"Poverty is the worst form of violence." - Mahatma Gandhi
Shameela
The little girl crying in the photo is Shameela. She has been
through so many bad situations and still is. Shameela is a 5-year-old who lives in Mae Sot, Thailand. Her mother is originally from Burma but fled to Thailand to escape the harsh military regime there. So while Shameela was born in Thailand, she can't be granted citizenship because her mother wasn't a citizen. Nor is she recognized as a Burmese citizen, thereby making her stateless. Shameela has 3 older siblings and they all do not go to school except her. They live in a swamp in a jungle. Their home is a shack with metal sheets to make walls. Her whole family sleeps on the hardwood floor, herself included. She says that she wants to be a nurse when she grows up. |
What you'll find on this site
To give you a better look into Shameela's life we made 3 narratives to give you a first person view into her life. You will find it on the page labeled A Day in Her Life. To show you what she needs in order to live a better life, we give you a short essay on it. That could be found on the page Survival Needs. To show you what you can do to help and what we can do, we also made an essay for that and it can be found on the page How To Help.
Disclaimer: This is for UNICEF not made by UNICEF. This website is for educational uses only.