High along the mountainous spine of Timor-Leste, one of Asia’s poorest countries, children in the remote town of Laclubar head for class. Yet the tranquil setting of this quiet place, nestled under the canopy of tall trees, masks a darker history that is only now beginning to fade.
LACLUBAR, TIMOR-LESTE, 13 May 2011 – High along the mountainous spine of Timor-Leste, nestled under the canopy of tall trees, classes at Batara school are back in session. It is a sign of normalcy masking a darker chapter of history that is only beginning to fade.
5 May 2011 – UNICEF’s Edward Bally reports on schools re-opening in post-crisis Côte d’Ivoire.
By Edward Bally
MAN, Côte d’Ivoire, 11 May 2011 – Ange Michel Kouakou, 13, is enjoying her first day back at school in Koumassi in the city of Abidjan. She’s only recently returned after escaping violence that hit her neighbourhood. For the last two months, she took shelter in her father’s village in eastern Côte d’Ivoire, where the situation was less tense.
MAN, Côte d’Ivoire, 4 May 2011 – Reine Kpea Zehe, her husband and sister-in-law pack two heavy bags filled with cooking pans and clothes on to a small barge on the Liberian side of River Nuon, a 50-metre wide border with Côte d’Ivoire.
In the Kailahun district of Sierra Leone, burned out buildings and bullet holes serve as a constant reminder of a turbulent and horrific past. This remote eastern border area was one of hardest hit by Sierra Leone’s brutal civil war.
9 December 2010 – UNICEF correspondent Vivian Siu reports on an initiative to help educate children displaced by conflict in the Democratic of Republic of the Congo.
