FORMER war correspondent Martin Bell OBE visited the Island last week in his new role as UNICEF UK Ambassador.
Martin spoke to isleofman.com about working in "silent" war zones and his trip to Yemen - the 19th war zone of his career.
In his role as ambassador Martin travels to countries affected by conflict observing the work of UNICEF. The charity provides health care, nutrition, water, sanitation, hygiene and education to those in need.
Martin, 72, said: "I call myself the expendable ambassador because they send me to the dangerous places.
"There are no social services in these places and if it wasn't for the aid agencies people would just starve or die of disease.
"I go with UNICEF to find out what's going on so that I can write the stuff up – you have to give people the evidence and say 'this matters'."
In August Martin spent a week in Yemen – the least developed country of the Middle East. Conflict has ravaged the country since 2004 resulting in 205,000 children being driven out of their homes.
He explained: "Yemen is a silent emergency with six wars in six years that no one’s heard about.
"It is not a failed state but it is a very fragile state and it is as if one of the failed states of Africa were moving into it."
Despite being a war correspondent for the majority of his career visits like these are still tinged with a mixture of emotions for Martin.
He said: "I feel profound disquiet. I go to the places which are out of the public eye – what we call the silent emergencies – and I find so much going on that the world hardly knows about.
"I met one nine year old girl suffering from severe post traumatic stress disorder. I've never seen anyone so deep inside herself – so lost – not knowing who she was or where she was.
"We also got into a central prison and found around 29 underage prisoners. We found an eight and a half year old boy with one arm from Nigeria. As a result of our intervention he was sent back to Nigeria so it shows you can do a little bit of good.
"You are overwhelmed by a sense of sometimes despair and then sometimes hope. I see and meet the most amazing heroic individuals – the UNICEF staff both national and international – and they are just absolutely inspiring."
Martin credits a rise in threats from Al Qaeda and the popularity of celebrity journalism as the reasoning for why many of these emergencies stay silent.
He said: "I think the British media have retreated a substantial extent from foreign news partly because it's become so dangerous. After 9/11 journalists were picked out, executed and ransomed plus it's expensive.
"There's also been a rise of celebrity journalism and people are more concerned about Jordan and Peter Andre."
Martin is wise to the danger he is potentially under after being severely injured in a mortar explosion in Sarajevo in 1992.
He explained: "Yemen is my 19th war zone and I was a little apprehensive because of the Al Qaeda dimension but I've been doing this since Vietnam in 1967 and I've only been wounded once so I've been very very lucky.
"I thought then about giving it up but I thought 'this is the only way I have to make a living' so I was just more careful after that."
He joked: "The machine always goes off when I pass through airport security because I've got two metal hips and a piece of shrapnel."
Martin doesn't know where he will be sent next but said: "It will be somewhere dangerous because that's where they send me.
"Doors open to me as a UNICEF ambassador which would have been closed to me as a journalist. It's the best job I've ever had."
Martin Bell was in the Island on Friday, October 15, to deliver a presentation to the Isle of Man Overseas Aid Committee which supports UNICEF.
Also see: Former war correspondent Martin Bell visits the Island to say "Thank you"
