This Is How Anne Curtis's Perspective On Child Rights Changed Since Becoming A Mother

In 2009, Anne Curtis started as a major donor to UNICEF, the special program of the United Nations devoted to aiding efforts to improve the health, nutrition, education, and general welfare of children.

Six years later, in 2015, the actress, who began her showbiz career at 12 years old, became a UNICEF  goodwill ambassador upon her appointment as a celebrity advocate for children. She was then 30 years old.

At that time, Anne now tells Smart Parenting in an interview, "I was looking from the eyes of an ate to the kids." She would then get married to her longtime beau Erwan Heussaff in 2017, and they then became parents with the arrival of their daughter Dahlia Amelie in 2020.

(Read here on Anne and Erwan's own parenting style.)

 "The moment I became a mom," Anne beams, "’yung tingin ko sa kabataan ng Pilipinas is really like a mother. I want whatever you can give to your child to every child in the Philippines—having the opportunity to play, to study, having a safe place to go home."

Anne adds that her passion and fire for her advocacy work have intensified: "’Yung pag-intindi ko ng mga rights na ’yun was on a different level pa now looking through the eyes of a mother, as a mother.

"Hindi naman hindi seryoso before, pero nag-mas deepen pa ang pagkakaintindi ko now that I’m a mother. Not just an ally or friend. Nag-deepen."

Anne is so committed to her work in UNICEF that she turned Dahlia's first birthday celebration into an fundraiser (read here). She's also running for charity again in March, a sequel to the London Marathon she conquered in 2018 and raised nearly half a million pesos.

World Children's Day

Anne is all fired up when we talk to her at the UNICEF's celebration of World Children's Day on November 20, 2022 at the Music Hall events venue in SM Mall of Asia.

"It’s really an interactive experience for the children," she says on the event, "to get the experience of the freedom of play, which I feel was taken away from them for two years." She's referring to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"So I’m happy that we’re able to celebrate with everyone finally face-to-face, with of course the necessary precautions na kailangan gawin. But, yes, you could feel the celebration and finally it’s slowly—baby steps, of course—it’s going back."

UNICEF Philippines' chief of communication Niko Weiland tells us at the event attended by kids from all walks of life, emphasizing inclusivity: "No matter where you come from, no matter your abilities, we all have something in common." Unicef, particularly its celebration of World Children's Day and World Children's Month, aims to give kids a platform.

Prior to the event in Manila, UNICER spearheaded ang three-day Children's Congress in Cotabato City with the help of the local government. Highlights of the Children's Congress were shown in video presentation at the Manila event.

Additionally, children from the Caraga Adminstrative Region, Southern Leyte province, and the cities of Cotabato and Valenzuela worked together to create creative pieces through dance, film, and photography.

Read here on Unicef's urgent call to fight violence against children.