25,000 Ivoirian Refugees in Liberia - Food and Water Scarce

Nine year-old Sanata was home alone when chaos erupted in her village on the western border of Ivory Cost and Liberia. Sanata’s parents were working in the fields and her brothers and sisters were out when the neighbours decided to run from the village and across the Nior river into Liberia – a long days walk under a baking sun.

Following the elections in Ivory Coast last November, many villages like Sanata’s experienced confusion, and fear that there would be violence when the two presidential candidates both claimed legitimate victory in early December.

Many Iviorians crossed into Liberia as early as 28 November – some seeing continued stalemate and growing aggression in the capital of Abidjan as the dangerous next step to another civil war.

To date UNHCR has registered Ivoirian 25,088 refugees in Liberia. A report from the Liberian-Ivoirian border For UNICEF (January 2011).

Children the Key to Adult Literacy in Mozambique

The legacy of colonization left Mozambique with a staggering 97% illiteracy after independence in 1975.

Since then, the government has managed to reduce illiteracy to just under 50% - but the lack of basic reading, writing and arithmetic for much of the population remains an immense challenge for the country's development.

An innovative programme working with children, however, is turning that around.

A UNESCO Initiative that came about in 2003, the Government has taken the reigns and is now rolling out the programme nationally. Children are taking the lead, teaching their parents a thing or two.

For: EuroNews: Learning World (Nov/Dec 2011)

Republic of Congo - Refugees from DRC

In February 2010, UNICEF brought me to the north of Republic of Congo, to report on the situation of refugees. Here are some of the reports from that trip.

Republic of Congo - Refugees from DRC flood Likouala

The province of Likouala in northern Republic of Congo, is home yet again to tens of thousands of refugees from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees estimates so far that 117,000 thousand refugees have crossed the Ubangi River from the Democratic Republic of Congo into the Betou and Impfondo districts in the north of the Republic of Congo.

Many of these refugees were previously in the Republic of Congo for as long as 10 years. They fled the violence of the DRC’s Civil war and continued instability until DRC’s elections in 2006. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees officially completely their repatriation to DRC in 2008.

But Last October, clashes between the Boba and Lobala ethnic groups over access to farming and fishing rights in the area of Dongo in the DRC has again left many dead, wounded and tens of thousands running back to safety in the Republic of Congo.

While the DRC Government says it is safe to return home, the refugees are doubtful. Yet, living as a Refugee in Republic of Congo, is rife with it’s own challenges.

You can watch the entire FOCUS programme on this subject on France24
In English:
http://www.france24.com/en/20100302-life-in-limbo-for-DRC-refugees
In French:
http://www.france24.com/fr/20100302-focus-congo-la-crise-des-refugies-congolais-kinshasa-brazzaville-afrique

Video Produced for France 24:





Video Produced for UNICEF on the situation of education for refugee children in Likouala:

On World AIDS Day, MSF is asking nine drug companies to listen to the millions without access to adequate AIDS treatment.

Gilliam 2009

UNICEF celebrates 20 years of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Listen to 20 kids tell us their rights in Cape Town, South Africa!

Gilliam/UNICEF 2009

Kinshasa Music

In Kinshasa I met up with Mark Nunn and Joe Herrmann recording Ocean de la Clef, a band of young super-talented Kinois, working on a CD addressing various social issues for Christian AID. We collaborated for an afternoon and this is what we came up with. The song is SAVE, and talks about using condoms, but also about general access to medical care to know your status, take your meds and general watch out for yourself. Enjoy the music!

Ireland's Dustin the Turkey visits South Africa

Household name Dustin the Turkey visited South Africa from Ireland to investigate Early Childhood Development in KwaZuluNatal. The ECD programme of the LETCEE NGO is being used as a best model practice by UNICEF. This was good fun - the kids loved Dustin and KwazuluNatal is breathtaking!

A piece for UNICEF website and UNIFEED.