Advertisement
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080703/NYTH023 )
"Unfortunately this is a region that's better known for conflict,insecurity, drought and floods," said Aiken who has been a UNICEF Ambassadorfor four years. "It's truly remarkable that UNICEF is still able to make adifference in the health, education and overall well-being of Somalichildren."
Advertisement
Aiken traveled to Hargeisa, Gabiley and Boroma located in the north-westregion of the country, known as the republic of Somaliland. Here, Aiken wasable to observe first-hand UNICEF-supported projects, which promote childhealth, safe water, sanitation and hygiene, primary education, childprotection and girls' empowerment.
Somalia is a country in which less than 25 percent of the population haveaccess to basic health services, less than 30 percent attend primary schooland only 29 percent have access to a safe water source.
It's also a place where 98 percent of girls are subjected to genitalcircumcision and has amongst the highest maternal mortality rates in theworld.
One of Aiken's first stops was the Somaliland Cultural and SportsAssociation (SOCSA), an enclosed facility in Gabiley dedicated to empoweringgirls through sport and cultural activities.
"The girls here are able to learn about leadership and health, acquirelife-skills and play sports within a safe environment," said Aiken. "Even theyoungest girls that I've met at SOCSA, impressed me with how confident andarticulate they are as a result of this project."
At a camp for 1500 internally displaced families in Hargeisa, Aiken met11-year-old Abduraman, who helps to support his five siblings and blind motherby working each morning to collect stones. He uses his earnings to pay forschool, which he attends in the afternoon.
"Somalia has some of the lowest enrollment rates in the world, but everychild has the right to an education," Aiken stressed. "UNICEF is working tohelp ensure that even working children get to go to school. UNICEF has alsoprovided the camp with child protection monitors, teacher-training and schoolmaterials."
In Boroma, Aiken also visited maternal and child health clinics to observenutritional feeding and immunization activities along with projects supportingchildren with disabilities, the eradication of female genital mutilation andthe prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
"Now that I have seen Somalia for myself, I feel it is important for theAmerican public to remember that the Somali people have the same dreams fortheir children that we do," said Aiken, who in recent years has also visitedconflict areas in Afghanistan and Uganda for UNICEF.
"The country is one of the most desperate in the world. Fortunately,UNICEF has always been there and continues to provide the support needed tomake a difference. No other organization is more capable of making such adifference than UNICEF," Aiken added.
The lack of a permanent central government has contributed to Somalia'sstatus as one of the poorest and most volatile countries in the world. One ofthe most serious droughts since the 1970s has affected large parts of thecountry, exacerbating hardships for rural populations.
About UNICEF
For more than 60 years, UNICEF has been the world's leading internationalchildren's organization, working in over 150 countries to address the ongoingissues that affect why kids are dying. UNICEF provides lifesaving nutrition,clean water, education, protection and emergency response saving more younglives than any other humanitarian organization in the world. While millionsof children die every year of preventable causes like deh
