Elle Magazine covers Kari Jaquesson in Nicaragua
	Kari Jaquesson with a few words for Bush
	Pearls of Tahiti: French Actress Elsa Zylberstein
	MAMTA in India with Swedish TV Presenter Kattis Ahlstrom
	Danish author Hanne-Vibeke Holst writes about the women of Face to Face

The following article was translated from Norwegian into English by Eriksen Translations, New York, for Face to Face International

Background: Face to Face International took four Nordic UNFPA Goodwill Ambassadors, including Kari Jaquesson of Norway, UNFPA writer Don Hinrichson and photographer Marc Edwards to Nicaragua on an advocacy and resource mobilization mission. When Kari returned to her home country, she got the following media coverage.


ELLE Magazine
January 2003
pp. 52 – 55

ELLE GLOBAL

LATIN AMERICAN SUFFERING

Wendy, Maria, and Luis Fernandez are children of Nicaragua. The future of the country is in their hands. But since these children are addicted to sniffing glue and forced into prostitution to survive, the future looks dismal. UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador Kari Jaquesson intends to do something about it.

BY: DON HINRICHSON

At one time Wendy Medina Sanchez was a pretty girl. Now she looks just as worn as the clothes she wears. Her long black hair is matted, lifeless, and crawling with lice. She walks slowly and unsteadily as though she were half asleep. Her eyes, which look like cigarette burns on a sheet, are unable to focus on anything except for a jar full of glue. In Latin America this is the opium of the poorest of the poor. Wendy sniffs a type of glue used to repair shoes. So do the other fifteen members of her “family.” They sit in a park in Managua, right across from the parliament.
Her body odor is overwhelming. Wendy has not bathed in a month. Several times during our thirty-minute conversation and at even intervals, she produces the jar of glue and sniffs. The glue makes her talkative.
“I ran away from home after being repeatedly raped and beaten by my stepfather for two years,” she says. She stops, tries to think, tries to remember.
“My mother blamed me for what my stepfather did to me. I couldn’t stay there anymore.”
Wendy ended up on the streets of Managua. All she had were the clothes on her back and a little pocket money. She had neither the education nor the opportunity to get a job, so she was forced to become a prostitute to support herself.
“When I had sex, they gave me enough money for a bath and maybe some old clothes. Sometimes I even had a roof over my head, even if it was just a tin roof.”
When she began sniffing glue, her clientele changed. Instead of getting five to ten dollars for sex, she now does it in parks and alleys for two to three dollars.
“The taxi driver would pick me up, squirt a little water on me, and clean me up a little before driving me to the edge of town. As many as ten men would wait for me there. I had sex with all of them, one after the next. After the taxi driver got his share, I would only a have a few dollars left,” she says.
Although Wendy knows about HIV and AIDS, her customers do not use condoms.
“I should insist,” she says, “but I can’t force them.”
Lester Mairena, Wendy’s boyfriend of one year, comes and sits by her side. He also sniffs glue and has lived on the streets for four years, since he was fourteen.
“Wendy isn’t a bad girl. She just needs a little help,” he says.
“I really wish I could help her to stop sniffing glue and get an education, but I quit school when I was nine. My family was poor and needed my help. I sold fruit on the street and did other odd jobs,” he says in a low and tired voice.
“But my father drank himself to death when I was eleven, and my mother moved back to Honduras. I haven’t seen her for three years.”
The biggest problem these youngsters face living on the streets of Managua is the gangs. Last year Lester was attacked by members of the notorious street gang Death. His arms and back bear marks of the brutal attack, which took place at night as he and Wendy slept.
“They tried to rape her, and I fought them, but they cut me severely with machetes,” he says and shows the pink scars on his arms, legs, and back.
“If the police hadn’t come, they would have killed me,” he says.
Another girl was not as lucky. Maria Mercedez is only seventeen and has been on the streets since she was thirteen. Beneath the grime she is an attractive girl, which makes her a target for street gangs.
“A few days ago I was held down and raped by two members of a gang called Monsters,” she says.
“When I tried to resist they burned my hands with cigarettes.”
Like Wendy, Maria was raped by her stepfather when she was twelve.
“My mother thought I was trying to steal her husband and threw me out of the house,” she says quietly. Maria also sells her body to men. She generally makes no more than two dollars for sex.
“I try to get them to wear condoms, but most of them refuse. If I insist, they beat me and have sex with me anyway,” she says.
“I’ve been sniffing glue since I was fourteen, but I’d like to stop and get an education,” says Maria. She wants to go to a rehabilitation clinic, but none of them will take her. She can’t pay for it herself and there are no government programs for street children dependent on inhalants.
Neither Wendy nor Maria blame anyone for their current situation. They both want to change, but don’t know how or where to get help.
“I want to get rehabilitation and stop sniffing glue,” says Wendy.
“And I want to get an education so I don’t have to sell my body to make money.”
The government has been unable to handle the steadily growing problem of children and young adults living on the streets. Nicaragua’s population is very young. A total of 70 percent of the country’s 5.2 million inhabitants are under the age of thirty. According to Health Minister Lucia Salvo, only one in ten young people have access to adequate information and health services, and one in four pregnant women are under the age of twenty.
The government is not doing much to provide young people with what they need to get a good job. According to the government, unemployment is at 20 percent, though the actual figure may be closer to 40 percent.
Like many others, Luis Fernandez is unemployed. He is seventeen and uneducated. He quit school to help his family when he was eleven; but when his father died, his mother went back to El Salvador and left the boy to fend for himself on the streets. He has been here for three years and he has no hope of getting away.
“I’ll probably die here,” he says.
No one denies that Nicaragua is a country with major problems.
“Two things about this country are really troubling,” says one local politician from the Caribbean seaside town of Bluefields.
“The first is that the government is unable to solve problems, and the second is the state of the country’s youth. When a country forsakes its youth, it destroys its future.”
“All I want is for my girlfriend and me to be able to work and earn money. We want a home,” says Lester, grasping for words.
“Not this parody of a life.”

