IN THIS ISSUE
Click on any heading below to go directly to that section.
Doreen Lobo -Introducing our Contributing Musicians
FROM YOUR EDITORS
Our Features in this Edition
The CRC at 30
The recent celebrations of the 30th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child provided the opportunity for us to reflect on what the CRC has meant to us as humanitarians, as UNICEF staff, and as parents and grandparents.
We wanted therefore to use this issue to collect and share the thoughts of our members. However, we do not want to end the discussion of the CRC with a single publication or a single anniversary. Children’s rights are something we must live and breathe - our life’s work, and not just the work of our time in UNICEF.
So please continue to reflect and to share. What did / what does the CRC mean to you, your children, and your community?
The Music and the Musicians of XUNICEF
We are pleased to include in this edition musical works by five of our members.
Our September edition brought out a wonderful collection of contributions by our members who have pursued various forms of art and photography. The range of artists included everyone from true professional to raw amateur. The works they contributed were often stunning.
Now it is the turn of our musicians and we are pleased to present some of their works in this edition. Unfortunately, so far only a few have contributed, and we are hoping that more will come forward so that we can include them in future editions.
Please don’t be shy. If you compose music, play an instrument, sing in a choir (or just in the shower), let our arts editor, Doreen Lobo (dlblobo@yahoo.com) know. We want you and we want your music !
Two, Going on Three
XUNICEF Instagram—A Stocktaking
We launched the XUNICEF Instagram page @xunicef_photography in September this year. So far we have posted over a hundred photos. The richness and diversity of the images and the stories they tell are stunning.
After four months, and 100 posts, we can draw some lessons. The account or page has only 74 followers and only some ten to fifteen are regulars - a bit disappointing, as I would have expected more regular followers.
This said, there are some good news. For example, in the week 5 to 12 December the page was seen by 193 people, an increase of 59 plus people from the week before. In addition, the Instagram algorithm has been showing our posts are viewed by some 600 Instagram users
We call on all XUNICEF members to get more active by both following the account. Post your photos by tagging the account, or sending your photos to the curator, (eziogianni@gmail.com), together with a good caption telling a good story and a short bio. Not yourself a photographer? You can still help by following the account, adding comments, and Inviting others to follow the page.
What is in our program for next year? We will continue featuring XUNICEF photographers though perhaps more randomly and not with the same frequency. Most important, sometime next year we will launch a photo contest open to all.
In fact, dear members, we need you.
For the time being, please accept a warm Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from your curator - Gianni.
THE CRC AT 30
Introducing our Contributors to our CRC at 30 Edition
Sree Gururaja
In the past month I had the pleasure of reconnecting with several of you requesting you to share your memories, your thoughts, and your hopes for achieving our dream of universal implementation of CRC.
Let me confess that when we received only one spontaneous message by return email to our call for contributions to the special issue on CRC@30, we expected several to follow. But there was a long pause. As I had volunteered to coordinate this segment, I took the liberty of seeking out colleagues whom I knew personally or worked closely with, many of whom continue to be my mentors. The response was overwhelming and colleagues went out of their way to send their contributions by the deadline. Thank you, contributors, and pardon my gentle reminders and persistence!
