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DOCUMENT RESUME PS 024 036 ED 394 660 Baker, Gwendolyn Calvert AUTHOR Every Child Is Our Child. TITLE 25 Jan 96 PUB DATE 15p.; Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the NOTE Chicago Metropolitan Association for the Education of Young Children (Chicago, IL, January 25-27, 1996). Viewpoints (Opinion/Position Papers, Essays, etc.) PUB TYPE Descriptive (141) Reports (120) Speeches/Conference Papers (150) MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. EDRS PRICE Child Health; *Children; *Child Welfare; Cognitive DESCRIPTORS Development; Developing Nations; *Educational Opportunities; Foreign Countries; Hunger; Improvement Programs; Peace; Poverty; *Social Services; *Well Being Historical Background; *UNICEF IDENTIFIERS ABSTRACT Young people deserve to grow and thrive in good times and bad, in poverty and prosperity, in war and peace. Yet children still suffer from hunger, poverty, and maltreatment, even in a country as rich as the United States. This paper provides a historical background of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the kinds and nature of the services it provides, and how individuals for children. can help UNICEF to provide a better environment Recommendations include providing access to quality education, helping children to gain language and cultural training, encouraging them to develop self esteem and important life skills such as critical thinking and assertiveness, and teaching children to understand global problems such as pollution and destruction of the rain forest. People need to see every child as their own child, so that all people can learn to live productively in a world of great diversity. (MOK) *********************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION EDUCATIONAL RESOURCcS INFORMATION CENTER IERICI This onriiilierll nits 0,1 .16 urn rile peso- oi received oligotaiinq it boo, IsAni-A chimges C) "EVERY CHILD IS Ou TR CHILD" improve Iv (21) (In 61110-1,s p Gwendolyn Calvert Baker President and Chief Executive Officer United States Committee for UNICEF The Annual Conference of the Chicago Metropolitan Association for the Education of Young Children (Chicago Metro AEYC), an affiliate of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). January 25, 1996, 2:00 to 3:00 P.M. PERMISSION TO HEPHOUUCE AND 1)IS`-;EMINATE THIS MATEHIAL Keynote Oration HAS BEEN CRANTED International Ballroom G 421-4,C) L\Y1 Chicago Hilton and Towers CQ.1.1 extk bake,e TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES Irp,-ORMAnON CEN LEN iENICi Thank you. I am extremely honored to have the opportunity to speak at this very important annual conference of the Chicago Metropolitan Association for the Education of Young Children. As children, I would like to someone who cares very deeply about conunend each and every one of you for taking the time to sharpen and improve your skills as educators, administrators, day-care providers, and children's advocates. I actually began my career as I myself am a former educator know how Arbor -- and so I an elementary school teacher in Ann critical gatherings like these are to one's professional development. I also know how difficult it can be to set aside three days to attend these workshops and really think about the ways you can enrich and cY, enhance the learning experience of children. By being here today, you show a real dedication to young people that warms my heart. I think it is entirely fitting that the BEST COPY AVAILABLE Page 2 Every Child Is Our Child theme of your conference is First Call for Children, a principle that was developed by the organization I work closely with -- UNICEF. This important principle is based on a very simple idea: that children should have a "first call" on society's concerns and capacities, that young people deserve to grow and thrive in good times and bad, in poverty and prosperity, in war and peace. It is a principle based not on any vested interest or sentimentality, but on the fact that it is in the early years of life that the mind and body grow. As each one of you is well aware, it is during childhood that personalities and values are formed. This is when society deterinines what kind of adults it will produce. While most societies agree in principle that children are a valuable resource, they don't always practice what they preach. Just think of Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, or any of a number of other war-tom nations, where young boys and girls are being gunned down, tortured, raped, orphaned and generally forced to pay the price of adult wars they don't understand. Think of India, the Philippines, and many other countries, where children are doomed to a life of poverty and ignorance, because they must forsake school to work 14 or 15 hours a day in a factory, earning barely enough money to survive. Even in the United States, children don't always come first. Here, in the richest country in the world, one out of every five children lives in poverty. And many children's advocates believe that the plight of millions of poor children will only worsen if Congress succeeds in cutting more social programs to balance the federal budget. Page 3 Every Child Is Our Child the world, we allow That's right, in the richest country in children quality education and children to go hungry. We deny the violence that kills so adequate health care. We do little to stop like New York, Los Angeles, and of course, many children in cities fact that How can we as a society tolerate the your home, Chicago. 