This World Bicycle Day on 3 June we are celebrating the great benefits that a two-wheeler can bring children living in poverty.
Fourteen-year-old Prasak (pictured above) came across many dangers on his walk to school, but a deadly snake was one of the scariest.
“I saw a cobra moving on the road and it started following me,” Prasak says. “I ran away quickly.”
Prasak took a different path the next day. It was longer route and he was almost late to class.
Getting to school isn’t easyfor Prasak, who lives in a rural community in Battambang Province, in far northwest Cambodia. It takes him an hour to walk to school, and for most of the year it’s a long trek through sweltering heat. Prasak often arrives to class, exhausted. With the all the surrounding farmland and wilderness in his community, there is also a higher chance of encountering dangerous wildlife.
Prasak and many other children living in remote and rural communities risk abandoning their education because of the long distances they must walk to school, and the potential dangers they face along the way. A lack of transport means some families decide it is safer for their children to stay home.
New wheels: Prasak, age 14, has a new bike and helmet from ChildFund Cambodia that’s helping him to get to school safer and faster. “I’m happy to have the bike because I’m not late to school anymore and I’m not exhausted from walking,” he said.
Prasak’s parents work in construction, but it has been difficult for them to find long-term, stable jobs in Cambodia. Prasak and his family migrated to Thailand for three years to find work. During this time Prasak was not able to go to school and fell behind in his learning.
Today, Prasak and his family are back in Cambodia and Prasak is finishing Grade 3.
ChildFund Cambodia is supporting Prasak with a bicycle and helmet so he can travel to school safer and faster, as well as uniforms and school supplies. “I’m happy to have the bike because I’m not late to school anymore and I’m not exhausted from walking,” he said. He is also less afraid of being attacked by snakes on the road.
Happier days: After missing out of an education for many years, Prasak (pictured above, in the middle, with his friends) is back studying and determined to finish high school. “I want to have a better job and a better future than my parents,” Prasak said.
Prasak is also attending a peer educator program supported by ChildFund, where senior students help him to read and write, and work through numeracy problems. He is determined to do well in his studies and finish high school.
“I want to have a better job and a better future than my parents,” Prasak said.
If you’re inspired by Prasak’s story and would like to be a part of creating a better world for children, here are three simple ways your donation can make a difference this World Bicycle Day:
Bicycle and helmet: Your donation could help aspiring students get to class safely and stay in school, spending more time studying and not travelling.
School supplies: Your gift gives a student the essential items they need for a successful year of learning, along with a backpack to carry them in.
Bright future bundle: Every child dreams of a brighter future. The bundle includes a scholarship, a bicycle and school supplies for a student.
Photo: Giovanni Diffidenti / WeWorld.
The brutal toll of conflict on children
New and escalating conflicts over recent years have left millions of people around the world without adequate food and protection. As the conflicts continue, the number of children and families in desperate need of aid grows.
By ChildFund Australia
Thirteen-year-old David* was woken in the middle of the night by his mother who told him: “You’re not going to school because war has come to us.”
It was a winter morning on 24 February 2022, and Russia had just launched airstrikes across Ukraine. David’s little town, east of the capital Kyiv, was one of the first to be attacked.
“I was scared and surprised, but I did what my parents told me,” David said.
The day before, David had been at school. His teacher had shown students where to hide in an emergency evacuation. “The feeling was that something could happen soon,” David said.
That night, David remembers seeing firefighters and ambulances heading to Kyiv.
Cold, sick, and frightened
David’s town was quiet for a few days, but then sounds of gunfire and shelling swept through. “It was very scary … Things in the house were shaking from the explosions,” David said.
David and his family hid in the basement. The water and the electricity in the house cut off. It was cold and damp in the basement, and David and his family got sick.
After a while, David and his family fled to a relative’s house, which still had heating. They were warm but they lived in constant fear.
“One day the siren sounded very loud and we heard a very loud roar,” David said.
“There was a big explosion, and we went outside and saw that a house nearby had no roof, and there were wounded and dead people.”
“Everything around the house was on fire.”
David and his family had to wait some days to leave. When they began to flee, they came under fire.
“There was a tank in the distance aiming at us,” David said.
Photo: Maxim Dondyuk.
David and his mother eventually arrived at a shelter, but David had to say goodbye to his father. “The last time we saw my dad, he was leading us to the evacuation site,” David said. “He went to save other people.”
Many surviving children like David, have been separated from family members. Since the conflict started in Ukraine, most men aged between 18 to 60 have been banned from leaving the country.
Conflict is stealing children’s lives and futures
Conflicts have led to the death of millions of children. For even more children, conflict has pushed them further into poverty and placed them at a high risk of abuse and exploitation.
In Ukraine, an average of at least two children have been killed or injured every day since Russia’s invasion began in February 2022.
In Myanmar, at least 30 children were killed in sudden airstrikes in February 2023 as part of ongoing conflict in the country.
ChildFund Australia CEO, Margaret Sheehan, called on the international community to get behind organisations on the ground that are helping children and families caught up in conflict. “This senseless loss of children’s lives is devastating and reinforces the importance of ChildFund’s work to protect children wherever we can, especially in times of conflict,” she said. “Donations can help provide children like David a chance to survive and begin to recover from conflict.”
In Afghanistan, decades of conflict have led to one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
As of April 2023, 15 million children in Afghanistan – more than a third of the country's population – were in need humanitarian and protection assistance.
Basic services and food are limited. Infrastructure has collapsed and it is almost impossible for women to work or get an education.
For single or widowed mothers, it is especially difficult to sufficiently provide for their children.
Around the world, conflict is depriving children of their basic rights to survive, to be protected, and to grow up safe and healthy. The harm of conflict on children is compounded by the effects of climate change, poverty, and food shortages.
The uncertainty and violence of the conflict has left a mark on David and his mother. While they now live in safer conditions, in a shelter for displaced people, for a long time David shuddered at every sound. A psychologist diagnosed him with a high level of post-traumatic stress disorder.
David is one of more than 2.5 million children who have been internally displaced in Ukraine and who are living without adequate food, health care and shelter. Many children no longer can go to school and are living in constant fear and uncertainty.
The donations of ChildFund supporters in Australia and around the world are helping to provide food, health care and safety for children like David.
Your donation can provide families with emergency transfers of cash so they can buy the food, medications, and other essentials that their children need.
Ameena*, a staff member of ChildFund Alliance partner, WeWorld, in Afghanistan said: “Some mothers have sent their children back to school, some have been able to protect their daughters from forced child marriages.
The emergency cash saved them from freezing in the winter. Now they hope for a better future.”
Your donation can also provide hygiene kits and warm clothes, and provide safe spaces for children where they can learn and continue their schooling, play, and just be children for a while.
Thanks to the generosity of ChildFund supporters, David is receiving psychosocial support to help him recover from trauma. He is feeling safer now and has made new friends. He also sleeps better, and he thinks about the horrors of his home being attacked less often.
“I really want to go home… My dream is to go home and ride my bike like before,” David said.
Please donate to help children like David survive conflict, and begin to recover.