Our CRC@30 collection tells the story of CRC, and stands as testimony to our past commitments and their continuance in the present. Let me try to interest you on our section which is historical, diverse and “so very UNICEF” in its zeal and engagement. Baquer Namazi and Marta Santos Pais write about their role in the “pre-CRC” years and “post CRC“ years, Padmini and Agnes Aidoo about their “behind the scenes” advocacy thirty years ago, Mary Racelis narrates how she heartily welcomed the 24 Heads of State of ESARO to the Special Session, Jim Mayrides proudly tells us how he rushed to the Senate to ensure that Bolivia be among the first ten signatories. Rima Salah reminds us of the challenges of building protective environments for children in conflict and post-conflict situations which is relevant today. While Razia Ismail, Padmini, Agnes, Hiranthi Wijemane, Mary Racelis continue to support the CRC monitoring and reporting in their countries, we have colleagues such as Marta Santos-Pais, Hiranthi and Agnes ,among others, who made us proud by serving as Special Rapporteurs and as elected members of the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
CRC@30 was celebrated world wide. The UNICEF website has colorful descriptions of the special activities supported by UNICEF country offices. We are fortunate to have Janet Nelson, Padmini and Agnes report on the celebrations in Geneva, Bangalore (India) and Accra(Ghana). Our colleague, Rebeca Rios-Khon, now Director, Arigatou International summarizes the findings of the UNICEF supported multi-religious study on Faith and Children’s Rights which she presented at the Geneva Conference, urging us to click on the link to read the full report of this fascinating study.
Please note that we were bound by deadlines and this is just the first set in the CRC@30 collection. Please continue to send in your contributions which will be posted in the weekly/ fortnightly updates. We could, perhaps offer a compilation of our articles to the UNICEF Staff Bulletin as the XUNICEF contribution to CRC@30.
Season’s Greetings and Happy New year!
Sree
Some Music for Child Rights
This edition of the newsletter has two themes: the CRC and music. So we thought to offer you a little music to go with all this reading. Most of these are old favorites and perhaps a few new to you. Most are about child rights and they are (mostly) sung or played by children.
We would love to tell you that there are no ads - sorry - Youtube is Google and Google means ads. The ads are very short and you can usually click past them after a few seconds.
The collection is very long - so just open it in a separate tab and let it play while you browse our articles. We hope you will enjoy the music - and don’t forget to share your own favorites.
Just click on the image below to start the playlist.
Choose any video to start playing the full list.
A Childhood without Rights - One Hundred Years Ago and Today
Marta Santos-Pais - 2019 - A Milestone Year
2019 is a milestone year. It marks the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history. Since its adoption, the Convention has mobilized nations across regions behind a common mission: to spare no effort to translate its provisions into a tangible reality for children—all children, everywhere and at all times.
2019 also marks the first review by the United Nations General Assembly of progress made in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The 2030 Agenda was an historic breakthrough with its ambitious vision and set of precise goals designed to build a world free from fear and from violence, a world which invests in its children and in which every child grows up free from neglect, abuse and exploitation.
Click here to continue reading Marta’s reflections on the CRC
Baquer Namazi - My Role, the Role of the NGO Ad Hoc Group, and an Overview of the History of Child Rights
In January 1983, learning of the drafting of a convention on the rights of the child, three NGOs - Defence for Children International, International Catholic Child Bureau and Rädda Barnen International – decided to set up the Informal NGO Ad Hoc Group on the Drafting of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
In late 1984 the European NGOs championing the International Charter for Child Rights invited me to join a group meeting in Florence to discuss strategy for drafting the CRC Convention.
The NGO Ad Hoc Group met regularly to consider proposals made by Governments and to draft its own. The Group also lobbied Government delegates in Geneva and officials in State capitals to promote its proposals.
Click here to continue reading Baquer’s recollection of those important months in the drafting of the CRC. He also provides an extensive historical overview of the steps leading to and beyond the Convention.
Agnes Aidoo - Long live the CRC.
Long live all the children of the world
The success of the adoption of the Convention spurred UNICEF on to organize the World Summit for Children by world leaders in September 1990. This was an exhilarating global mobilization. I was part of the team of professionals who provided required inputs for the outcome documents, the World Declaration and Plan of Action, and worked the embassies in New York to urge the Ambassadors to the UN to encourage their heads of State and high level officials to attend. Oh what sleepless nights for the rights of the child!! The detailed rehearsal on the night before the Summit saw many of us work at the UN headquarters past midnight and yet we had to assemble by 5.00am for the Summit!
Click here to continue reading the story of Agnes’ involvement with the CRC during and after retirement.