“NONE OF US CAN AFFORD TO LOSE A CHILD!”
Interview with Kari Jaquesson

I take it for granted that I am in control of my sexuality and my reproduction. When I was asked to be Goodwill Ambassador, it was easy to say “yes!” UNFPA contributes to an incredible number of projects around the world.
I want my sisters around the world to live well. The road that lies ahead is long, but there are strong, good forces in the world – even if it is difficult to see them amid all the hate, evil, and brutality portrayed in the media.
With the means for health services and information, we could seriously curb the amount of mothers and small children around the world who die of AIDS and other infections. Humane and sustainable development can be achieved through women fully participating in a society’s cultural, political, and economic arenas. Equality is not yet a reality.
Most women would like to be able to decide how many children they want to have, but many do not have this luxury. The fewer children you have, the easier it is to provide them with food; and perhaps fewer children would be motherless if their mothers had access to medical aid during childbirth. Maybe there would even be money left to send the children to school. I want my two children to have a good life, and women around the world feel the same way. I am able to provide my children with security, nutritious food, and an education. I feel that all mothers should be able to do this. Our children bring us joy. None of us can afford to lose a child!
Talking is one thing, but meeting people face to face is entirely different. When I was in Nicaragua I spoke with a great number of people who were never afforded the opportunities that you and I take for granted. But I also met women, children, and young people who had new opportunities and hope thanks to the UN and its projects.



WOMEN IN THE WORLD ARE SUFFERING
• Every minute a woman dies of complications during pregnancy or childbirth.
• Sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS affect five times as many women as men.
• Women’s health in poor countries can be compared with women’s health 100 years ago in Norway, when pregnancy, childbirth, infections, and deficiency diseases represented a great health risk. Each year over half a million women lose their lives as a result of complications during pregnancy and childbirth, and another 75,000 women die as a result of abortion complications.
• A total of 350 million women in the world do not have access to safe contraception. Each year brings 175 million unwanted pregnancies.
• Over 120 million women have fallen victim to sexual mutilation. Each year, another two million are sexually mutilated.
• Each year nearly two million girls between the ages of five and fifteen are forced into prostitution.
• The UNFPA is working to solve these problems. Norway is one of the UNFPA’s major contributors.


