A Tribute to Peter Kassig a believer in ‘hopeless’ humanitarian causes

Peter Kassig, 26, was a man known for his relentless commitment to improving the lives of other people, determined to provide as much care to the afflicted as possible – not so surprising for a man with a pastor grandfather who used the pulpit to promote a better understanding of the Middle East and parents committed to the education and health of their community.

A video posted by Islamic State (Isis) on Sunday purported to show he had been beheaded, just over a year the militant group kidnapped him in Syria in October 2013.

From 2011 to 2013, he attended Butler University in his native Indianapolis, Indiana. While at Butler, he visited Beirut where he was “consumed” by the Syrian conflict and the immense humanitarian crisis it bred.

Having already provided medical care to refugees in Lebanon, Kassig founded the humanitarian group Sera (Special Emergency Response and Assistance) at the age of 24. The small operation provides medical training, supplies and treatment in areas too difficult for other humanitarian organizations to effectively operate, including parts of Syria, Lebanon and Turkey.

In article after article, Kassig’s friends and acquaintances praised his genuine and truly altruistic commitment to helping afflicted communities.

In June 2012, CNN profiled Kassig while he was providing medical care in Lebanon, primarily to Syrian refugees.

“We each get one life and that’s it. We get one shot at this and we don’t get any do-overs, and for me, it was time to put up or shut up,” he said. “The way I saw it, I didn’t have a choice. This is what I was put here to do. I guess I am just a hopeless romantic, and I am an idealist, and I believe in hopeless causes.”

[Read full article in The Guardian]

 

African flight logistics for Ebola aid workers

More than 4,000 people have died from Ebola as of Oct. 8, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and international air travel has already carried at least one infected traveler outside of West Africa.

The three West African nations hit hardest by the Ebola pandemic have seen a dramatic reduction in airline service. But there’s one group of travelers—medical aid workers—who urgently want to reach the affected countries to help patients and disrupt transmission of the virus.

“It is difficult to get people in and out,” says Ian Rodgers, director of operational support and preparedness for Save the Children in Washington, D.C. His NGO is currently operating at 60 percent of full staff in the Ebola-hit region.

Given the collision of airline cutbacks and a surge of relief workers and cargo to the region, several NGOs are discussing the need for a potential charter service to help bypass the shortage of commercial options. That’s usually how aid workers get to and from areas wracked by war or earthquakes. As more health workers in Africa potentially contract the disease, Rodgers believes organizations will be keen to establish a reliable way to evacuate those workers.

The charter route has been used in recent weeks to transport medical supplies and other equipment to Liberia and Sierra Leone, funded by a $3 million donation from billionaire Paul Allen. Allen, the Microsoft co-founder, has pledged $25 million through his foundation to tackle the crisis, as has fellow tech billionaire Mark Zuckerberg. Allen is willing to boost his initial $3 million grant if a passenger charter becomes necessary.

[Bloomberg]

I have never met a political child

Around the globe, conflict is escalating at a frightening rate. Those left most vulnerable are the children.

Here in the U.S., we have an escalating humanitarian crisis at our border with Mexico. Increasing numbers of women and children from various Central American countries are fleeing violence and insecurity. Every day, more and more mothers are putting their lives – and the lives of their children – on the line by crossing the Rio Grande seeking refuge in the U.S.

At the Save the Children / Catholic Charities Child-Friendly Space at Sacred Health Community Center in McAllen, Texas, families make a quick stop to get food, clothes and items for personal hygiene. I sat with these women and listened to their stories. I wanted to know why they were running away from their homes, and why they would risk their family’s life on an uncertain future. I heard stories about poverty, extreme violence and other atrocities these families endured every day in their home communities. One mother simply told me, “I ran to protect my babies. I had no other choice.”

As I write this, Save the Children is responding to a number of humanitarian emergencies around the world, many of which have stemmed from armed conflict or political issues.