Click here to view the photos Agnes has contributed of the CRC@30 celebrations in Accra.
Mary Racelis - Get Those Presidents to New York!
The passage of the Convention on Child Rights in 1989 has proven to be UNICEF’s jewel in the crown. It signaled that UNICEF was no longer championing only children’s survival, development and participation; it was also now solidly committed to protecting children through mobilizing the citizenry of every country to stand by their nation’s commitment to children’s rights. What a privilege it was for me to have been a part of UNICEF during those amazing years!
Click here to continue reading Mary’s recounting of the coaxing and cajoling that went into getting all those heads of governments to show up.
Hiranthi Wijemane - The Continuing Challenge
to Strengthen Implementation of the CRC
Reflecting back on my tenure in the CRC committee, it was disappointing that many of the Concluding Observations , carefully drafted by us as members of the Committee were most often not given due attention and implemented in between sessions. I believe that this is an area in which the UNICEF country offices could play a catalytic and advocacy role. UNICEF should play a catalytic role with State authorities to establish a continuous CRC monitoring system, which leads to the better implementation of the CRC at country level This should be advocated at country or regional levels to make a significant difference for children whose rights continue to be violated with impunity.
The CRC is of no value to a country unless CRC recommendations are converted to policies and incorporated in national programmes.
Click here to continue reading Hiranthi’s reflections on her role in the CRC
R. Padmini - Behind the Scenes
on that Historic Day
On that historic day of the adoption of CRC, I was part of the team engaged in “ behind the scenes” support, and was thrilled by the events that took place then. Incidentally, on the 10th anniversary celebrations in 1999, I happened to be in New York [by then retired] and re-experienced some of the euphoria of the day of adoption.
Soon after CRC was adopted, I was named as the Programme Focal Point on CRC, and briefed the first International CRC committee in Geneva on the Convention and its programmatic aspects while Kimberley Clarke dealt with advocacy and related aspects. I was also engaged often, along with Hans Narula, in leading discussions on what was meant by Rights-based Programming in internal meetings.
Click here to continue reading Padmini ́s account of her long involvement in the CRC
Click here to read her report on the CRC@30 celebrations in Karnataka
Janet Nelson - Geneva - the CRC’s Global Hub
The city of Geneva very proudly sees itself as “the global hub of children’s rights.” It was here that the first Declaration of the Rights of the Child was adopted in 1924 by the League of Nations, and then again it was in Geneva that 10 years of negotiations resulted in the CRC. It is now the place from which the Committee on the Rights of the Child monitors the CRC’s implementation.
So when it came time to commemorate the CRC’s 30th anniversary, the former Swiss member of the CRC Committee, Jean Zermatten, and the current Swiss member, Philip Jaffé, created the association “30 Years of Children’s Rights,” along with the City of Geneva, the University of Geneva, and a number of key child-rights civil society organisations, in coordination with the Committee on the Rights of the Child, OHCHR, UN diplomatic missions, and other child-rights NGOs.
Click here to continue reading Janet’s report on the Geneva Commemoration of CRC@30
Rebeca Rios-Kohn - Faith and Children’s Rights
As a tribute to the 30th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and in partnership with UNICEF, Arigatou International developed a global study entitled Faith and Children’s Rights: A Multi-religious Study on the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Study was officially launched on November 19, 2019 in Geneva at the United Nations and was also presented in Nairobi and Buenos Aires, and in other countries by the Global Network of Religions for Children (GNRC).
Arigatou International worked in close collaboration with Marta Santos Pais, the former Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Violence against Children, the GNRC, and received support from other partners: the International Dialogue Center (KAICIID) and World Vision International.
Three members of the writing team are former UNICEF staff members: Akila Aggoune, Janet Nelson, and myself. Many of you will also remember another one of the authors, Savitri Goonesekere, former law professor in Sri Lanka, who wrote many articles concerning the CRC for UNICEF and was also a member of CEDAW. Eileen O’Connor, another former UNICEF staff member, also supported the editing and production of the Study. We are thankful to the many contributors and peer reviewers who helped with direction and content and they are identified in the Study.
