Denmark provides $2.3 million for humanitarian needs in Sudan

The government of Denmark has contributed $2.3 million to the Sudan Common Humanitarian Fund (CHF) for 2015, following its contribution of $22.7 million since 2008 to help address growing humanitarian needs in Sudan.

The United Nations office of the resident and humanitarian coordinator in Sudan said, in a statement extended to Sudan Tribune, the Danish contribution comes at a critical time when funding for humanitarian action is scarce and humanitarian needs are growing.

The statement quoted the Danish minister for trade and development cooperation, Mogens Jensen, as saying the “humanitarian situation in Sudan remains extremely serious and is worsening in some areas”. Jensen added that the continued unrest in parts of Darfur, Abyei, South Kordofan and Blue Nile still generates severe displacement of civilians, who will need assistance and protection. Sudan has received more than 120,000 refugees fleeing from the ongoing violence in South Sudan.

Adnan Khan, the UN acting humanitarian coordinator said that Denmark’s timely contribution to CHF is greatly appreciated as it will help ensure that humanitarian assistance continues to reach the most vulnerable communities, pointing that CHF funds will be used to support top and high priority humanitarian interventions across Sudan.

Last year, the Sudan CHF received support from Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom (UK).

Crisis of anxiety among aid workers

According to a 2013 study commissioned by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 47 percent of its staff members who were surveyed indicated having had sleep problems in the previous month. And 57 percent had recently experienced symptoms consistent with depression. Rates of clinical depression among aid workers are double those of American adults. One cites “adult trauma exposure” as a main cause.

Yet mental health support for the estimated 250,000 humanitarian workers in the trenches is woefully lacking. The 2013 report recommends that the organization “provide and promote the option for staff to utilize external mental health therapists” and “disseminate information on what is covered by insurance for outside therapeutic support.” It also recommends more than 20 other measures to help aid workers.

While the management formally approved all but one of these recommendations, nearly two years later many of them remain unfulfilled. One recommendation that has been implemented — that aid workers going to the hardest places, to the Afghanistans, Iraqs and Syrias, will be contacted by an in-house counselor before and after their mission for an optional mental health check-in — is not happening systematically.

Yet the United Nations refugee agency is better than most, according to Kaz de Jong, head of staff care for the Netherlands division of Doctors Without Borders. His is one of the rare aid organizations known for doing a good job on this front. “At least they’re doing something,” he says, referring to the 2013 report. “Many do nothing at all.”

He’s right. A 2009 survey of 20 aid organizations found that many staff-care programs fail to adhere to basic standards. Little has improved since. What progress has been made often remains at the headquarter level, far from the shelling and violent stories that aid workers regularly face on the front lines.

[New York Times]

Greg Matthews “that sense that I belong here”

As a senior adviser for the International Rescue Committee, Greg Matthews rushes to disasters for a living.

He has helped refugees fleeing violence in Syria and Iraq, designing programs using a mix of traditional relief supplies, such as food and hygiene kits, with cash grants, job training, and placement and business start-up assistance.

Two things inspired Greg Matthews while growing up in Hartford, Conn. A 10th-grade social studies teacher got him thinking about international problems and the challenge of fixing them. And one day, when Matthews was giving swimming lessons, a student mentioned his father was leaving for Turkey for search-and-rescue work after an earthquake.

“I thought, ‘Wow, that’s really cool,'” Matthews recalls.

Even after marriage and the birth of a child, the seductive pull to international relief work remains. “It’s that sense that I belong there. This is what I’m good at. I can do this,” he says. “Every time I turn on the news and I hear that there’s a major disaster, (an) emergency breaking out somewhere across the world, I definitely get that adrenalin rush and my body starts kind of shaking a little bit.”

It’s quickly followed by a sense of dread, Matthews says. He wishes these terrible crises never happened at all.

[USA Today]

Canadian humanitarian worker held in North Korea?

Sometime in the last two days of January, Hyeon-soo Lim crossed the land border from China into the north-eastern corner of North Korea. This was nothing particularly special for Mr. Lim, the senior pastor of one of Canada’s largest Korean churches. He had been to the Hermit Kingdom more than 100 times before.

He was expected to call home on Feb. 4. When he did not, the church initially did not panic. But more than a month has passed with no word, and his church is worried Mr. Lim has been detained in a country that has jailed several foreign Christians in recent years.

“He’s not a tourist that wandered off. He knows the language, he knows how to behave in a way that’s not offensive to the government.”

Lim’s church raised funds for the impoverished country, and supports orphanages, nurseries and a nursing home. Mr. Lim would often take in vitamins, medical supplies and warm clothing.

[Toronto Globe and Mail]