In the world, 35,000 children die of malnutrition everyday. In the past 10 years, wars took the lives of two million children, four million children became disabled by weapons, and twelve million children lost their home. Most of these occurred in developing countries in Asia and Africa.
Even today, too many children, 10 million to 16 million children, are spending their childhoods in battlefields, on streets, at whorehouses, or in sweatshops. Many children are forced to work XNUMX to XNUMX hours a day with little meal, little rest, and little pay (or without any pay). These children’s health conditions are in serious danger, for example, chronic undernourishment, lack of sleep, harmful chemical agent, pesticide, contact with dangerous machines, skin disease, AIDS, etc. Poverty, illiteracy, low societal expectation, etc. are passed from parents to children, and this becomes a vicious circle.
UNICEF ACTION POLICY
On the basis of the basic philosophy of “all people equally have the right to live”, UNICEF considers “what has to be done for people in developing countries to help them become independent?” and practices various assistance activities with a particular emphasis on women and children. UNICEF believes that these assistances should be equally offered to people who really need it, regardless of their races, ideologies, beliefs, ages and gender.
From this standpoint, UNICEF keeps on assisting those developing countries by not only supplying goods but also teaching technologies, advancing educations and fostering industries, so as to help them finally become independent.
(Cited from UNICEF information)
UNICEF information : http://www.unicef.org/about/who/index.html
A posthumous poem of Kenji Miyazawa (27 August 1896 - 21 September 1933). Translated by Roger Pulvers
Strong in the rain
Strong in the wind
Strong against the summer heat and snow
He is healthy and robust
Free of all desire
He never loses his generous spirit
Nor the quiet smile on his lips
He eats four go of unpolished rice
Miso and a few vegetables a day
He does not consider himself
In whatever occurs...his understanding
Comes from observation and experience
And he never loses sight of things
He lives in a little thatched-roof hut
In a field in the shadows of a pine tree grove
If there is a sick child in the east
He goes there to nurse the child
If there's a tired mother in the west
He goes to her and carries her sheaves
If someone is near death in the south
He goes and says, ‘Don't be afraid'
If there's strife and lawsuits in the north
He demands that the people put an end to their pettiness
He weeps at the time of drought
He plods about at a loss during the cold summer
Everybody calls him ‘Blockhead'
No one sings his praises
Or takes him to heart...
That is the sort of person
I want to be