This makes him a likely "UNICEF baby." Since the mid-1990s, UNICEF (and in collaboration with UNHCR - but MCH was our part of the MOU) has supported maternal and child health services in Tanzania's refugee camps during major humanitarian influxes from Burundi, Rwanda and the DRC. During my time working on those exact responses, we partnered with the Tanzania Red Cross and various NGOs to supply vaccines, nutrition, clean water (WASH), and trained birth attendants for safe deliveries.
Because Nestory was born in the Kigoma camps, UNICEF likely supported many of the services and staff that ushered in his entry into the world. Read the full article here to celebrate this amazing young man. It is proof of the lifelong impact of giving every child a healthy start.
Indeed
ReplyDeleteThank you Rob. The possibility that the football star Nestore Irankunda might have survived as a baby because of UNICEF is a heartwarming story. The thought that, like Irankunda, many others, whose names we might not know, who survived and got a start in education because of UNICEF, may have gone on to make positive contributions to their society, that kind of thinking makes our work with UNICEF deeply satisfying. Although I often lament that so much of the work that UNICEF supported in Yemen was destroyed by the war, I nevertheless find some consolation in the faith that among those who survived as children, some will grow up to be leaders and make a strong contribution to the welfare of their society and their country. That thought makes our work with UNICEF worthwhile in spite of the frustrations of war. Habib
DeleteThis makes me very happy.
ReplyDeleteFirst 1000 days can be a dealbreaker or maker..
DeleteGood story. I am also happy for those who survived and became bus drivers, farmers or street vendors, without fame to their name
ReplyDeleteAll jobs matter- and we know the first 1000 days matters
Delete