Click here to continue reading Rebecca’s article on the participants and the process leading up to Arigatou’s important report on Faith and Children’s Rights. Rebecca includes links to the report itself.
Jim Mayrides -Getting Us to Number Eight
As the Representative in Bolivia, I wanted to have our government adopt the CRC among the first ten to do so.
During my lunch break one day, I discussed with my Chief of External Relations, Nazario Tirado how to get it done that same day. He called his friend the Vice President, Luis Ossio Sanjines and asked if I could visit him urgently by 3:00 pm.
In the end Bolivia became the 8th country worldwide to ratify.
Jim Grant had always said to me that if he could quote Bolivian progress on child rights (or on any other child-related issue) to Brazil or Mexico, that it would give him a solid argument to infer that "why can a Bolivia do it and they could not"?
Jim taught me that approach and it later helped me convince Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan Prime Minister to ratify CEDAW in 1995.
Click here to continue reading Jim’s recollections of that pivotal day.
Rima Salah - The Transformative Power
of the CRC in the Lives of Children
I always felt privileged to be working with UNICEF and contributing to a great cause, such as that of children. This was particularly important to me, to my personal narrative, as I was born a refugee. I realized from a very young age that my family and my people were deprived of their rights and social justice. Later when I lived in a a Palestinian Refugee Camp to conduct my research for my doctoral thesis, I witnessed the terrible effect that war and displacement had on people’s lives and particularly on women and children. The families that I met in the camp told me, that they had lost everything, but they were hopeful, and the essence of their hope lay in the well being of their children, their education, and their future.
Click here to continue reading Rima’s article and the story of her long involvement in the CRC
Click here to view the webpage of the Early Childhood Peace Consortium which Rima has chaired.
Razia Ismail - A Time for Renewing
My Commitment to Child Rights
Walking on from those UNICEF days -- it dawned on me that it wasn't UNICEF that had captured me: it was the children themselves.
Starting with offering child rights orientation to some NGOs, I became a civil society volunteer myself, setting up a small trust, forming the India Alliance for Child Rights (IACR), developing an outreach, and inviting partnership to track what the UN Committee on Child Rights was up to, what our government was up to.
It meant taking a lead on drawing up an independent country report to the UN Committee, finding NGO solidarity and leadership on issues, and offering my services to our government, mobilising fellow-NGOs to join in tracking and assessing official action to address international commitments and getting to some UN meetings in New York and Geneva.
Click here to continue reading Razia’s memories of working with the CRC
Fouad Kronfol - Celebrating ‘the 9’s”
Of My Life and UNICEF’s
Years with a‘9’ have always proved auspicious for me. So 2019 and UNICEF’s celebrations for CRC/30 seemed like a good opportunity to put together this small collection of photos depict my own "celebrations" for the year just completed and related to my continued relationship with UNICEF.
Click here to continue reading Fouad’s celebration of ‘the 9’s and view a few of his historic collection of photos of important years of his and UNICEF’s history
Tom McDermott - That Troublesome Woman
In recent months I have been looking back at the origins of the CRC. One central figure in that history, too seldom mentioned in UNICEF, is Eglantyne Jebb who founded the Save the Children Fund one hundred years ago this year. More importantly, Jebb went on to author the Declaration of the Rights of the Child (a.k.a. the Geneva Declaration) which was adopted by the League of Nations in 1924.
I find fascinating the story of how this mild-mannered and well-to-do English woman became an activist for children, bullying kings and parliaments into ratifying the document. Part of my attraction to Jebb’s story is that her activism grew out of her experiences in parts of the Balkans where I worked in the 1980’s. Like my own experience, Jebb’s period there was in the midst of war - the 2nd Balkan War in 1913, the immediate precursor to the First World War.
