Inspirational speaker
Guests at a recent luncheon were inspired by UNICEF USA leader Caryl M. Stern, author of a book about aiding children.
The woman sitting on the dirt floor of a hut in Mozambique had no idea that her infant had closed its eyes forever.
However, Caryl M. Stern, then a relatively new UNICEF staffer, understood that the baby had died.
She held the African woman’s hand tightly, realizing that the next few minutes would be excruciatingly painful for this mother who already had buried several other children.
Stern described the heartbreaking 1980s scenario in detail to a crowd that gathered recently for a luncheon hosted by the Jewish Federation of Greater Oklahoma City.
Stern remembered the woman’s name was Rosa, and she had been working in standing water in a rice paddy when she realized she was in labor. She had made a four-hour trek to a UNICEF clinic when she realized that her newborn was seriously ill.
“All I could do is sit next to her on a dirt floor and hold her hand while her child struggled to survive,” Stern said.
She said the child died from tetanus, a disease with a vaccine designed to prevent it. Stern said as she watched the child take its last breath, the reality sunk in that many children around the world face the same plight or other deadly challenges.
“We cannot stop the work we are doing until no child dies from preventable diseases,” she said.
Stern said that is the premise of her book “I Believe in Zero: Learning from the World’s Children.” She signed copies of the book at the Jewish Federation’s luncheon on Oct. 3 at the Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club.
Stern said as the child of a Holocaust survivor, she grew up in a home where she learned to be an activist for world change.
She was involved in the Civil Rights movement and eventually began working for the Anti-Defamation League, where she met Roberta Clark, the Jewish Federation’s executive director who was working there at the time.
Stern was the founding director of the Anti-Defamation League’s A World of Difference Institute before she was recruited to work for UNICEF.
‘Children first’
Stern said her books includes some of the lessons she learned over the years while working to help children in the U.S. and around the globe. “The children of the world have quite a bit to say, and they have quite a bit to teach us,” she said. She said she learned that children will sit on you if you sit on the ground long enough, a quip that drew laughter from the luncheon crowd.
On a more serious note, Stern said she learned that most people want the same things for their children and “this is not defined by the borders we happen to live in.” “We want them to be safe,” she said. “Our kids don’t get to pick where they are born. They wouldn’t pick poverty.” Finally, she said she asks that people see children for what they are. “My plea is to call them what they are. Stop calling them refugees. Stop calling them migrants,” Stern said. “They are children first,” she said as the crowd applauded.
Glenna Tanenbaum, a board member with the Jewish Federation, presented Stern with a $1,000 donation to UNICEF USA.
“The Jewish Federation agrees with you. Our organization is richer when we strive to help others,” Tannabaum said.
Meanwhile, Clark shared similar sentiments. “We all have the responsibility for caring about children. It transcends any immutable characteristics we might have,” she said.
She said during the past summer, the Jewish Federation, in conjunction with Temple B’nai Israel, partnered with the Boys and Girls Club of Oklahoma County and the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma to provide Boys and Girls Club youths access to the Jewish Federation’s swimming pool at Temple B’nai. Clark said the Jewish Federation made sure that their lifeguards were available to oversee the swimming sessions.
She said the temple had been one of the food bank’s summer nutrition sites for youths so the partnership was aimed at helping children in more ways than one. “I think as nonprofits, we are at our best when we want everyone to rise together,” Clark said.