RESILIENCE

10-year-old Junaed loves to help his mother Chan Vanu water her plants and make vermicompost. Chan Vanu is a vegetable maestro, and her neighbours often come over to look at her plants and get her advice. But it wasn’t always this way. Chan Vanu always dreamt of growing vegetables, but she couldn’t produce much until she enrolled in the ‘Suchana’ programme where she learnt different techniques and was given the tools to set up her own vegetable garden. Chan Vanu was also given poultry training and has grown her coop of six chickens to 100 chickens. She’s now able to feed her family nutritious meals and sell surplus vegetables and eggs to pay for her children’s school fees. In 2022, severe floods washed through Junaed’s home, and his family were forced to find shelter nearby. This wiped out the family’s savings but thankfully, Chan Vanu was able to sell seeds she was given by Suchana and vaccinate chickens to keep her family safe and healthy. Junaed loves football and school and wants to keep studying so he can be a religious scholar when he grows up.

Everything is connected. No one knows that better than Alison, a mother of six from Malaita in the Solomon Islands. Her country – made up of hundreds of islands in the South Pacific – is a microcosm for climate change. Increasingly ferocious winds and rains have wrecked the mangroves that always acted as a natural buffer for the islands. Now the cyclones and sea water make their way inland uninhibited, flattening homes and killing the garden crops that so many Solomon Islanders rely on for food and money. “When I was just married into this family a strong wind blew down all the houses in our area. Our own home was blown down too,” remembers Alison. “We escaped with only the clothes on our back.” It's an existential threat for Alison, her children, and the future of their country - one that short term help like food aid won’t solve. “I do not want my children to have to experience this again. I want to protect them from that.” Save the Children is working hand in hand with communities to take on climate change through connections of our own. In collaboration with local NGO, Mai Maaasina Green Belt, our Nature Based Solutions project aims to restore protective ecosystems like mangroves, and help families diversify their income away from farming. That’s why Alison is part of a group of women and young people training to keep bees. Bees love mangroves, which provide a perfect haven. In turn, they pollinate the mangroves, helping them grow. The mangroves then protect the islands – along with wildlife and food sources like fish and crabs - from storms and high tides. They even store carbon deposits that don’t make their way into the atmosphere, effectively slowing climate change globally. And all the while, the bees produce sweet honey for community farmers to sell. “With honeybee training I know if I do it well, I am able to earn money for my family,” says Alison. “For 1 kilo it is $200, and I can produce up to $4,000, so I am like "Wow".” With that money, Alison can pay for her children’s school fees, giving them opportunities to thrive. She can make sure they’re well fed too – even when heavy rain inevitably affects her garden in future. We can’t stop climate change. But by thinking differently, and making connections like these, we can help families adapt and stay safe through the storms ahead.

During the months of June and July, Save the Children Guatemala got ready to join the Global Week of Action for the “Generation Hope” campaign, where children have joined together to share their thoughts on issues that are affecting their lives as a result of climate change. They agreed to become the “Heroes of the Planet” by creating and sharing messages and banners asking for the people to care for the environment; they also made superhero masks to build more enthusiasm and excitement for the big day, when they would gather in the same space to raise their voices. The meeting, was attended by 130 children from different communities in 4 municipalities of the department of Quiché in Guatemala. With the support of Save the Children's partner, CDRO, more children joined this movement to save the planet. The activity included the presentation of an interactive theatre play, called “Heroes of the Planet”, which invited them to take action to protect the planet. The activity was attended by the mayors of two municipalities, who were appointed spokespersons for the Generation Hope campaign at the end of 2023, during the simulation of COP 28. Their participation in 2024 is key, as they reiterate their support and commitment to this movement, led by and for children.