The top stories of 2014

Monday, December 29, 2014

The top health story for 2014 was definitely the fight against Ebola - over 2,100 people have died fom the virus in Sierra Leone alone. World Vision has become involved in the response in several ways: providing protective gear and equipment for front line workers, food assistance in affected areas, assisting with school radios, and most significantly, training burial teams on safe and dignified burials, to close the gap on spreading the virus. Our most moving story this year was about Aminata, who beat the virus herself, only to lose her parents and sister. 

Click here for more on the work World Vision is doing around safe and dignified burials

The conflict in Syria is about to enter its fourth year. It has already claimed more than 100,000 lives—at least 10,000 of whom are confirmed to be children—forced approximately 9 million people to flee their homes and 2.5 million people to take refuge in neighbouring countries.  2014 saw the conflict spread wider - previously peaceful parts of Iraq became unsafe for families and children. Read our top story from Iraq about losing everything.  

Nadine* is one of 1.9 million Iraqis displaced by ongoing conflict. The United Nations reports that at least 2.8 million Iraqis will need food assistance this winter. 

In South Sudan, the world's youngest nation continues to be torn apart, affecting 3.8 million people, almost a third of them displaced.

In 2014, our focus was on how we could best support all the displaced children, poignantly explained here, with Rania's story about living in a displaced camp, and missing school and her friends.    

More on South Sudan: 

 

2014 was not a good year for children in the Gaza strip, already in need due to the seven year long Israeli-imposed blockade. The conflict that began in the summer was devastating for the people struggling to survive there - over 100,000 people remain displaced, power outages continue, and humanitarian access is delicate.

During the conflict, Mohammed Khalil El Halabi, a World Vision staff member, wrote about being a humanitarian, amidst destruction and personal loss. 

Mohammed El Halabi, World Vision's Area Development Programme Manager in Gaza, meets with children displaced by the violence during the brief ceasefire. Photo by Mohammad Awed

Things are no safer for children on the other side of the Atlantic. In Central America, raging violence has stopped the advancement of the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) in its tracks, now in its 25th year.

Spiraling organized crime and gang violence in countries such as El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras has resulted in an exodus of children fleeing their communities, many running for their lives.  In their home countries, the lack of protection in their communities leaves them vulnerable to violence in all aspects of their lives, ranging from extortion on the street to domestic and sexual abuse.

As the crisis has deepened, we learn about how more and more children are deprived of their right to education, health, and the right to grow up in a loving, secure environment.

Melvin* from Honduras walks the train tracks in Mexico, on his way to America where he hopes to finally live free from violence. 

In early 2014, World Vision spoke to more than 100 children in camps and communities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where more than 2.6 million people have been displaced due to violence, to gather their views in advance of leaders coming together to design a new roadmap for peace.

More than one-third of the children told us they are afraid all of the time or every day, while more than half are orphaned or separated from their parents, and a quarter live without any adult support. More than a third describe either witnessing or experiencing episodes of violence, at times extreme and graphic, in their lifetime.

You can read more of their answers here.

Mariamu, 14, lives in a camp for displaced persons, and says “Every day I remember how my father died."

Despite advances in access to water and education, and the celebration of the 25th year since the ratification of the CRC, 2014 was not a good year for so many children around the world. 

At the beginning of a new year, it is a good time to remember World Vision International's vision statement, as it reminds us of what we are aspiring to achieve:

OUR VISION FOR EVERY CHILD, LIFE IN ALL ITS FULLNESS,      

OUR PRAYER FOR EVERY HEART, THE WILL TO MAKE IT SO.