UNICEF working with displaced Children in Kenya

Eric Cressey / 3:04 PM / 01.25.08 / Education / 2

http://www.unicef.org/media/media_42664.html

In my last blog, I chose to look at UNICEF’s teaming up with soccer players to promote education in Ghana and Africa as a whole. This week I am looking again at UNICEF and its involvement in Africa. The source article is a press release from UNICEF that I thought would be appropriate because it helps illuminate some of the problems in Africa and what UNICEF is doing to end these issues. The press release focuses on Kenya (not Ghana as in my previous entry) and the meeting of the two leaders involved in a disputed election. The results of the meeting and of this election are extremely significant for the lives of Kenyans, particularly those living in camps for displaced peoples. While UNICEF has been able to provide for some of their basic needs, these people are the subject of abuses including rape and violence. Because of the existence of these other horrible factors in camps, UNICEF is raising funds to offer help for those in these situations. UNICEF again reiterates the importance of education for the children and the steps that they took in these camps to make sure that children were being educated. Education helps children feel more normal, which is crucial when dealing with people who are living in camps and other very abnormal situations.

Learning about the conditions that these people are living in has been extremely eye opening. Many people do not realize the kind and frequency of abuse that children are suffering in these displaced peoples camps and I think it’s great that UNICEF is taking steps to help out. I agree that education is one of the best ways to help out, and I am glad that in the article the parents of the children in the camps agreed that education was their top priority.