IMPOVERISHED NICARAGUA
• Nicaragua: Central American republic. The second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere (after Haiti).
• Population of approximately five million.
• Almost half of them are poor, and just under one million live in extreme poverty.
• Population growth is enormous, and as a result, whatever is done to combat poverty makes little difference statistically speaking. A total of 10 percent of the population control 45 percent of the country’s wealth, while the poorest 40 percent of the country share only 10 percent of the wealth.
• Over 35 percent of adult women cannot read or write. About 800,000 children receive no schooling of any kind.
• Mortality among children under the age of five is the highest in the region.
• Nearly one fourth of children under the age of five are chronically undernourished.
• Half of all children in Nicaragua grow up fatherless.
• Nearly half of all nineteen-year-old women have been pregnant at least once.
• Violence and sexual abuse of women and children are widespread. Many turn to the streets, where drugs, violence, and prostitution become a way of life.
• For about fifteen years Norway has been a major contributor to Nicaragua. The country’s democratic development has been profound, but the government has had no political motivation to do anything for the poor.



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The following article was translated from Norwegian into English by Eriksen Translations, New York, for Face to Face International

Background: Face to Face International took four Nordic UNFPA Goodwill Ambassadors, including Kari Jaquesson of Norway, UNFPA writer Don Hinrichson and photographer Marc Edwards to Nicaragua on an advocacy and resource mobilization mission. When Kari returned to her home country, she got the following media coverage.


KLASSEKAMPEN
Saturday August 3, 2002
pp. 28 – 29

PORTRAIT

Kari Jaquesson has discovered that life consists of more than jumping up and down with a sweaty smile. She is now trying to get as many Norwegians as possible to send postcards to President Bush.
By Tuva Raanes (text) and Robert Bråthen (photo)


The Good Fairy

“…and I said, ‘Hello people. How about using words like horny. After all, we’re talking about sex!’” Kari Jaquesson pauses briefly. The people at the next table stop talking. They become relatively still. Some children at an adjacent table whine about their ice cream, which is melting more quickly than they are able to slurp it up. Kari takes a breath before continuing.
“Just because you know that using a condom is smart, doesn’t mean that you’ll do it. I’m sure there are several women at this meeting who have had one night stands without bringing condoms.” “Trim Kari,” Norway’s queen of fitness, smiles. Reactions to her remarks were as expected. Some of the UN delegations wore stiff, serious faces. That was Kari’s debut as Norway’s Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Her first thought was that she had perhaps gone a little too far.

Nice words
“I talked about other things too, though I did use some juicy expressions.”
Normally, the reaction Kari Jaquesson provokes is sweat – either directly at fitness centers, or indirectly through her five Trim videos. In addition, she stimulated the sweat glands of thousands of Norwegians who at one time watched Kari welcome the new day each morning on Norwegian television (TV2). Every morning she appeared, outfitted in her gym clothes and winning smile. But in New York, Kari elicited a different response.
“Everyone there was incredibly committed, but the discussions could get very theoretical. Everything sounds good on paper. It’s almost like seeing the blueprints for the Vestbanen architecture competition. It’s always shown from above, but it’s completely different when you’re standing on the hill and you look up and see those monstrous buildings towering over you, don’t you think?”
Kari grimaces. Evidently Vestbanen is an engaging topic, but she collects herself and continues.
“So I said that we need to teach young people alternatives to having intercourse. When you’re standing in a room, about to have sex, you become oblivious to reason. You’re not thinking about anything else, least of all about getting out a condom.”
Kari leans back. The meeting in New York was one of the first she participated in as Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Population Fund. That was almost two years ago. Since then she has become increasingly comfortable in her role. Sexual education is underrated, HIV and AIDS lead to much more than poverty, and she intends to do something about it.

Double standard
A Goodwill Ambassador’s role is to promote the projects of the organization for which he or she works. Historically, famous people, because of their status, have been able to help further the organization’s cause through fundraising campaigns. The UN Population Fund has Goodwill Ambassadors from around the world. Most are actors, artists, or popular TV personalities. In Norway, Kari plays the role of the good fairy, sprinkling the people with enlightening pixie dust.
“My role is to spread goodwill for the UNFPA, short and sweet. This can be done in many ways. Personally, I find it very exciting to work with women’s rights. I’m a woman, after all. Furthermore, working with sexual education is challenging. It’s such a taboo subject that it makes everyone sweat. Women who think using a condom is important and therefore keep one in their back pockets are still considered sluts. This is the double standard I talked about in New York.”
As the story goes, Harry Belafonte’s wife came over to Kari and said, “Horny, horny, that’s the word.” She obviously approved of the Norwegian ambassador’s choice of words.
Having been preoccupied with pregnancy, childbirth, and children, Kari has not yet distinguished herself much as a UNFPA Ambassador. But this July when a certain press release found its way into the fitness pioneer’s hands, she became irate.
It read, “Bush refuses to pay for life-saving project! Thousands will die as a result of President Bush’s refusal to pay 34 million dollars already approved for spending by Congress.”

