Stories from the Field 3

“As a Football Player and UNICEF Ambassador”
- A message from Mr. HASEBE Makoto, UNICEF Ambassador for Japan -

Mr. Hasebe visiting Minamisanriku Town in December 2011. He has continued to visit disaster sites even after UNICEF Japan ended its humanitarian and recovery support programmes in 2016. (Photo: UNICEF Japan)

Mr. Hasebe visiting the Kutupalong Refugee Camp in Bangladesh in June 2016 (Photo: UNICEF Japan)

It was during the third or fourth year of my career as a professional football player in the J. League. I was visiting a number of different countries on overseas expeditions, and as I encountered numerous situations that were different from life in Japan, the feeling that, “I must do something” grew stronger and stronger. During that time, I began supporting children around the world through UNICEF after discovering its pamphlet on the airplane.

As you all may know, in other countries, many professional athletes are making a wide range of social contributions. Both the athletes and society consider such contributions as “only natural” for these individuals based on their success as professional athletes. Since I was also aiming to stand on the world stage of sports, I always thought that, “I will do the same someday as well.” In 2010, the Japan Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF Japan) approached me, and I began helping with their outreach activities. The Great East Japan Earthquake struck before even six months had passed in my new role, and UNICEF Japan also launched its activities to help people in the disaster areas. Thus, I supported their activities together with the many people who generously answered my call. How were our thoughts and wishes reaching the children? I visited the disaster areas many times to see with my own eyes and share with others how our activities were helping people.

The first time I visited a UNICEF project site overseas was in 2014, when I visited Banda Aceh in Indonesia, which had been struck by a major earthquake and tsunami ten years earlier. In preparation for the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (see “Cooperation in Disaster Risk Reduction” for details), UNICEF wanted to send out a message of “Child-centered Disaster Risk Reduction.” This experience kicked off my journey to visit many UNICEF project sites overseas, and the next place I visited was the UNICEF Global Supply Hub in Copenhagen, which delivers aid supplies to UNICEF country offices around the world. Immediately before this visit, I had begun an initiative together with many people who supported me as a football player, to deliver measles vaccines as a gift to children around the world. The UNICEF Global Supply Hub in Copenhagen procures and delivers 40% of the vaccines used in the world. Thus, I decided to start my “vaccine journey” from this Global Supply Hub.

In 2017, I visited Ethiopia, and completed the latter half of my journey. I took part in the actual work to deliver vaccines from the central cold-room in Ethiopia’s capital of Addis Ababa to the highland village of Gash-Anbar, which is surrounded by mountains over 3,000 meters high. I learned that delivering the vaccines to children required different types of activities, supports, and teamwork of many people, including securing the cold chain, training the staff and volunteers at the healthcare centers, and dispelling concerns and misconceptions the local people had regarding vaccines.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia presented UNICEF with the opportunity to call upon the world for assistance to support refugee and migrant children, and I participated in this campaign through videos and other activities. I had witnessed issues of refugees and migrants on a daily basis in Germany, which has been the base of my life for the past ten years, and was looking for opportunities to take action. I thus visited a refugee camp in Greece towards the end of 2018, and the world’s largest refugee camp located in Bangladesh in the summer of 2019. During these visits, I strongly felt that in addition to lifesaving assistance, it is essential that these children who face an uncertain future receive educational support to help them develop the power to create their own path in life. Children can only be children for a limited time in their lives.

As a professional football player and a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, I have been able to meet children in a variety of places around the world, learn many things, and experience many emotions. It is my hope that the younger generation who will take on the future of both Japan and the world will realize that our daily lives are interconnected with the circumstances faced by people in difficult situations. For that reason, I will carry on my activities as a UNICEF Ambassador.

HASEBE Makoto

UNICEF Ambassador for Japan

HASEBE Makoto was appointed as the UNICEF Ambassador for Japan in December 2016. Details of his activities are published on the UNICEF website (https://www.unicef.or.jp/partner/hasebemakoto/) (in Japanese only).