Tom Hiddleston, Tue, Jan 29 2013 3:31 PM
Tom with Alima and her one-year-old son, who's receiving treatment at a UNICEF-supported hospital for malaria and malnutrition. © UNICEF/Harry Borden/2013
It's day four for actor Tom Hiddleston on his first trip with UNICEF UK, visiting Guinea in West Africa. Tom will be meeting with Guinean children, families and communities. He'll also be seeing several UNICEF projects, and finding out about our work in child protection, education, and water and sanitation. Read his first, second and third posts, or follow Tom's trip on Twitter at #tom_UNICEFUK and @twhiddleston.
My fourth day begins with a run. We are in Kankan. Julien knocks on my door at 6:45am. I haven't slept much, because it's only at night that I have time to write. But I'm only here for a short while. It's important to make the most of it. Julien and I run along the river. At this hour, the streets are already bustling with activity, but the riverbank is deserted. In a few hours' time it will be almost as busy as Oxford Street. People will come from all over town to wash their clothes, their cars, and their bodies. Perhaps it's because it's very early in the morning, when the mind is clear, when our thoughts are unfettered by politeness and self-censorship, but Julien and I end up discussing our passions.
I share my admiration for Shakespeare, while Julien speaks with erudition about philosophy. He's a big fan of Michel Foucault, the French philosopher who said (among many other things): "I don't feel that it is necessary to know exactly what I am. The main interest in life and work is to become someone else that you were not in the beginning." Every day is a creative act: a step closer to becoming who you want to be. I admire Julien enormously. He believes unwaveringly in the nature of public service. He believes in the power of legacy. He believes in leaving behind a better world than the one he found. He believes, quietly but fervently, in that attempt.
As the resident representative for UNICEF in Guinea, one of Julien's greatest achievements is a project for the reintegration of children who used to be in the army, supported by the Peace Building Fund. It was our first visit of the day. In early 2011, working closely with the Minister of Youth, Julien personally persuaded the Prime Minister to approve a project to support 2000 young people who had been irregularly recruited by the armed forces. These children are essentially former child soldiers, although they have not seen actual conflict. They are young people in local communities in remote, rural areas who at the age of 15 to 17 who were recruited, some forcibly, and transported to military camps for training. They were not allowed to leave the camps and those who attempted to do so were beaten, physically punished, humiliated and deprived of food. In 2010, with the transition from military to civilian rule, these young men and women were released without any means of subsistence or transportation. In fear of stigmatisation, many of these children – frightened, scarred, adolescents – some of whom fell into crimes and banditry. Other vulnerable youths who had been affected by the conflicts in the region were recruited into the programme.
The Peace Building Fund paid for their reintegration through the government's Professional Training Centres which although reasonably equipped did not have the money to run training programmes. The project aims to facilitate the reintegration of what are now young men and women through vocational training services. The centre is a hive of activity. As I get out of the car I am directed to a quadrangle of workshop buildings, specialising in different and specific skills: woodwork; welding; plumbing, carpentry; training for electricians; brick-laying and masonry. These young adults are consumed with purpose. I've never seen craftsmen and women so proud and passionate about their work.
READ MORE:
http://blogs.unicef.org.uk/authentic_voices/archive/2013/01/29/tom-hiddleston-guinea-field-diary-day-four.aspx MORE PICTURES...
