This is Hasina (15), she is a 7th grade student who loves to go to school. She used to live with her sister and her husband, and without her knowing, her sisters’ husband was arranging her marriage to one of his friends…she was 12 at the time. One day when the man visited her house to pester her parents to marry her, she escaped to a friends house and the next day went to one of the community-based child’s marriage prevention platforms (alone), which she had heard about at school. She asked herself, if She married now, would she ever go back to school again? Hasina loves learning and wasn’t willing to trade her education or freedom for anything.That gave her the courage to stand up for herself. The community, along with the authorities, stepped in and stopped the marriage. The man was charged. It’s important to understand that it takes an immense amount of courage to go against these cultural “norms” that have existed for centuries. Hasina is a very brave girl. It was so heartening to see the elders in the community learning from the examples these young girls are setting, standing up against child marriage and female genital mutilation/cutting. Education gave these girls that perspective. This community is an example of how change is possible. FEMALE RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS. To make a difference and learn more about @Unicef’s efforts, visit UNICEF. Link in bio. Benishangul-Gumuz Region
Night Rider Cannes
Cannes
Night Rider Cannes
Awetash, 6 months, has been in the Stabilization Center since she was 2 months old – she weighed 2.2KG (4.4 Lbs.) Her mother, Alamauou, 28, delivered the baby prematurely due to her own malnutrition, and as a result, was unable to produce breast milk. Awetash’s eyes looking at me bore a hole in my mind. (Her leg, at 6 months old fits into my hand)The thought of any child in the world starving is truly against nature. But since she’s consistently being monitored and fed at the health center, she’s been making great progress and she’s eating highly nutritious therapeutic food to gain weight and energy.
Selam Haile, 30, visits the Nutrition Screening Center at the Tselemti woreda refugee camp every week with her daughter Rahwat Afewerki, 10 months. When she started visiting the Center, Rahwat was 6 months and malnourished, but in the past 4 month her health and weight has improved significantly. These are just a few success stories of how these health and nutrition centers help children get the nourishment they need, so that they have the energy to learn, grow, and develop like other children their age.
There is inadequate awareness within the community around nutrition, but @unicef and Community Health Workers like Senait Woldegebreil, a refugee who volunteers and goes door to door, are educating new mothers on the importance of nutrition, the signs of malnourishment and proper feeding practices. #achildisachild #childrenuprooted @unicefethiopia Tigray Region
Cannes
At the Bambasi Refugee Camp Primary School there is a shortage of trained teachers, with one teacher for every 89 students. This second grade class is taught by Hubahiro, she is a refugee child who is an 8th grade student at the school…she teaches grades 1-4 in the morning, and in the afternoon attends school to continue her education. Like her mother, who is also a refugee and teacher at the school, she earns a small stipend. When I first met the kids they were extremely introverted and timid. It took a lot of tickles and cuddles to get them to interact with me. Thank you Hubahiro for translating and helping the kids understand that I was a friend. @unicef @unicefethiopia #childrenuprooted Benishangul-Gumuz Region
Day 1: Dagmawit and her friends are leading members of the Gender Club, a @unicef supported program that empowers girls and boys. The Gender Clubs deliver relevant knowledge and skills to help the students combat harmful social practices, like gender based violence, child marriage, and sexual violence. It’s was amazing to see these brave girls take on and tackle such difficult issues and create an environment where they can teach their own peers. I’m inspired. @unicefethiopia #achildisachild #foreverychild Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Clearly can’t do a @bellahadid #goals! 😂@mimi Ure too funny! ❤️ @patidubroff @daniellepriano @maxeroberts Cannes
🧡 #Cannes2019
🧡 #Cannes2019
This afternoon I had the honor of meeting Madam President Sahle-Work Zewde, the first female president of Ethiopia. Her fierce commitment to the empowerment and advancement of women is unprecedented. She also has a global perspective for the development of her country – Ethiopia is the second largest host country of refugees in Africa, they’ve taken in just under 1M. She’s pushing for policies that provide people with access to education and other essential needs so they can improve their familial economic situation and hence the economy of Ethiopia. I’m so inspired. @unicef @unicefethiopia #achildisachild #foreverychild Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
…but Ethiopian coffee 🇪🇹🚀☕️🥰 #everything Tigray Region
With one specialist hospital in all of Tigray Region, servicing 90K refugees, health care is scarce. The doctors don’t have advanced medical degrees. The smell of urine and sight of newborn babies laying in the NICU without the most basic resources will haunt me. You can help, visit the link in my bio or visit Unicef.org to donate. @unicef @unicefethiopia #achildisachild #childrenuprooted
Having been to other refugee camps around the world, the tension between the host (local) communities and refugee communities is glaring…all because basic resources are divided. But in many parts of Ethiopia, that’s not the case, and in the Tigray region specifically, these two communities are living side by side. What’s even more remarkable, IMO… these kids don’t even realize what coming together (team Ethiopia and team Eritrea) to play a simple game of football stands for, and how something so basic can impart positive change. Human beings, putting their differences aside, and coming together…it’s Humanity. The Ethiopian government has also pledged to integrate high schools, where refugees and locals learn together. They’ve also been issuing birth certificates to refugee children born in Ethiopia, which allows them rights they wouldn’t otherwise have, like getting an education and having better access to services.
