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Project Edan Corner
Bev Shihara
Project Edan Director
While in New York City earlier this month, Ree, Vicky and I met
with Kate Weber and Lacey Stone from UNICEF. Many of you
remember Kate from the two PWFC conventions she was able to
attend. Kate is still in the same office but has taken over as
Director of Project Eliminate, a UNICEF/Kiwanis five-year
campaign aimed at eliminating
Maternal Neonatal Tetanus around
the globe and Lacey Stone has
replaced her as the new NGO
Director. We lunched at a little
restaurant near UNICEF as Kate
regaled Lacey with stories from the
PWFC events she attended – she
still marvels at the auctions we hold
to raise money for Project Edan.
Though not directly over the NGOs
anymore, Kate will always be a fan
of Peter and the club. She was
overjoyed to learn that Peter had
made the decision to return to
medical school and become a
doctor. Kate and her niece also
joined us the next night for an
enjoyable evening of theatre and coffee. We were in New York
over September 11th, but in spite of all the increased security and
crowds, we managed to squeeze in 6 Broadway shows…I think
Ree did 8.
Both Kate and Lacey asked me to pass on their thanks for
Project Edan’s continued support of UNICEF’s efforts and most
recently to everyone who has responded to the crisis in the Horn
of Africa with a donation to Project Edan.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing the worst crisis in 6 decades
due to drought, soaring food prices and armed conflict. The
United Nations has declared famine in six regions and more than
10 million people are in crisis…hundreds of children are dying
every day. The most urgent needs are for therapeutic feeding,
vitamin supplementation, immunization, water and sanitation
services and child protection. Despite the challenges of
operating in this war-torn area, UNICEF and its partners have set
up 800 nutrition centers in Somalia and are providing therapeutic
feeding to children severely malnourished through high-energy,
ready-to-use therapeutic foods that are rich in essential proteins
and vitamins. Due to the desperate situation in the south, people
continue moving by the thousands to neighboring countries –
almost 1,000 Somalia children arrive in Kenya and Ethiopia each
day and those who survive the arduous journey are in appalling
condition with 47% acutely malnourished. UNICEF now supports
24 mobile units that come with a team of five and fresh medical
and nutritional supplies stacked in the back of a jeep that crosses
the desert daily to reach remote villages. The teams provide
vaccinations, water purification chemicals, monitoring and
treatment of malnutrition and neonatal support for pregnant and
nursing mothers. But this is not just a food crisis. Compounded
by malnutrition and poor sanitation, the risk of communicable
disease outbreaks like cholera, measles and polio is high.
UNICEF’s water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions
include a massive scale-up at supported nutrition centers and
distribution of clean water and water purification tablets in areas
already affected by cholera. UNICEF is also strengthening
immunization coverage, with emphasis on measles, polio,
Issue 60- 3rd Quarter 2011
pneumonia and diarrhea. The campaign provides children under age
five with vaccinations against measles and polio, as well as vitamin A
and de-worming tablets. These children need our help.
As many of you know, we have kicked off our matching fund
campaign which will run through the end of the year. Two donors
have each donated $500 towards a base fund for a matching fund of
$1,000. The challenge now is to match this base amount twice to give
us a total of $3000 contributed to Project Edan. Because of the
desperate situation in the Horn of Africa,
our support of UNICEF is now being
directed to this campaign and your
contributions will help save the lives of
these children who struggle for survival.
All donations, large or small, are greatly
appreciated and will go toward our
matching fund campaign. For more on
this fund-raising challenge, [go here]:
Donors in the U.S. and Canada may
continue to donate through the direct link
on UNICEF’s PWFC NGO page if they
choose and donations will still count
toward Project Edan and our matching
fund drive.
We can make a difference. We are
making a difference! The number of
children who die each day from easily preventable causes has again
dropped - from 22,000 to 21,000. UNICEF and World Health
Organization have just released a report from the UN Inter-agency
Group for Child Mortality that show a 35% decline in the under-five
mortality rate globally from 1990 to 2010 – that is a decline of 12,000
children every day. As mortality rates have fallen sharply elsewhere,
there is an increasing disparity between the areas of Sub-Saharan
Africa and South Asia compared to the rest of the world. The highest
rates of child mortality are still in Sub-Saharan Africa where 1 in 8
children dies before the age of 5. About half of all under-five deaths
occur in only five countries: India, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Pakistan and China and over 70% of these deaths occur
within the first year of life. Overall, there has been substantial
progress made but we still have much to do…there are still 7.6 million
children who are dying needlessly each year. Project Edan continues
to support UNICEF’s efforts in doing whatever it takes to reduce the
number of children under five who die each day to zero.
And a final word - our Fall Auction is just around the corner. I haven’t
seen the list yet but I’m sure there’ll be many must-have items for
your bidding pleasure. All proceeds go to Project Edan so join us for
the fun!
Lacey Stone, Bev and Kate Weber at a lunchtime visit.
PWFC Vice President and President visit NYC in September.