Furious at Bush
Kari was deeply upset. She had just been in Nicaragua and seen projects through which women were offered prevention education, gynecological examinations, and treatment. She was inspired and became very eager to promote the projects. She was excited to spread her goodwill pixie dust. Then Bush came and burst her bubble.
“I saw how crucial it is for people to be able to decide how many children they want to have, to be able to protect themselves against unwanted pregnancy and disease. It doesn’t matter how much you work if you have too many mouths to feed with the money you earn. Then Bush says, ‘No, I don’t want to pay.’ I thought, ‘Is he crazy?’”
Again it becomes quiet. Kari was speaking so loudly that it would have been impossible for the next table to ignore her. She takes a quick sip of coffee followed by a sip of water. Ambassador Jaquesson has no doubt that Bush refused to pay because of groundless rumors that the UNFPA supports China’s single child policy by backing abortion and sterilization.
“Norway should have put the pressure on. You can’t just let your friends get away with anything.”

Emptiness
“A rolling stone gather no moss, so get moving!”
Kari has big plans for her term as Goodwill Ambassador. She plans to arrange interactive video presentations with young people in several cities around the globe. She will also be fundraising. As soon as her projects are finished, the good fairy will bring her pixie dust and knock at the doors of Norway’s top business leaders. Both doors and wallets will open, and both Kari and the donors will be happier because of it.
“It will be so cool to walk into a board meeting on a Monday morning and report that I saved 100,000 lives last week. Business leaders will want to give money to those who need it rather than buy a horse for Princess Martha, because that’s just silly.”

Full life
Kari has some great contacts. As an eighteen-year-old, she was already managing Oslo’s Radio Nova establishment. She also ran a café and restaurant. But Kari’s young business empire soon came to an end. Kari wanted new challenges and her partners wanted to return to France. The eighties were full of happy days – anything was possible. Perhaps it is this brand of longstanding optimism that she’ll bring on her fundraising campaign.
“I think a lot of people are bored. You can’t buy happiness aboard a cruise ship for NOK 50 million. I don’t think people that have other things going on in their lives have time for that.”
Kari knows what she’s talking about. As a young aspiring professional she too was preoccupied with making money. Then she grew older and realized that there is much more to life, for example her Trim video series and her appointment as Goodwill Ambassador.
“Lots of people are looking for something more. This need grows with age. It’s an emptiness that you don’t notice so much when you’re young. As the years go by you become more vulnerable. I think many people would feel better if they got involved helping other people.”

“Many people feel an undefined emptiness within themselves,” says Kari “Goodwill” Jaquesson.

Slimming
When Kari first became a mother, she recorded her first Trim video. With pregnancy number two came the follow up video Mammatrim med Kari [Mama-trim with Kari]. Over 100,000 pregnant women have bounced in rhythm with an equally pregnant Kari Jaquesson. In addition she has written books about living well and a diet book for pregnant women. According to Kari, we should be happy that she is Norway’s lifestyle queen.
“Thank goodness that I get to be one of the major fitness personalities in Norway. After all, it could have been one of those women who insist that after a lovely evening with plenty of good food, you aren’t allowed to eat the next day. I try to keep the focus away from this weight-loss hysteria. I want people to appreciate the psychological benefits of fitness, and not just focus on fat and calories. It’s great to see that people are gaining self confidence as a result of exercising.”
When Kari isn’t getting people to jump, or carrying out her ambassadorial duties, she writes “slim columns” for various magazines in Norway and the other Nordic countries. She founded Fitness Magazine, and edited it until the mid nineties. But Kari tries to focus on a balanced diet and being active, rather than on getting thin.
“Don’t read beauty magazines – they will only make you feel ugly,” Kari says. She is referring to fashion magazines featuring ultra-skinny models with hollow cheeks and bones where there should be flesh.
“Reading magazines like that can drive you nuts. It’s perverse that people are being made to feel that they need to look that way. Far too many women, not to mention a great deal of men, are hiding out, waiting to become thin enough to show themselves. They’re forgetting to live. Losing weight brings you strength, stamina, and happiness, while failing to lose weight makes you sluggish and discontent.”
And that is where goodwill comes into play. Kari made the leap from her fitness studio Trim Tram to dealing with the world’s population problems.
“If you aren’t happy with yourself, you walk all over the people around you. Just look at politicians. I don’t know how many members of the Norwegian Parliament go jogging, but I’d like to put them all in a training camp for a few weeks. Too many decisions are made with low blood sugar over black coffee and smoke. This is disconcerting in that it involves both your future and mine.”