Click here to continue reading Tom’s retelling of the story of “That Troublesome Woman”
A Few Steps Along the Way - 20th Century
A Few Memories of 1989
THE MUSIC AND THE MUSICIANS of XUNICEF
Introducing our Contributing Musicians
Doreen Lobo, Arts Editor
“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything” - Plato
I am delighted to present to our readers a sampling of remarkable musical talents from members of our XUNICEF family. Sit back, relax and enjoy their stories and their music.
A Chinese proverb goes, “A bird does not sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.''
So, XUNICEF friends – I urge you to explore your own music. No doubt, you will discover that you have ‘‘a song’ within you, just waiting for you to sing it. You may surprise yourself and find that song. And when you do, please let us enjoy it with you.
For this edition we have only five contributors. We hope for many more in 2020.
Note that several of our contributing musicians have included video and / or audio clips for you to enjoy. Be sure to click the links.
As with the artists and photographers who contributed to our September edition, we have added the works of these musicians to our web archive. You can click here at any time to listen to their music.
Maggie Black - Getting Together To Sing
It makes a real difference whether you are there or not and singing or not. There may even be a precious moment when your voice carries on alone, holding the line when all about have fallen. At its best, the power of the large choir makes your spine tingle and I wouldn’t miss it for the world.
Click here to read Maggie’s story - sorry, we do not have an audio clip
Doreen Lobo - A Symphony of Memories
The words from my childhood, ‘practice, practice, practice’ still occasionally echo in my head, along with “is your homework done?”…typical admonitions from parents who want their kids to excel in everything!
I sang alto in the school choir. Thanks to our high school Math teacher, a phenomenal choir director, we won the much coveted inter-school choral competition. In addition to this, we performed in many school concerts and operettas.
My musical journey continued as I studied piano for another fifteen years.
Click here to read Doreen’s story and see her photos and music video
Pierre Poupard - Le chant et la direction de chœur
In an unexpected way the discovery of hiking brought me back to choir direction. The pilgrimage I made on the Camino de Compostela in 2016 and 2017 covered some 1,800 km in 65 days with only a backpack. The hike encouraged me to sing in the many chapels and churches on this path, as well as in the evenings with festive pilgrims.
The long hike gave me the idea to propose to several choristers of the University Choir that we walk together for ten days and sing on the way in the places visit. Each year twelve of us, walkers and singers, spend ten days and cover two hundred kilometers each year - a simple polyphonic repertoire, of all kinds. Through it I rediscovered the role of choirmaster as my greatest pleasure.
Ronald van Dijk - Music, My Infinite Treasure Trove
It may have seemed a bit bizarre to play Bach’s sonatas while there was a war going on and social life was curtailed by curfew hours. But in hindsight, it was important to do something totally different than work, something that demanded all attention and focus. It helped, also later on in other duty stations, “to keep my sanity” in the middle of all the commotion.
Since retirement and after stopping consultancy work, I picked up my studies in flute music and made it part of the daily routine.
Music, “classical music” that is, is the thing for me! It has always fascinated me: a “language” composed of melody, rhythm and tone that tells a story and communicates more than words.
Click here to read Ronald’s story and enjoy his video and audio recordings.
Youssouf Oomar - If music be the food of love,
play on
After my retirement, I decided I would like to do what I love - singing. Singing for myself, for my relatives and friends and occasionally for an audience of classical and various forms of Hindustani music lovers !
Many come to me for advice on singing …. My advice is and will always be :
Music is for everyone everywhere! Anyone can sing and at any age…. It requires devotion, continuous practice, and it is very good for health!
Music either vocal or instrumental knows no frontier and works magic in rallying people of the world around a common cause, notably humanity! It brings solace and well being! One who loves music, as opposed to noise, can only do so with the heart and the soul.
