United Nations Bazaar, 23 November 2004

Reruns? “Oh no, not again”! Save the beautiful blossoms

Gita Sandararaman

Do you feel, like me, that the newsreel has been rewound, whenever you watch television? Aren’t those the children they showed us this time last year? And the year before that and the year before that? Those sunken eyes, those heads looking disproportionately large, those legs barely able to support so frail a body. Seems all too familiar. Switch channels?

No. Wait. Those children have found their peace, or most of them have. Why the same again? Because the world around us does too little. Because there is no profit in helping to alleviate the suffering of children. Or is it because that we have become immune to war, greed and indifference, and find every conceivable excuse not to do anything about these precious little human beings who are victims of the atrocities of other human beings. When will we ever learn?

Instead of experiencing the true joys of growing up, going to school and playing and laughing, those children are barely able to survive. If they were the children of Somalia a few years ago, and the children of Bangladesh the year after, followed by Bosnia and Croatia, then today they are in Afghanistan and in Sudan. It seems never-ending. How fortunate are our children to be living in caring and comfortable surroundings in Geneva, Bombay, New York, Tokyo, Sydney.

The United Nations Women’s Guild, Geneva (UNWG) recognises the dire need of the less fortunate children and their mothers. One of its primary objectives is “to assist children in need throughout the world. This objective is carried out by donating funds to small, non-govern- mental projects for the welfare of children and mothers in different parts of the world. These funds are raised by several small initiatives and a grand annual effort – the UNWG Annual Bazaar, held towards the end of each year. The Guild members (about 500 to date), the Perma- nent Missions, the United Nations Organisation Geneva, the city and cantonal authorities and donors in Geneva all work together to make this event possible and a success.

The projects supported include improving child health, meeting the basic health needs of children, providing basic education, alleviating the suffering of street children and child victims of war, starvation and natural disasters and increasing the self-reliance of youth in communities.

The worst suffering is evident in Sudan this year, threatening hunger for thousands of children in the country apart from the millions of children living in poverty around the world. What is needed above all is greater recognition and generosity: more money, more medicines, more clothes and more food. We who are fortunate often get overwhelmed by problems at home and constant appeals for help. But we cannot remain indifferent and bury our heads in the sand. We cannot let these beautiful blossoms perish. We have to show our faith in the future and decide to help them.

The UNWG appeals to all of you to come to the Bazaar at the Palais on Tuesday, 23 November 2004, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Please, please contribute in whatever way you can to help the cause. Little drops of water make a mighty ocean, n’est-ce pas? So join up in celebrating life and not snuffing it out.

The author is President of the United Nations Women’s Guild 1998-2002.