@unicef @unicefethiopia #achildisachild – to learn more about how you can make a difference, visit link in bio. Tigray Region
Abda Abdulaziz, 26, arrived at the Bambasi camp in 2011 seeking refuge from the war in Sudan. Her 5 children were born in this camp and are being raised here, while her husband works as a laborer at a nearby farm – they see each other every two weeks for a few days. She said that if the violence in her country settles, she and her husband may consider going back, but she is not very hopeful that will happen. In the meantime, life in the camp allows her children to have access to an education. I met two of her daughters, Zulfa Ata Ey, 8, and Muzalefa, 10, at the primary school I had visited earlier in the day. Zulfa is at the top of her class and her mom is so proud. While they’re safe and her children are receiving an education, they are still living below the poverty line, and she’s desperate for the most basic supplies…like water, books, and clothes for her children. To donate and learn more about @Unicef’s efforts, visit UNICEF. Link in bio. (PS, the last video…Zulfa playing with my phone.) Bambasi (woreda)
Dance is such an important part of Ethiopian culture. Wherever I have been so far…even though we don’t speak each other’s languages…the joy that has been shared through dance has bonded me with this amazing country forever. (Even though I’m terrible at it🤦🏽♀️😂) Ethiopia is extremely rich in culture and compassion. 🇪🇹 🙏🏽❤️ @unicefethiopia #yodabyssinia Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Absolutely nothing better than hugs from kids 🇪🇹@unicef @unicefethiopia #achildisachild #foreverychild Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Day 1: My first visit was to the Sibiste Negasi Primary School in Addis Ababa. In Ethiopia, primary school enrollment between 2000 and 2017 has TRIPLED. This is because of the Ethiopian government’s investment in education and its dedication to the future of the country…but there is still so much work to do. 2.6 M children of primary and secondary school age are out of school, and 50% of children attending school drop out by grade 8. Because of poverty children are responsible for much more than just learning, like caring for siblings, walking miles to collect water and other house hold chores…things that should not be a child’s responsibility at any age. A child is a child. @unicef’s efforts, along with a very committed government, are focused on getting every child in school, ensuring every child has a quality education, and that every child completes school. Thank you Principal Abebech, Dagmawit (7th grade), and all the other students who made my first day in ethopia so special. Go to my stories to follow this trip. @unicefethiopia #achildisachild #foreverychild Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
“My grandmother, who helped me grow even though she had nothing, she did everything she could to send me to school and for me to reach here. I haven’t been able to support her at all and I left her all by herself in Eritrea,” said Simon 16, who arrived in Ethiopia as an unaccompanied minor seeking asylum when he was 14. He never knew his parents. Eritrean refugees account for the one of the largest groups of refugees in Ethiopia, with more than 2,400 being unaccompanied minors. Simon made the journey alone and had to sleep at the border that night. Then, he stayed at the registration center for 2 months before they moved him to the Hitsats Refugee Camp…he’s been there for 2 years and 3 months now, and “life is really good compared to where I was,” he told me. I couldn’t imagine what it was like before. Today, he’s thriving and learning, in the process of getting his refugee status paperwork (which you can only get after 16 hence the delay), with plans to go to university, and the hope of changing his life so he can support his grandmother the way she so selflessly supported him. On top of this, he’s insanely talented – he’s the captain of the football team, a dancer, and a runner. Who knows where his future could take him with a little help. @unicef @unicefethiopia #childrenuprooted #achildisachild
Photo credit: @karelprinsloo Tigray Region
