Chanel Bernard, 29 years-old, is from Pestel, a township in Haiti's Grand'Anse department, located some 80 kilometers from the city of Les Cayes. The 90,000 inhabitants of this town nestled between the sea and the mountains live according to the rhythm of the market days—Wednesdays and Saturdays— and the flow of ships unloading their goods from neighbouring cities into the port.
In April, Cyclone Seroja hit Dili, the capital city of Timor-Leste. It killed 41 people and displaced over 4,000, sweeping away property and homes. Members of the local LGBTQI community and an organization called Arcoiris were among the many frontline relief workers that stepped up to support local families.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, on a two-day mission to Haiti, said the response to the country’s quake-related crisis presents an opportunity to forge greater national cohesion and chart a new way forward.
Indonesia, like many of countries in South East Asia, had until recently been successful in mitigating the worst health impacts of COVID-19; some form of physical distancing measures have long been in place.
Since taking up my post here in October 2020, I’ve only met most of my colleagues on screen and have almost entirely avoided Jakarta’s notorious traffic jams. Still, the non-health impacts of the pandemic are stark.
On 2 July, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Savina Ammassari of Brazil as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Gabon, with the host Government’s approval.
Lerato — not her real name — is a 20-year-old first-year student at the local university. She hunkers down on her chair a few metres from where I’m sitting with her head fixed to the floor. She looks sad, tired and dejected, avoiding any eye contact, as if ashamed of what we were about to talk about.
"Water is everything to me. Nowadays, I really need it, water balances me; I need to observe it and always be in contact with cities near the water. At the same time water mobilizes me, I suffer when I see the pollution. My motivation is to find solutions to this problem that affects everyone," explains Yago.
United Nations country teams around the world continue to provide medical, logistical and socio-economic support to local authorities, coordinating resources to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. Through stronger coordination, these teams are mobilising local, regional, and global partners to provide life-saving medical supplies to vulnerable communities, combat misinformation on vaccine efficacy, and ensure equitable distribution of vaccine through the COVAX programme.
Every Thursday, Jennifer Barros goes to Rondon 3, a refugee camp in northern Brazil near the border of Venezuela. The camp hosts 844 Venezuelan refugees and migrants, and Jennifer teaches Portuguese there. Kaleth Colmenares, 12, is always waiting for Jennifer at school. Last February he started attending a Brazilian public school and was still adapting to the new language when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Now, once a week, he gets tutoring sessions in several subjects, not least of all Portuguese.
Anong is 20 years old. She suffered serious health issues and anxiety due to the COVID-19 crisis. “I was living with a man, and things were not easy. He was forcing me to have intimate relations,” she says. “After the lockdown, he was seeing someone else while being with me. I was silent and accepted my situation. I was not protected and contracted a sexually transmitted infection.”
