Please browse our website to read all of the articles that appeared on our website during this and previous weeks. We post new articles nearly every day, so there is no need to wait all week for the Digest to read what is new. Bookmark our page and visit often.
Building Calyndrix: Ronald van Dijk
This week, Ronald tells us of how after a retiring to Malaysia, he decided to build his own sailboat. He purchased a plan and what to us looks like a pile of plywood, and set to work one plank a day. Evidently, precision craftsmanship and patience are essential ingredients. Ronald takes us through all steps until the final launch of his sailboat, and closes with a video shot while sailing the Strait of Malacca. Click here to see some milestones of this great project.
This week Leon Shestani responds to our 10 Questions. In this series, members of the XUNICEF network can respond to 10 standard questions, about themselves and UNICEF, and about any advice they have for the UNICEF Executive Director. Send us your own responses to the 10 Questions. Write to us at xunicef.news.views@gmail.com.
Many of our members are glued to the television and internet while following events in Ukraine, where the next disaster is in the making. UNICEF has offices in five locations in the Ukraine. Read here recent statements by UNICEF. See also the message from Murat Sahin and the UNICEF team in Ukraine, as well as recent photos of children in Ukraine in the shelters and on the road. We were pleased to learn that all five of UNICEF's offices are still functioning amid the fighting, and we pray for the safety of our colleagues and the children of Ukraine.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell returned from her first field visit, which took her to Pakistan and Afghanistan. Read here the ED's statement following her visit to Kabul, plus the interview with her about promises by the Taliban to allow girls to return to school. Also note the terrible news that eight polio vaccinators have been killed in recent attacks in Afghanistan, leading to suspension of the national polio campaign.
Breastmilk Substitutes were back in the news this week, thanks to a strongly worded joint statement and a new report by UNICEF and WHO showing how marketing influences decisions of parents on infant feeding. This report was accompanied by a statement of the agencies, saying that baby formula marketing is ‘pervasive, misleading and aggressive’ Click here. See also an article by Janet Nelson on IBFAN's concerns over studies in Guinea-Bissau and Uganda on use of commercial breastmilk substitutes in an effort to manage stunting and wasting in infants.
The discussion among members of our community continue about the use or possible damage of cryptocurrency and virtual reality. Check out our posts on Angry Spirits, the article by Ken Gibbs on 'real' money', and Tom's analysis of the Metaverse as a dangerous place for kids. They all provide different facets of this strange new world.
We republished this week an article from our very first Quarterly in March 2018 titled New Boss, New Priorities. The article was based on an interview given by then newly appointed ED, Henrietta Fore, on her first field visit (to South Sudan). Many members sent in their comments on the interview and their thoughts on what actions the new ED should and should not take. This was the most commented article we have ever published. Click here.
Lastly, we appreciate to receive photographs from our members, for sharing on our blog as part of a photo-story or to embellish an article. We would like your photographs to look its best. Click here for a tip on how to share your photographs with us.
Detlef Palm: Death and Destruction
Nuzhat Shahzadi: There Was a Treaty
Ken Gibbs: Does Crypto Make the World Go Round?
Fouad Kronfol: Man vs. Mosquito and The World United Against Malaria
Be sure to check our Bibliography for all books by UNICEF and XUNICEF authors. Have one to add? Let us know please.
See also She the Change, a new collection of stories by girls in remote areas of India. Click here.
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Thank you, always interesting. I am also writing a special plea through UNICEF retirees and those with high level contacts still in the UN. There are disturbing images coming out from the border countries of Ukatraine of international students and families from Africa Asia etc being badly treated and prevented from entering various countries. I hope there will be a special group set up to monitor these kinds of issues. Sadly Eastern Europe has its share of racism and can be made very apparent very quickly in these kinds of circumstances.Thank you. Angela
ReplyDeleteOf course the world's eyes are on the Russia/Ukraine war. I am a bit depressed about the level of discussion in the mainstream media whether BBC, CNN, or even RT, Russian Channel. I hardly see any reference to the type of views expressed in the attached presentation by Professor Mearsheimer,of the University of Chicago. This presentation dates from June 2015!. Just reflect on how prescient it is, as we look back from today. Its a bit long but, in my view, well worth the listen.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrMiSQAGOS4