On the front line: World Humanitarian Day

Meet our colleagues from Yemen

Working in the humanitarian sector in one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, Shadia and Mohammad, both from Yemen, have chosen to help their communities, despite the ongoing conflict and the safety risks they face along the way.

Shadia started her journey in the humanitarian sector in 2011 and is driven by her love of helping others. Today, Shadia works in Hodeidah, in northern Yemen. Shadia was displaced herself by the conflict in her country, and her passion comes in knowing, first-hand, what people have to go through to be able to survive in a crisis that left more than 23.4 million people in need. “I am still living in displacement, I know what it means to be in need of safety, food, and money to pay rent,” said Shadia.Of her work, Shadia adds, “We help deliver life-saving assistance to a large number of people. I remember a time when we delivered cash assistance to a mother of five, who started crying tears of joy because her financial struggles were burying her further and further into debt. She was regularly forced to choose between paying rent, or paying for her daughter’s healthcare, or bringing food for the rest of the family. I feel content being the one delivering this kind of much-needed help to others.”

While the work she’s doing has been fulfilling in many ways, it has not been easy for Shadia. Alongside the lack of physical safety, Shadia faced an additional struggle; being a woman; “Being a woman was one of the first challenges I had to overcome, especially when visiting conservative communities where they did not understand how a woman was providing assistance. But after a while, even they accepted me and were happy to welcome me.”

I wanted to help people who were struggling

Mohammad works in Sa’dah, in northern Yemen. He was also displaced by the war. "I started working in the humanitarian field in 2012, I wanted to help people who were struggling, knowing what they have been through", says Mohammad. 

The assistance Mohammad has helped deliver was, in many situations, the sole lifeline of those they reached. “We go to very difficult places. We once delivered aid to people who lived nine hours away from the nearest city and were trapped, without access to food or water. We delivered food and assistance to people who were dying from food insecurity and lack of access to their basic needs,” Mohammad recalls.

Mohammad is a firm believer in the importance of humanitarian work to be able to save lives and help communities live in dignity, but it does not come without its own challenges. He said “the mountainous terrain of the area makes reaching the people in need extremely hard. And when we do reach the people in need, we are met with the reality that the needs exceed the assistance we are bringing them.”

However, even when needs exceed the assistance available, Mohammad still believes the work they are doing in the field leaves a huge impact on the community.

Meet our colleagues from Iraq

Nearly five years since the formal military operations against the so-called Islamic State (IS) ended, more than 2.5 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance and 1.2 million people remain internally displaced.

Jeelan has worked with DRC since 2013, based in Dohuk. She works not only with Iraqis, but also with Syrian refugees.

Jeelan says, “We were raised to help others and that’s what pushed me toward working in this field”. Working with communities and seeing how the assistance she delivers can change people’s lives is what makes Jeelan love what she does even more.

“We regularly visit people we have previously helped, and it is heart-warming to see how their lives have changed. A few years back, we helped a lady open her own tailoring business. A year ago, I was invited to attend the release event of a book she wrote to help other learn the basics of tailoring,” she said with a smile.

While the work Jeelan does is life-changing, it can also be frustrating at times.

Started without knowing how

Community expectations, and the staggering number of people in need, is also an issue Saleh experiences in Ninewa. “The disaster that took place in Iraq left millions of people in need. Seeing this, I wanted to be able to help and decided to work as a humanitarian,” he said.

Without much knowledge on how to work with people affected by conflict, learning the humanitarian basics was one of the biggest challenges Saleh had to overcome. “I started without knowing how to deal with vulnerable people. The importance of delivering dignified aid and safeguarding our beneficiaries’ privacy are all important concepts I had to learn when I started this work.”

Saleh, who has now worked his way up to team leader of DRC’s protection team in Ninewa, believes the work he does can be the sole lifeline for many people.

Meet our colleagues from Lebanon

Across Lebanon, refugees and Lebanese in the communities hosting them are now dealing with multiple economic crises, resulting in even more people requiring aid assistance.

Sahar, who works in Akkar, North of Lebanon, decided on working in the humanitarian sector due to her firm belief in the importance of the work. “I started as a volunteer and that is when I realised the importance of protection programming,” she said. Today, Sahar works in delivering psychosocial support (PSS) to the people affected by the crises Lebanon is going through.

Working with people in need comes with its own set of challenges. “We have to struggle with being unable to help everyone. Being able to afford the basic needs is getting harder for an increasing number of people, but with the limited resources we have, this is a reality we have to deal with.”

The work we do has become more important than ever

“The number of people in need exceeds the resources we have,” said Zeinab, based in Bekaa, who works to prevent Gender-based Violence (GBV). “As humanitarian workers, we work to ensure aid is delivered in a dignified way to those most in need, without discrimination.”

Zeinab decided to follow her passion to help the most vulnerable communities in Lebanon. “I wanted to assist the people in need in Lebanon, both Syrian refugees and Lebanese host communities,” she said. “After the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis, the work we do has become more important than ever.”

Today, GBV programming is needed to ensure the safety of women and girls in the most vulnerable communities.

Meet our colleagues from Jordan

Currently, Jordan is the second largest refugee-hosting country by capita. With the Covid-19 pandemic leading to a slowing down of the economy, high rate of unemployment and with less aid coming from donors, many Jordanian and refugee households lack access to their basic needs.

Nadia works in Karak governorate in the south of Jordan. Having worked as a humanitarian for more than eight years, Nadia was lucky enough to see the effect her work has on people on many occasions. “I can tell you hundreds of stories of how we help people, but one of the people I never forget is a young boy who started coming to our community centre where he was regularly getting in trouble. I never lost hope and always pushed him to participate positively and to help him amend his negative behaviours. Today, this boy has become a young man who himself works as a coach in youth centres where he helps youth find their way,” she said proudly.

The scale of needs makes the work difficult

“Millions of Syrian refugees and vulnerable Jordanians are still reeling from the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. We need funding to be able to continue helping those most in need,” Nadia said. According to her, the existence of INGOs and their partnerships with local civil societies is vital to be able to reach the largest number of people and have an actual impact.

“I went into the humanitarian field because I was looking for an opportunity to be more useful to the most in need communities,” said Ahmad, who works in Azraq Refugee Camp. “I want to help people by creating better futures for them.” Assistance in all its forms is fundamental to be able to help the most vulnerable communities overcome their challenges.

“We not only help people become self-reliant, we also help them become leaders and come up with creative solutions to their problems,” he added. Ahmad has been working with the youth in the camp on becoming leaders in their communities and how they can be change factors. “When a water crisis happened in one of the villages in the camp, one of the young men attending these courses was able to start a community initiative in other villages to help deliver clean water to people there. Similar stories are what push us to continue doing what we do, even when it gets hard.”

Having worked in Zaatari Camp and Azraq Camp, Ahmad had to learn how to appreciate the work he does.

Meet our colleagues from Turkey

Sumerya’s experience with working in the humanitarian sector has been quite a bit different

Coming with a psychological counseling degree, Sumerya works with DRC as a protection assistant and is very aware of the hardships people have gone through, and what is needed from her side to help them overcome it. “The large influx of refugees and immigrants pushed me and I wanted to help by working with them on their mental health. Knowing Arabic also made be believe I could be more useful in this field,” she said.

Getting the right psychological support for people with difficult life experiences can make a big difference in their lives. People with such experiences have difficulty in recognizing, understanding, and coping with their problems on their own. “One of our beneficiaries, who participated in the serialized sessions I held made me feel how important a job I was doing. A Syrian child who had recently moved to Turkey and had not learned Turkish yet, acted timid and shy. After the sessions, he was more willing to communicate and speak more, freed from the worries he started the first session with,” said Sumeyra.

While working in the protection field can be immensely rewarding, it can also be very challenging. In many cases, humanitarian workers have to deal with the prejudices of the society when it comes to refugees. “False facts about refugees, not knowing the purpose of the existence of humanitarian aid organisations and having untrue information about the services provided to refugees are compelling factors. In addition, the fact that immigrants and refugees are seen as the cause of the deteriorating economic situation has led to some anger against the aid given to refugees. I think collaborating has become more difficult in humanitarian services,” she added.

With all the hardships that come with this line of work, Sumeyra believes humanitarian assistance and humanitarian work have important roles to play. “Humanitarian aid organisations have an important role to play, more so in counties where language barriers and different cultures are at play, it can be quite difficult for the refugee population to access even the most basic services they are offered,” she said. To help refugees accept their new lives and adapt to their new living situations, psychological support becomes of great importance.