Click here to read Youssouf’s story and enjoy his music video
LIFE AFTER UNICEF
Luis Oliveros - A Trip to Norway
Last April Luis Oliveros traveled to the far north of Norway on a photography expedition to one of the most remote and most beautiful parts of the world. Read the fascinating story Luis tells of the trip and enjoy the wonderful photographs of the sights he and his friend, Jesus, saw there.
David Haxton - New Paths - the final chapter of “A Good Life in a Changing World”
We found good things.
We were beginning a phase in our lives that called for changes in our ways of doing things. We spent more time with each other each day than we had ever done and we learned to accommodate. We did more things together, both during the day and in the evenings, and did so while maintaining our individuality in activities, daily household life and community work.
Click here to read or download the PDF
Click here for the flip-page version
Lou Mendez - Running a Consulting Company Means You Are Never Bored
One significant lesson learned after almost a decade of managing this firm is the key challenge of having limited infrastructure and resources– one has to do things himself and learn to capitalize on current technological tools. Managing can be very stressful at times given peaks and troughs of UN client demands.
However– faster decision-making on our side, tangible results and deliverables that have impact with less “blah-blah” with more “action.” First and foremost, We can also say “no” to clients!
Life with Grandkids
Lena Hartono’s Grandson - Keaton
Lena Hartono - Life with Grandkids, Plus Alexa and Siri
Ever since he was allowed solid food, my grandson, Keaton ate whatever we gave him. He enjoyed fruit, vegetables, rice, pasta, legumes, fish and meat. A few weeks after his second birthday, Nick, his Dad was preparing Keaton’s favorite food, salmon with lemon and pepper, rice and peas, which was about the only thing Nick could cook, when a voice said...”I don't think I want to eat salmon anymore"... Startled, Nick asked "so what do you want to eat"? His response sounded typical of our big family and his half Asian heritage: "fried rice"!
Last Christmas, we took Keaton to see Santa at the mall. Santa asked him if he had been a good boy and being truthful, his response was "maybe".... Of course, he found Santa's stash of candy canes and he got one. So, when he was asked what he’d like Santa to bring him for Christmas, the answer was of course "candy cane".
Living in a house where Alexa or Siri plays music, switches lights on and off, pulls the blinds up and down, my now almost three years old grandson learns quickly from his parents. In the car we hear 'Siri, put jello on my shopping list', while at home we get used to him saying 'Alexa, add brambleberry ice cream to my grocery list', especially if the parents deliberately 'forget' what he has added to the list. I guess this is the life of millennials - while the old grandmother continues with her typed list, but at least it is on her cell phone, and not hand-written on a piece of paper.
Padmini -My Grandchildren and their Worldview
When Divya, my grand-daughter was about three or four, she set up a ‘pretend’ stall selling hot-cross buns and I had to buy something from her.
‘How much for one?’, I asked.
‘Ten dollars!’
‘That’s too much!’ I protested ‘I’ll give you five’.
She shook her head and retorted,’That is too little. You can have it for three.
Needless to say, I gave her the virtual 3 dollars gladly, and ate the bun virtually. Both selller and buyer were so satisfied at the ‘bargain’!
My grandson, Jai, was nearly twelve earlier this year. He likes going to school early so he can play with his friend, Andre. One morning, they were playing basketball, with Andre’s jacket as the ball. Aiming at the basket, Jai found it entangled in the hoop! So to retrieve it, he aimed at it with his shoe, and that landed on a ledge above!
Now there was no go but to seek adult help, and he had to write an apology, etc. The note came home to his parents, and I saw it on Whats app. Talking to him later on the weekend, I asked him what would have happened if the shoe had hit a person rather than landing on the ledge.
Pat came the answer, ‘That would have been better’!
‘How come?’
‘I could have got it back myself, instead of going to the teacher.’
‘But the person might have been angry’.
‘ Then I would have walked away’
‘Without saying sorry?’
‘ Oh I would have, but still walked away in case he was still angry!’
