Stephen McDonald, Leiter des Katastrophenteams von Save the Children in Sendai berichtet:

We have finally commenced our operation in Sendai, after a ten-hour overnight trek, some rapid assessments, and agreement with one of the evacuation centres to set up our first Child Friendly Space in Nanagou.

When we were there yesterday, the children were tired, anxious and stressed. There weren’t many smiles, with some of them quietly following their parents around, others sitting in the stairwells, and a few young boys running up and down the corridors of what last week was their primary school. Letters and messages are posted on the walls, some to tell people that the author was safe, others, sadly, asking if people had seen relatives or friends. With our Child Friendly Space established, the first group of children came in to start activities like drawing and colouring with our enthusiastic and committed Japanese staff.

It didn’t take long for the first smiles to break out, smiles that hadn’t been there the day before when we came to assess the situation. At the same time I had sent a team some 60km north of Sendai to the town of Ishinomaki, where they found a scene of utter devastation. Ian Woolverton, my close colleague and friend who went with the team called me and said, “We’ve got to get up here. The needs of the children are massive.”

I asked him to get as much information as he could, but he went one step further, and got some good intel for me about the possibility of setting up some Child Friendly Spaces. I hope to get up there tomorrow or the next day to get it set up.

We face multiple challenges here.  We are faced with fuel, food and water shortages.  So it is tremendously difficult to establish supply lines, especially since staff are fatigued and stressed.

This emergency is proving much more complex than I thought when I left home, giving my wife and two sleeping children a kiss goodbye, and heading to the airport only six hours after the quake struck.  Add to this the anxiety amongst the population and our staff about the Fukushima Nuclear Reactor, and this is proving to be one of the most difficult tasks I’ve ever undertaken.

Despite these frustrations, the long days, and the yearning to be home with my own children there is one thing I can say about today. We put smiles on the faces of 33 children. That’s what I love about this job.

8,1 Millionen Kinder sind im letzten Jahr vor ihrem 5. Geburtstag gestorben.

1 von 3 Todesfällen bei Kindern unter fünf Jahren ist auf Unterernährung zurückzuführen.

209 von 1.000 Kindern im Tschad sterben vor ihrem 5. Geburtstag.

75% der Neugeborenen in Afghanistan, deren Mutter bei der Geburt gestorben ist, erleben ihren 5. Geburtstag nicht.

195 Millionen Kinder sind von chronischer Mangelernährung betroffen. Das sind ein Drittel aller Kinder unter 5 Jahren in Entwicklungsländern.

33 Monate ist die kritische Zeit zwischen Zeugung und dem 2. Geburtstag eines Kindes – nach dieser Zeit können die Auswirkungen von chronischer Mangelernährung nicht mehr rückgängig gemacht werden.

Es ist 10 Mal wahrscheinlicher, dass ein Kind stirbt, wenn es stark mangelernährt ist, als wenn es normalgewichtig ist.

Es ist 15 Mal weniger wahrscheinlich, dass ein Kind an Lungenentzündung stirbt, wenn es in den ersten sechs Monaten ausschließlich gestillt wird

Bis zu 80% ihrer Haushaltsausgaben geben Familien in armen Ländern für Lebensmittel aus.

Save the Children setzt sich weltweit für das Recht aller Kinder auf Überleben und Gesundheitsversorgung ein, so dass kein Kind unter 5 mehr an einer vermeidbaren Krankheit sterben muss. Erfahren Sie hier mehr über unsere Arbeit im Bereich “Überleben und Gesundheit”.

“It’s been another mad and non stop week. It’s hard to believe that we are 6 months on from the events that shattered Haiti. The workload still seems to be as demanding and intense as back in the earlier months of the response.

I came to Haiti 2 weeks after the earthquake to set up the emergency Education programme, in a country where over 50% of children were already out of school prior to the earthquake. My three months here were filled with challenges. With nearly 300 temporary learning spaces established and over 1500 teachers trained on psychosocial support, I left knowing there was still a huge amount to be done, but thrilled that we had managed to get over 45,000 children back to school.

I was asked to come back to work with the Education Cluster (the system used by the humanitarian community to better coordinate and assist relief efforts in conflict or natural disasters) in May. Since then I have been once again working flat out. Every day is filled with new challenges and problems to overcome. I am amazed at the progress that has been achieved and the incredible resilience the Haitian people continue to show.

What struck me most as I drove through the streets of Port au Prince upon my return, was the change in activity. There were no longer hordes of women and children queuing in lines for food distributions. Instead women now line the sides of the roads selling mangoes, avocados and carrots all piled in perfectly towered piles. Children fill the streets in the mornings, immaculately dressed in pristine school uniforms, setting off on their journey to ’school’.

But the situation here in Haiti is far from back to normal. Rubble still fills the streets, buildings continue to hang precariously over steep hillsides, tents and plastic sheeting huts fill every available space. There are thousands of children still not going to school and the rains continue to cause havoc and flooding, not to mention the imminent threat of a strong hurricane.

Among the chaos and visible memories of the tragic events that will forever scar the Haitian people, life goes on. The true spirit of the Haitian people shines through.

Over the last few weeks the World Cup has evoked an incredible sense of celebration and joy throughout the country. Flags are flying high, bunting lines the streets and roars echo throughout the capital every time a goal is scored. The joy and laughter amongst the people here is truly inspirational.

The other night I was asked to join friends at a Bingo/games evening. The venue was packed with people of all ages and all sorts of talent, riddled with laughter, dancing, music and celebration. Yet again I was astounded by people’s resilience and desire to get on with living and enjoying life, knowing that nearly every single person in that room would return at the end of the evening to a tent in a squalled camp somewhere across the city.

The children who wander the streets and camps, still unable to go to school because their parents can’t afford to send them, continue to smile and hope. It is that hope and those smiles that continuously remind me of just how important the work we are doing here is. We must do everything possible to realise these children’s dreams and get them into school, whatever challenge or hurdle it takes.”

(12.07.2010)