UNICEF in action

Children in Yemen are growing up in impossible circumstances. After four years of civil war, homes are in ruins, schools have been destroyed and medical care is hard to come by. Spiralling inflation has pushed food prices sky-high.

Displaced from their homes by violent conflict, persecution and economic instability, these refugee children all have one thing in common: loving fathers who are determined to support and protect their children against all odds.

An evening reception with family, friends and partners.

Ten years ago, Dieu-Merci Matala arrived alone in South Africa, an asylum seeker fleeing from conflict and insecurity in his home country of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). "At first, I couldn't speak any English. Those days were so difficult."