16 The German Times • Arts & Life October 2020 SAVE THE CHILDREN SAVE

Catchers in the Rye Save the Children was founded over 100 years ago to help starving children; unfortunately,

it’s just as necessary today as it was back then José David Ríos grew up in war-torn southwestern Columbia, where FARC rebels and paramilitary troops fought for years. He was not even nine years old when he was caught in the crossfire of a gunfight, getting hit in his legs and arms. The now 17-year-old found help in a youth program by Save the Children Columbia.

supplies to Germany and Austria The fund set up by Eglantyne commentaries on the young These are children with no par- better world. In one vignette, a BY PETER ZEHNER as the cause of the child’s hunger, Jebb soon led to the founding heroes – with Soyinka contribut- ents, children who somehow sur- wise and elderly German gentle- and the photo was soon featured of the aid organization Save the ing a poem. European Commis- vived on their own in this Central man, who was helped at the age hen adults behave on a leaflet she started handing Children. That organization is sioner Margrethe Vestager and African country and to this day of seven by Save the Children and like children, the first out, which also included the sen- now celebrating its 100th anni- former UN General Secretary do not know if their parents are who is now more than 100 years Wvictims are often tence: “Our blockade has caused versary with a book titled I am Ban Ki-moon also contribute alive or dead. old, stands on the seventh-floor children themselves. In these this – millions of children are alive. How children survived the essays alongside the 11 life sto- We also read about the war of balcony of his seniors residence ugly times, it would do us good to starving to death.” She was sub- wars of a century, a worthwhile ries from the past 10 decades. The independence in Biafra, a Nige- and looks across the street at a recall that we have the power to sequently fined by a judge, who read offering insights into a eleventh story focuses on a baby, rian region with an abundance village of container homes. When make the world a better place. We charged her with distributing ille- number of sometimes harrowing Rajiya, and is designed to repre- of oil but too little to eat due to the news broke that refugees can reject the Hobbesian notion gal political propaganda. and simultaneously encouraging sent the most recent present and a blockade that has caused mass were going to be moving in there, that “man is wolf to man,” and On May 19, 1919, Jebb joined life stories. the organization’s hope for a more starvation and malnourishment many of his neighbors were skep- instead seek to be good Samari- with her sister, Dorothy Buxton, “Every child should have the peaceful future to come. among millions of children. tical, but his response was more tans. We can acknowledge the to organize a Fight the Famine opportunity to realize their In one case, we are introduced There is also a report on generous: “Let them come first. fact that hate only breeds hate, Council at the Royal Albert Hall dreams and develop their tal- to a Syrian family with nine chil- Afghans who fled to Pakistan Let’s wait and see how it goes. that violence only breeds vio- in London. She was now officially ents in a peaceful world,” writes dren, all of whom have suffered after the Russians bombed their After all, they’re people in need.” lence, and focus on the fact that collecting money for starving Susanna Krüger, chairwoman varying degrees of trauma and villages, suspecting that they After reflecting for a moment, he people are capable of altruism children in Austria and Germany, of Save the Children Germany. live in a camp in Lebanon with were home to Mujahideen, the adds: “I think people in Germany rather than egoism, of forgiveness that is, precisely for those coun- Krüger expresses her grief for the more than one million other indi- US-backed Islamic rebels who could live more quietly and con- rather than revenge. In short, we tries the British had just defeated estimated 415 million children viduals who have fled the Assad were fighting against the com- tentedly.” could remember that we should on the battlefield at great human today – a shocking and disturb- regime or the Islamists – or both. munist regime in Kabul. all look beyond our own dog- and monetary expense. Jebb’s ing statistic – who are not able to One girl from that family, when We also read about a young girl I am alive. matic, small-minded interests, actions were an affront to many experience a carefree childhood asked what she would want if who was trained to be a soldier by How children and maybe even learn to love our British citizens, and the two for the simple fact that they live she could have anything, replies the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia as survived the enemies and accept that we are all women were branded the “trai- in war zones or conflict regions. with one word “magic,” arguing a 12-year-old. Later, while in exile wars of a brothers and sisters. tor sisters.” In her own defense, The book introduces us to 11 that it allows a person to get what in Canada, she would hide under century will One such insightful person was however, Jebb argued: “Surely individuals who endured hard- they wish for. When asked what the bed whenever she heard fire- be published Eglantyne Jebb. In April 1919, just it is impossible for us as normal ship in their childhoods, and she would do with this powerful works. in English and after the end of World War I, Jebb human beings to watch children each essay is accompanied by a instrument, she answers: “Turn a In each story, children are German on was shown a photo of a starving starve to death without making commentary from a prominent cat into a mouse.” among the victims of conflicts in Nov. 25. Austrian child; the two-year-old an effort to save them?” She and sponsor of the organization. For In another case, we hear stories their home countries, from the girl’s head wobbled atop her dan- her sister insisted on helping as example, violinist Anne-Sophie and see images of children whose Basque uprising against Franco Peter Zehner gerously gaunt body; she weighed many children as possible, no Mutter, Nobel laureate Wole Soy- faces reflect a “murderous orgy of to the Rohingya in Bangladesh. is a freelance journalist living hardly five kilograms. Jebb saw matter their religion or country inka and German TV anchorman the most hideous kind” that took There’s still a lot of learning to in Berlin. the United Kingdom’s blockade of of origin. Ingo Zamperoni provide gentle place in Rwanda in the 1990s. be done if we want to make a

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