Fourteen-year-old Stella is an environmental conservation champion at her school. Her love for nature inspired Stella to join the school’s environment club after being taught about the benefits of trees by one of her teachers that founded the club. The benefits that the children have reaped from the increased tree cover in their school have given them hope for a bright future in their community.

"...if I can live my life comfortably with the money that I have, why not challenge myself to also put aside a sum of money every month to give to these children," shared Shawn.

World Vision’s Tony Rinaudo is the man who championed a reforestation technique over 35 years ago that led to the largest possible environmental transformation across Africa. Known as Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration or FMNR, the simple farming practise has morphed desert plains into reforested and productive farmland.

Cutting forests for firewood and farming had ruptured the ecosystem and set off a chain reaction. Fuel-efficient cook stove has shown themselves to be capable of solving many of these problems such as reducing reforestation, indoor pollution at homes, protecting children against respiratory diseases and more. 

Humanitarian needs in Syria are currently at their highest, while funding continues to dwindle year after year.  The recent earthquakes of February 6th have only added to their complex layers of suffering, making them more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, the NGO adds. Many Syrian children have known nothing but war as the protracted conflict reaches its twelfth year today and they now risk once again being forgotten by the international community. World Vision has released a policy brief outlining the dire situation of children and their families in Syria today.

There is a mental health crisis, especially among children, in Northwest Syria, as a result of the earthquakes which first struck on 6 February 2023 (one month ago today) and the conflict which began 12 years ago this month. Mental health experts believe that the devastation of the earthquake, and the series of aftershocks and displacement resulting from it, will further worsen the mental health needs of children. 

World Vision Singapore partnered with Scan Global Logistics, a global full-service logistics provider that has a wide global network to reach remote areas in the world, for a complimentary shipment of 500,000 reusable face masks from Singapore to vulnerable children and families in Cambodia in Jan 2023.

The lessons Isabel Gomes shares about responding to an earthquake are not what you might expect. Haiti, Nepal, Indonesia, Syria, Türkiye. World Vision is no stranger to responding to major earthquakes that kill hundreds or thousands, rip up infrastructure and tear down homes. We grieve each time one occurs. With each one we learn more about the best ways to respond to this devastating force of nature. 

The already stretched child protection system in Northwest Syria is now inundated with extremely high numbers of unaccompanied children, many of whom have lost one or both parents. UNICEF estimates that 2.5 million Syrian children have been impacted by the earthquake.