICEF overcomes huge logistical challenges to get life-saving aid to Vanuatu

Warehouse workers erecting a temporary storage facility to store supplies UNICEF received
from a 100 metric tonne shipment that arrived in Port Vila recently. © UNICEF PACIFIC/2015/McGarry

Port Vila, Vanuatu - It’s all hands on deck as 15 warehouse workers heave, push, lift and carry boxes of emergency supplies that have just arrived in a 40-foot container at the UNICEF ware-house in Port Vila, Vanuatu.

UNICEF’s emergency responses in support of affected children always include a strong supply component and the response to Cyclone Pam, a Category 5 cyclone that devastated the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu a month ago, is no exception. Today, 100 metric tonnes of essential emergency supplies have arrived all the way from Copenhagen.

Back to School Support for Children Affected by Tropical Cyclone Evan

Tents that will act as temporary learning spaces, and School-in-a-Box kits to equip the temporary classrooms, were part of the support provided by UNICEF to the Ministry of Education to help get children back to school. In addition, back packs containing stationery sets are being provided to assist with the educational needs of primary school students affected by Tropical Cyclone Evan.

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