Changing the Future for Vulnerable Children
On April 19th, World of Children, a global recognition and funding organization for individuals serving the needs of vulnerable children, held the 2017 World of Children Hero Awards at Montage Beverly Hills. The evening recognized four extraordinary individuals for their work with children in various parts of the world, including funding to continue their life-changing work.
I had the honor of speaking with two of this year’s World of Children Award-winners, Arwa Damon and Meghan Pasricha, about their drive to help children, building their organizations, and the impact World of Children has had on the incredible children with whom they work.
Arwa Damon: A Healing Force for Syrian Refugee Children
Arwa Damon, a Senior International Correspondent for CNN, received World of Children’s inaugural Crisis Award for providing life-altering medical care for children with catastrophic injuries in Syria and other war-torn areas through her organization, INARA (International Network for Aid, Relief & Assistance).
Damon, a proud Syrian-American and long-time reporter for CNN in the Middle East, recognized that her ties to the region and involvement on the ground in war zones allowed her to see the gaps in care for refugee children. After a full career shining light on humanitarian issues, she says that not doing anything about it simply wasn’t an option. In addition to her full-time role as a war zone journalist, she started INARA in 2015 with money from her own savings. She has since received strong support from UNICEF, who then recommended INARA for World of Children’s initiative to specifically help Syrian child refugees.
INARA connects refugee children and their families with medical organizations in the region, allowing them to get access to the major surgeries and rehabilitation these children need. INARA covers medical expenses and pairs every family with a caseworker, something vital for emotional support and also necessity, as many of the children’s parents cannot leave work to attend appointments.
Damon expressed just how huge of an impact her award from World of Children will have on INARA. “To give you an idea, our average surgery costs around $4000. When we’re talking about getting in $60,000, that is a lot of children that we’re going to be able to help with that money,” she said. But it goes beyond medical healing.
“Each child who we help, that has a ripple effect,” Damon said. “When you change a child’s narrative, when you change a defining moment from being evil and violent to kindness and compassion, you’re doing a lot more than just changing that child’s life. You’re creating a counter narrative.”
Her impact on children in war-torn regions was evident during the award ceremony, when she was presented with her award by Youssif, a young burn victim from Iraq who inspired Damon to form INARA after she covered his story on CNN. At age five, Youssif had gasoline thrown on him and was set on fire in front of his home in Baghdad. His father was going from organization to organization, trying to get help for his little boy whose face had hardened into a mask of scar tissue so thick, he was only able to eat rice one grain at a time.
The response from viewers was overwhelming. Damon said she still gets goosebumps when she talks about it.
“CNN viewers donated and really everyone kind of came together because the links were made to help this little boy,” Arwa told me. “I had that experience where he showed me the kindness of strangers exists.” Thanks to viewer donations, CNN’s support, and the involvement of the Children’s Burn Foundation in Los Angeles, Youssif received the care he needed.
She explained that emotional connection and empathy are the simplest ways to explain what’s happening overseas in war zones to people who may feel distanced from it. It’s all about diluting the information to the basic human emotions.
“We might not feel them with the same intensity, but a parent in America knows what it’s like to desperately want to protect their child, just like a parent in Syria does,” she said. “And they might not know what it’s like to have a bomb fall next door, but they can at least relate to that fear of the potential of it, of the potential of knowing their child is in danger.”
This is why social media is so important to INARA because it allows them to share refugee children’s stories with the world. You can get to know many of the refugee children in INARA’s care here.
As for why she does her work, her reason is a powerful one.
“These children that are in these war zones have been betrayed on so many different levels by people that are meant to protect them,” Damon said. “The least we can do is give them the opportunities that arise and come their way, or try to create opportunities for them.”
You can learn more about INARA at www.inara.org.
Meghan Pasricha: Shaping Youth Leadership Around the World
2017 World of Children Hero Award-winner Meghan Pasricha is the embodiment of the phrase, “You are never too young to lead.”
Pasricha is the co-founder of Global Youth H.E.L.P., a youth leadership organization built to empower young people to turn their passion into action. Training youth leaders through community service has a powerful effect on the leaders, themselves, but also on their peers.
“There is something extremely important about other children seeing a young person doing this work,” she says. “If I can do it, they can do it.”
Started in 2003 in Delaware, Global Youth H.E.L.P. has expanded into a worldwide youth leadership movement, covering a multitude of initiatives around the globe. The organization includes health programs, education, and leadership training. Some programs have a global reach, such as village health camps Pasricha and her sister, Dr. Sarina Pasricha, run in India. Others are closer to home, such as an initiative to provide backpacks to homeless and foster youth in Delaware who were using trash bags to carry their things to school. Every program is run by a youth leader. Overall, Pasricha says they have now trained more than 15,000 children around the world to be youth leaders.
This week wasn’t Pasricha’s first experience with the World of Children Awards. She received a Hero Award back in 2007 for her leadership in the anti-tobacco movement. At age 15, Pasricha took a stand against smoking indoors, which was legal in every state except California at the time. She was motivated by her own asthma and severe allergies to cigarette smoke, because it kept her from hanging out with her friends in restaurants and at her local bowling alley. Looking beyond herself, she made it her cause when she realized other kids must be experiencing the same challenges and discomfort.
Although she was only in high school, Pasricha worked with legislators, spoke at public hearings, and started a small club at her high school, the Anti-Tobacco Action Club, which quickly grew into a force of legislative change. Thanks to Pasricha and her fellow youth leaders, the Clean Indoor Air Act (otherwise known as the “smoking ban”) passed in 2002.
“When the ban got passed…that was the turning point for myself and for the other youth leaders,” she said. “Because we realized that you are never too young to lead.”
For Smart Girls interested in developing their own leadership skills, Pasricha says there are three steps: leading through your own actions, being a leader in your peer group, and then expanding your focus to the larger community. The perfect place to start? Community service.
“You can practice public speaking or organizing,” she said. “At the end of the day, even if you help one other child or one young person, you’ve made a huge impact.”
Pasricha says her World of Children Award in 2007 expanded the possibilities of her youth leadership work, transforming them from an anti-tobacco action club into a true movement. The organization’s support also goes beyond financial: they are a resource. She says World of Children’s co-founders, Harry Leibowitz and Kay Isaacson-Leibowitz, make themselves available for questions and offer support. They also encourage World of Children Award-winners to speak with each other.
“They’ve created this network of child advocates, people doing work for vulnerable children, and that network inspires each other,” she said. “We learn from each other.”
Global Youth H.E.L.P. is an entirely volunteer-run organization. Pasricha, who works full-time in finance, says that winning the World of Children for a second time brought new energy into everyone within her organization.
“This to me is exciting on a very personal level and especially for the youth leaders we’ve been working with, our [ten] core youth leaders,” she said. “To see their excitement that their work is being recognized has completely energized me.”
Pasricha says that in the community service and non-profit world, it’s not uncommon to get a little voice in the back of your head asking, “Am I really making a difference?”
World of Children (and Smart Girls) give Pasricha and her Global Youth H.E.L.P. team a resounding, “Yes!”
Learn more about Global Youth H.E.L.P. at www.globalyouthhelp.org
To learn more about World of Children and the other Hero Award-winners, visit www.worldofchildren.org.
