Instead of School, a Brick Factory: The Burundian Children Enoch Met

[Financial News] Musical theater actor and singer Enoch will share on television the stories of children in Burundi, Africa, living amid conflict and poverty.
According to UNICEF Korea on the 20th, Enoch visited Burundi last August after joining “A Promise to Protect Children, Blue Dot,” a fundraising broadcast jointly developed by UNICEF Korea and tvN. He took part as a volunteer, donating his talent because he believed in the program’s purpose.
Enoch met 15-year-old Fidel, who fled the civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is staying at the Busuma refugee camp, where he works as a barber. Enoch also spent time with 14-year-old Lionel, who works at a brick factory instead of going to school to help support his family, and offered him words of encouragement.
He also visited a UNICEF malnutrition center that treats children suffering from severe malnutrition and saw the work being done to help them recover.
According to UNICEF’s Burundi Humanitarian Situation Report, about 37,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo were staying in Busuma as of last month. Funding is also insufficient to help refugee children enter formal education and provide them with learning materials.
The program’s name, “Blue Dot,” refers to UNICEF’s child-friendly spaces, where children caught up in emergencies such as war and natural disasters can stay safely and receive protection and support for recovery. The broadcast was planned to raise awareness of the realities facing children in crisis and gather interest and support.
Enoch said, “Seeing children dream of tomorrow even amid the suffering of poverty and conflict made me feel that we should work together to help protect those dreams.”
The broadcast featuring Enoch’s visit to Burundi will air on tvN at 7:30 p.m. on November 17.
Heo Geum-ju, secretary-general of UNICEF Korea, said, “I hope this broadcast will give us a chance to look together at the lives of children,” and added, “I ask for many people’s warm interest and participation in helping protect children’s tomorrows.”

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