IKEA Soft Toys to children in cyclone affected area of Myanmar
Save the Children is distributing a total of 200 000 IKEA soft toys to children in Myanmar.
This is in response to the emergency caused by the cyclone in spring this year. Children in the most affected areas of the Cyclone Nargis can now enjoy the company of soft toys, helping them to recover after their traumatic experiences. The cyclone devastated large areas (128 000 sq k) when it struck the country in May earlier this year. 2.4 million people were affected, and up to 140 000 lost their lives in the disaster.
"It is wonderful news that IKEA Social Initiative has donated soft toys for children in cyclone affected areas in Myanmar. For most children, this is probably the first toy they could take back home. One can imagine how this must have made children happy. Children had lost so much in the cyclone. It´s more than making children happy," says Win Ma Ma Aye, Child Protection Manager, Save the Children in Myanmar.
Save the Children is the largest international aid agency responding in Myanmar. Over a half a million people, including at least 225 000 children has been reached in the Cyclone Nargis emergency work. Save the Children is working in 14 of the 15 most affected townships in Yangon and the Ayeyarwady Delta helping children to get back to school, supporting parents to start earning money again, and protecting children who are orphaned or separated from their parents by the cyclone.
The IKEA soft toys are being distributed through Save the Children´s Child Friendly Spaces in more than 120 villages and through community child protection groups in selected villages. Children can also get the toys at Save the Children run clinics when they come in for treatment, as well as children in the villages visiting by mobile clinic teams. Schools and primary schools will also use the toys in an educative and narrative way. And they will be given out in coordination with distributions of drinking water and activities raising health and hygiene awareness/issues.
IKEA Social Initiative supports sustainable long-term projects with the aim to improve children´s rights to a healthy and secure childhood with access to quality education: Save the Children and UNICEF being the main partners.
In emergency situations, like the recent cyclone in Myanmar and the earthquake in China, IKEA Social Initiative can contribute with IKEA products. IKEA Social Initiative also supports by being part of the more long-term reconstruction work, such as in the aftermath of the recent flooding in India and Bangladesh and the earthquake in China.
For more information please contact
Kate Conradt, Media Officer, in Myanmar, tel + 95 537 387 mobile + 95 (0)9-86 -10- 052
Marianne Barner, Head of IKEA Social Initiative ,tel: + 46- (0) 42 26 71 00, mobile + 46 – (0) 732 32 16 11