Mary Racelis - Becoming Cinderella
As a mother in the late 1960s, I liked taking my children to plays. Maybe that was a reflection of my own thwarted childhood ambition to become a Broadway star. There I would be someday, I had thought, up on stage singing and dancing, the talented center of attention in a glorious musical.
Three decades and five children later, the play, Cinderella, came to town. So off to see it at Manila’s cavernous Meralco Theater went my three older girls and I. Spellbound, 11-year old Susi, 10-year old Lisa, and 7-year old Karin marveled at grubby Cinderella’s transformation into a beautiful Princess – gorgeous light blue gown, glittering tiara and transparent high-heeled shoes – all at the wave of her fairy godmother’s magic wand.
Into the pumpkin coach she went speeding away, drawn by horses looking suspiciously like overgrown mice, driven by a beady-eyed coachman and guarded by tall lizard-faced footmen. To the Palace and the oohs and aahs of a wondering crowd!
What little girl didn’t imagine herself dancing with the dashingly handsome prince while keeping a watchful eye on the clock as midnight drew near. My two older girls who could tell time eagerly whispered out loud in hopes Cinderella would hear them and realize that she was cutting it close. At last she tore herself away from the Prince’s soulful gaze as the clock began to strike the hour, rushing down the stairs and flying away into the night – losing a shoe on the way.
The last act curtain opened to the Prince telling his father, the King that they had to scour the entire kingdom for the beautiful princess. He had fallen completely in love. Then, to cries of delight from the excited onlookers, the Prince came down into the audience, shoe in hand, in search of the dainty foot it would fit.
First, into Row B, bending down to try the shoe on his initial choice of would-be Princesses, accompanied by the giggles and screams of the young audience. Shaking his head in disappointment, he stood up displaying the empty shoe for everyone all the way up to the Second Balcony to see.
Next, a foray into Row E – with the same sad result.
Then the Prince came to Row H, our row, and began to move toward us. I turned to my three girls with, “Here’s your chance!” but they shrank away, anxious not to be the center of attention in the huge theater. All of a sudden he stopped and bent down in front of ME! Was kidding?
My buried Broadway personality erupted. With gusto I kicked off my shoe and held on to the Prince while he pretended to try on the glass slipper. As he got up from his fake action to display his frustration yet again to the audience and began moving back toward the aisle, I decided to get into that act. After all, one of the qualities I wanted to teach my children was to risk behaving unconventionally at times.
So I stood up arms outstretched shouting for the entire theater to hear, “No, no Prince! Come back! Come back! The shoe fits! I’m Cinderella, your Princess! Come back! ”
My two older daughters slid under their seats hiding their heads in total embarrassment, leaving the 7-year old in her seat wondering what was going on. The Prince stopped in his tracks and turned around, his mouth agape. The audience laughed and cheered loudly. Recovering his composure, the Prince rushed back onstage to try his luck elsewhere.
It was a long time after that before my daughters would agree to go to a play with me. But for those brief moments at the Meralco Theater, I fulfilled my dream of being an actress on center stage – almost.
READERS’ CORNER
The Ties that Bind Us
I am pleased to report that our already growing Bibliography, has grown some more:
EX LIBRIS KRONFOL
Many thanks to Monika Proko Wittrin for adding these to my library.:
"En Marge de L'Histoire: Anecdotes mémorables d'un tour du monde en quatre-vingts ans", by Louis P.Gendron..3 volumes; published by Imp. Durand, Luisant, France, 1998
"Lou Remembered; the Life of H. Louis Shapiro”, A collection of letters by family and friends...Private publication, undated. (ISBN 978 1 4452 6324 3)
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
"La Démocratie dans des États fragiles; une illusion africaine de developpement"; by Kiari Liman-Tinguiri; L'Harmattan, Paris, 2016
"Our Favorite Letter” published in Corporate Knights , Vol.5 No.1; by Richard Mbala Kanangila, 2006
"Cooking At The Villa; Recipes from Italian Holidays"; by Peter Delahaye, Dan Toole & Tom Street (Photos); Azure Press Services.
