First Person

First Person: Poetry and the pain of loss and leaving; a voice from Syria

A young Syrian woman has told the United Nations how poetry helped her to convey the emotions of all the children who have been caught up in the decade-long civil war in her country.

First Person: Women peacekeepers a ‘powerful image for girls in remote villages’

Deputy Inspector Martina de Maria Sandoval Linares, from El Salvador always wanted to help others. Now, working as a UN Police officer, she has found her vocation, far from home in South Sudan. Ms. Linares, whose eight-year-old daughter and family are back in El Salvador, told UN News why the job is so rewarding, despite the sacrifices she makes.

First Person: Fighting for women’s financial freedom

Around the world, the opportunities for women to lead successful, financially secure lives are being limited by government legislation, company policies and deep-rooted misogyny. The UN is leading efforts to give women more access to digital financial tools, seen as essential to playing a full part in the global economy.

First Person: Yemen ‘cannot even afford to worry about the coronavirus’

In Yemen, whose people are living through a long-running, brutal war, which has led to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, COVID-19 is far from being a top priority, says the top UN refugee agency (UNHCR) official in the Arabian Peninsula country.

First Person: The Colombian youth fighting for digital education for all

Tania Rosas, a Colombian education advocate from an afro-indigenous background, is hoping to improve learning outcomes for disadvantaged communities in her country, with a digital application tailored to their specific needs.

First Person: ‘The world is in your hands and begins at your door’.

British celebrity gardener Monty Don, a UN advocate for plant health, is raising awareness of the links between human health, plant health and the well-being of the planet.

First Person: A mother’s ‘indescribable’ pain six months after the Beirut explosion

Six months after a massive explosion destroyed much of the centre of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, a mother has been talking about the “indescribable” grief she has experienced at losing her two-year-old son to injuries sustained in the blast.

First Person: Digging for victory in the Philippines

Some farming techniques can have a devastating and negative effect on the environment, as farmers seek to harvest the maximum amount of produce from their land, but the efforts of a Filipino chef and activist are demonstrating that, with the right approach, agriculture can help to regenerate land, offer protection from the effects of climate change and extreme weather, and improve livelihoods.

First Person: Cheese proves key to survival for Syrian refugee family amid pandemic

Syrian refugee Fatima Hussein Al Ahmad, a mother of four, lives on a farm with 50 other workers in Sahba, Jordan. COVID-19 travel restrictions meant that she didn’t work for two months in 2020, and feeding her family became a daily struggle.