98 people in this country at a rate of one every guns kill young minutes? and treat children more Isn't it time we rethink our priorities know you all care about like the precious resource they are? I explain how I think we can children, so I want to take the time now to given top priority, a "first work together to ensure that children are but also across the United States, call," if you will, not just in Chicago, help you see, if you don't and around the world. My goal is to think of every child as our own already, that all of us need to begin to child. that is actually the motto of the Every Child Is Our Child which is the the U.S. Committee for UNICEF, organization I head around the world oldest and largest of 38 national committees set up to support the work of UNICEF. UNICEF is the United For those of you who don't know, founded in 1946 to help the children Nations Children's Fund. It was 1950, its mandate was changed to of post-war Europe and China. In America, Asia, and the focus on poor countries in Africa, Latin health care, clean water, Middle East. Today, UNICEF provides facilities, and emergency nutrition programs, education, sanitation countries. assistance to children in more than 140 Page 4 Every Child Is Our Child already I would guess that quite a number of you are probably before I familiar with UNICEF's impressive work for children. Long familiar became president and CEO of the U.S. Committee, I was thanks to with UNICEF's work -- just as many of you probably are Halloween. those familiar little orange cartons you always see at dimes, and You might be surprised to know that those nickels, pennies have really added up over the years. Amazingly, U.S. children have raised more than $100 million since the U.S. Committee first began its "Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF" fundraising drive in 1950. Perhaps you have wondered where this money has gone. I'd like to take a moment to tell you about some of the wonderful been able to achieve with the progress for children UNICEF has support of people like you and your students. Did you know that 50 years ago, 25 million boys and girls died preventable diseases like measles and every year from hunger and whooping cough? Today, that number has been cut in half, thanks in large part to UNICEF's lifesaving work around the world. The winner of the Nobel Peace Price in 1965, UNICEF has spearheaded major health campaigns that have benefited us all. For example, the agency worked with the World Health Organization to help to rid the world of smallpox, which used to kill millions. And UNICEF, in partnership with organizations such as Rotary International, can take much credit for the fact that polio is now poised to become the next disease to be wiped off the face of the earth. These are astonishing accomplishments, especially when you consider that UNICEF operates on a budget of less than one billion Page 5 Every Child Is Our Child dollars a year. That's about one-seventh of what New York City spends on its schools! I have had the privilege of watching UNICEF in action. And I'm sure you too would be impressed if you saw how much can be done with so little. For example, did you know that a child suffering from a deadly bout of diarrheal dehydration can be saved for just pennies? That's right, virtually all deaths from diarrheal dehydration could be prevented by a simple, safe, and inexpensive method of treatment that requires no sophisticated medical equipment or supplies. It is called oral rehydration therapy, or ORT. ORT involves giving a child a solution of clean water, glucose, and salt to replace the water and salts lost by the body during bouts with diarrhea. Each year, UNICEF saves one million lives by distributing almost 30 million packets of oral rehydration salts at a cost of just 15 cents each. (Talk about ORT clinics you saw in Dominican Republic. Mention their minimal cost and explain how pleased people are to have these clinics in their communities.) Did you know that for just 17 dollars, a child can be fully immunized against measles, whooping cough, diphtheria, tetanus, polio, and tuberculosis? A ten-year effort recently led by UNICEF and the World Health Organization has succeeded in immunizing 80 percent of the world's children against these six killer diseases. I'm pleased to tell you this public health campaign is credited with saving the lives of three million children each year. Page 6 Every Child Is Our Child (UNICEF's inoculatioit programs are community-led. I was in El impressed by the door-to-door immunization effort I saw UNICEF.) Salvador on my first trip for the U.S. Committee for from People in Chicago could undoubtedly learn a thing or two know that the child UNICEF on this front. I'll bet most of you did not behind a number mortality rate for children of color in your city lags of developing countries, hicluding Colombia and Sri Lanka. Another area where UNICEF has had amazing success is in drinking water, helping to provide poor people with access to safe which can reduce child deaths by 55 percent. Mekelle. (Talk about the man-made lake you saw near Explain how Mention that fetching water is a woman's burden. yourself and was amazed at how heavy it was. you picked up a jug will help to End by letting them