REVIEWS
I suppose most UNICEF folks have led a nomadic life, traveling between duty stations, home leaves and family visits. Some have even led refugee lives. But few of us have led the combination of refugee and nomad life experienced and retold here by Horst Cerni. I found his story fascinating, and I particularly liked the story of his early years before joining UNICEF - escaping from an advancing army, growing up as a refugee, and starting a new life in America.
This is a book I very much recommend to all UNICEF readers.
Click here to continue reading Tom’s review of Horst Cerni’s autobiography.
Torild Skard's, "Women of Power: Half a century of female presidents and prime ministers worldwide" - reviewed by Fouad Kronfol
For those who are interested in women's empowerment, especially in the arena of country political leadership, this is a major research publication by our ex-colleague Torild Skard.This hefty tome is an in-depth analysis of the socio-political factors in the ascendency of various women to seats of power in different regions of the world. It is a scholarly work which includes about 80 pages of notes and references.
Click here to continue reading Fouad’s review of Torild Skard’s “Women of Power”
BITS & PIECES
All items by Fouad Kronfol
Ombres - Un pur chef d'oeuvre
Click here to view the video
We Were Amused - A few reasons why our ancestors died young.
We Were Bemused…
The PERSONALITY quiz.
After a few deferments we have finally decided to announce that the winner of the GRAND PRIZE will be DOREEN LOBO. She will receive in the mail her coveted prize .
The "International Association of Wordsmiths", who were invited to be our jury came to this difficult conclusion on the basis of a complicated" point system" which,in the case of the winner, included the following:
100 points for agreeing to respond to the quiz;
200 points for actually listing the various words coming from the letters in "Personality";
300 points for working in tandem with her other family members in solving the quiz;
400 points for listing her words in alphabetical order;
500 points for having less than 0.1 percent errors in her listing;
600 points for typing and printing her list of words ;
700 points for numbering her words correctly;
800 points for mailing the list to my home address;
900 points for getting my address right, including the apartment number;
2000 points for producing more than ONE THOUSAND words from the letters in "Personality";
5000 points for being the ONLY entry in this amazing quiz !!!!
Doreen managed to produce exactly 1,081 words from the letters in "Personality". This is a new record for the XUNICEF membership...
I am certain all my colleagues in the Newsletter editorial group as well as others in our XUNICEF network will join me in congratulating Doreen for her formidable talent, perseverance and interest in responding to this quiz.
They Were Confused......
As an international network of Unicef retirees, for many of us English is not their first language, yet we produce a newsletter with wide circulation in the language of Shakespeare, sometimes tripping up on idiom or vocabulary. Here is an article about how the European Union, with 28 member states of different language, tried to solve their linguistic issues.
The European Union Commissioners have announced that agreement was reached to adopt English as the preferred language for internal communications, rather than German, which was the alternative.
As part of the negotiations. Her Majesty's Government conceded that English spelling has room for improvement and has accepted a five-year phased plan for introduction of EURO-ENGLISH , to be known as EURO for short.
In the first year, "S" will be used instead of the soft "C": Sertainly, sivil servants will reseive this news with joy. Also, the hard "C" will be replaced with "K". Not only will this klear up konfusion, but typewriters kan have one less letter. There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome "PH" will be replaced by "F". This will make words like "fotograf" 20 per sent shorter.
In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new speling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkorage the removal of double letters, which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also al wil agre the horible mes of silent "C"s in the languag is disgrasful, and they should go.
By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "TH" by "Z" and "W" by "V".
During ze fifz year, ze unesesary "O" can be dropd from vords kontaining "OU". and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters. After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubls or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech ozer. Ze dram vil finali kum tru !!!
BEFORE YOU GO
It’s never too early (or too late) to learn about the rights of the child
Two-year-old Franco holding the CRC *
(*Franco is Rima Salah’s grand-nephew)
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