Postcard campaign
When Kari goes to sleep at night, she asks herself, “What have you done for your body today?” Usually the answer is “a lot.” She hopes that others will be able to give the same answer. She also hopes that many people will get involved enough to send a postcard to President Bush.
“If people don’t know how to help, they can call the Red Cross or other organizations and offer them help. You don’t need to make a huge contribution. Lick stamps a few days a week, or be a support contact. Or you could write Bush a postcard. The postcard should read, ’Pay up,’” says Norway’s Goodwill Ambassador to the UNFPA, Kari Jaquesson.

P.S.: Bush’s address: White House, Washington DC, USA



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The world-famous Tahitian cultured pearl was promoted during the 18th Paris Film Festival with a gala evening organized by Perles de Tahiti and its two partners, Tahiti Tourisme and Robert Wan's Tahiti Perles. Many stars attended the evening function wearing Tahiti's lovely cultural pearl necklaces.

The evening, billed as "Stars en Perles" (the star of all pearls), brought together a variety of personalities from Tahiti, ranging from Mareva Galanter and Mareva Georges ( former Miss Tahiti and Miss France winners) to Béatrice Vernaudon, one of French Polynesia's two deputies in the French National Assembly. Other guests included French film stars Grace de Capitani and Elsa Zylberstein.
Elsa Zylberstein, UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador, Face to Face Campaign Spokesperson for France and ambassadress of the humanitarian association "Equilibres & Populations” called on the generosity of the personalities present to support Tahiti's pearl culture.

Elsa and the Gala organizers also wanted to support the charitable cause 'Equilibres et Populations' and did so by creating a series of 'Stars en Perles' postcards. Proceeds from the sale of the postcards are donated to E&P.
Equilibres & Populations is a non-government organization created by physicians and journalists to advocate the more efficient use of development aid for activities promoting health and education.

A delegation of Swedish parliamentarians and UNFPA’s Goodwill Ambassador and Face to Face campaign spokesperson for Sweden, Kattis Ahlstrom, visited India 24 – 28 February 2003. The visit was part of the Sida and Face to Face supported twinning project of the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU) and Health Institute for Mother & Child (MAMTA) with the purpose to meet and share thoughts with Indian parliamentarians on issues related to adolescent sexual health and rights. The issue of HIV/AIDS -- being an integral part of the project -- was also addressed. The delegation visited, among others, the Michael’s Care Home - a hospice for people living with HIV/AIDS in Delhi.

Popular Swedish TV presenter Ahlstrom will produce a documentary on young people’s sexual health in India to be screened on Swedish TV.

For more information contact mamta@del6.vsnl.net.in or maria.hellvig@rfsu.seøa

9 September 2003. UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador and Face to Face Campaign Spokesperson for Denmark, Hanne-Vibeke Holst met with Face to Face executive director Walter Coddington and Lars Ringhof her literary agent, in Copenhagen to discuss international distribution of Hanne-Vibeke’s latest book for the commercial market, “Face to Face” (working title).

Only a few months away from completion, the book includes in-depth portraits of 14 women who are the real stars of the international campaign for women’s rights. From Viet Nam, Russia, Nicaragua and many other developing world countries, these women live without the health services we in the West take for granted and in conditions and with illnesses many Westerners can’t even imagine.

Hanne-Vibeke Holst is a well-known and popular columnist, TV journalist and best-selling fiction writer. Her novels are mostly about modern women trying to balance new options with old problems. Her books are translated and sold in Germany and Sweden. In her own country, Hanne-Vibeke is known as an outspoken and fearless fighter of women’s rights.