know how this simple project by freeing up improve the lives of women from this area, and that their children their time and energy, the project will also benefit the cost of a and, ultimately, their entire community. Note that shallow well in Ethiopia is just $150.) Through my extensive travels, I have been able to see just how the needs of much can be achieved when people work together to put children first. be But neither I nor UNICEF are blind to all that remains to done. Particularly in the areas that lie beyond child survival. Increasing violence and racial hatred, worsening poverty, rising for the joblessness, the scourge of AIDS, and a growing disregard that all global environment are just some of the daunting challenges Page 7 Every Child Is Our Child whether they live in the developing or industrialized children -- world face today. -- It's clear such difficult problems won't be easy to resolve. But I deal to provide am convinced that educators like you can do a great need to surmount young people with the wisdom and courage they challenges that can appear at times to be intractable. I believe that if we teach our children -- at a very yotmg age to understand and appreciate diversity, we can help them build a future in which the negative forces of discrimination, hatred, and hostility are greatly diminished. I believe that if we can ensure that all children, particularly girls, have an equal access to quality education throughout their lives, we will move closer to reducing poverty, which is increasingly becoming a woman's burden both in the industrialized and the developing world. I believe that if we help our children gain the language training and cultural understanding they need to succeed in an increasingly global economy, we will see them prosper in a world where the competition for jobs grows stiffer each day. I believe that if we encourage OUT children to develop self- esteem and important life skills such as critical thinking and assertiveness, we can help them better combat scourges like AIDS. I believe that if we teach our children to understand that problems like pollution and the destruction of the rain forest are global concerns, we can help to bring about an end to the environmental degradation that threatens the future of our planet. Page 8 Every Child Is Our Child You might ask how I can expect you to do all this? As a kindergarten teacher, a day-care provider, or an elementary school administrator, you may feel that it's not your place to teach young children about diversity, world poverty, or the destruction of the planet. I would like to challenge this way of thinking and tell you that difference, that children -- especially you can and you must make a help now as never before, in all the areas young children -- need your I mentioned. Regrettably, we don't have a lot of time together today, so I'd like to explain my meaning by concentrating on just one problem. It's something I consider to be one of the biggest obstacles to the development of children today: war and ethnic strife. Today, more than 50 wars are raging in different parts of the globe. In many of these conflicts, children are no longer simply innocent victims, accidentally caught in war's crossfire. Instead, they of attack, according to UNICEF, which are increasingly the target describes the plight of children caught in war in its State of the World's Children report for 1996. This is because many of today's conflicts are between ethnic former state. In such struggles, groups in the same country or warring factions often believe that killing adults is not enough. must also be destroyed. Future generations of the enemy -- children The consequence of this twisted reasoning is appalling. Over the last decade, UNICEF estimates, more than 2 million children have been killed in armed conflicts. Page 9 Every Child Is Our Child conflict. They are But children are not just the victims of armed the perpetrators of war, forced into combat by now also increasingly begin to understand the morally bankrupt adults long before they can consequences of their actions. in (Talk about Nelson Pedro, the 11-year-old boy you met he was unable Mozambique who had killed so much and so often, had died at his hands.) to remember how many people of 16 have UNICEF says that boys and girls under the age Africa, children as participated in conflicts in 25 countries. In parts of have been recruited as soldiers. Often, these young as six years old killing their own youngsters are kidnapped, then terrorized into history, children families and others. In Rwanda, for the first time in genocide. are facing trial for that these You might ask why I am mentioning such horrors, them. I problems are terrible, but there's nothing you can do to stop of young believe you're wrong. As the educators and caretakers children who are in the critical early stages of development, you, make perhaps more than any other group, are in a pivotal position to the world a better, more peaceful place for everyone. Mahatma Gandhi once said, "If we are to reach real peace in shall this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we have to begin with the children." by UNICEF has begun to fight the rising tide of violence world. These supporting "peace education programs" around the children with the basic tools they programs are designed to provide need to cope with adversity. They provide a cooperative learning