In any crisis, children are always the most vulnerable, and their voices are rarely heard. We know children don’t choose sides when it comes to political conflict or religious debate. Eglantyne Jebb, the founder of Save the Children, said this: “I have never met a political child.”

Here’s what I need to say: Debates about immigration and other issues will–and should–continue. But in the midst of often-heated and lengthy political battles, we cannot allow children to be caught in the cross fire.

[Joaquin Duato, Worldwide Chairman of Pharmaceuticals for Johnson and Johnson, writing in Huffington Post]

West African health centers can’t keep up with Ebola outbreak

The number of new Ebola cases is growing faster than the ability of health officials to handle them, the head of the World Health Organization said Friday.

“In the three hardest hit countries, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the number of new cases is moving far faster than the capacity to manage them in the Ebola-specific treatment centers,” said Margaret Chan, the WHO director-general. “Today, there is not one single bed available for the treatment of an Ebola patient in the entire country of Liberia.”

At least 2,400 people have died in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, where the outbreak has been concentrated, Chan said. Cases have also been reported in nearby Nigeria and Senegal.

This is considered the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history. The World Health Organization said Monday the rapid spread of the virus in Liberia shows no sign of slowing. “The number of new cases is increasing exponentially,” the WHO said, calling the situation a “dire emergency with … unprecedented dimensions of human suffering.”

This week, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced it will donate $50 million to help fight the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

To help ease some of the burden on West Africa’s already overtaxed medical system, the United States announced Tuesday it will send $10 million in additional funds. That’s in addition to the $100 million Washington has already sent to help fight the outbreak. USAID also announced it will make $75 million in extra funds available.

[CNN]

A global conversation on humanitarian action

The World Humanitarian Summit is scheduled to take place in Turkey, during May 2016, a meeting proposed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Breanna Ridsdel, spokesperson for the Summit,  said, ”It will be more like a key moment in a conversation which has been going on for decades, and needs to go on for decades to come.”

One aim is to draw as many people into that conversation as possible, including the new players in the humanitarian field whose presence is one of the things changing the environment and making the conversation necessary.

In the past, humanitarian organizations consciously held themselves apart from anyone with military and commercial motives. Now they are being urged to collaborate with the private sector and in some cases, even the military.

In the past, aid was given by rich, developed countries to the poor and the undeveloped. Now the lines are not so clear. Former aid recipients are now middle income countries and aid-givers themselves, and they approach things in a different way. Big multinational NGOs, based in the West, have been joined by a host of local NGOs and civil society organizations working in their own countries. And awareness has grown of the instrumental response role played by aid-affected communities themselves.

Sara Pantuliano, director of the Humanitarian Policy Group at the UK’s Overseas Development Institute, says getting the balance right between the different actors will be crucial to the event’s success. “It’s a UN summit, not an inter-governmental summit,” she told IRIN. “If the recommendations which emerge are strong enough, it could make the changes in the humanitarian architecture which are so badly needed. An inter-governmental process probably wouldn’t be able to move so far. But states have to be on board so that they can take the Summit’s outcomes to the General Assembly and get the decisions required. … Governments will be invited but they won’t be driving the process.”

[IRIN]

Gazans launch Rubble Bucket Challenge

An appeal to garner support for Gaza which imitates the wildly popular ALS Ice Bucket Challenge but uses rubble and dirt instead of cold water is picking up steam on social media.

“I have to do something and to send a message all over the world about Gaza,” said Ayman al Aloul, a journalist who started the so-called Rubble Bucket Challenge on Saturday. (Other hashtags doing the rounds on Facebook and Twitter included #dustbucketchallenge and #remainsbucketchallenge.)

When the 42-year-old discussed the idea with friends, some suggested that he use either a bucket of blood or shrapnel. “It came to my mind that it’s good idea to show the whole picture – how Gaza looks now, rubble, destruction, cement with sand, small rocks,” Aloul said.

Aloul’s aims are modest. “If five famous people in the world like actors or presidents will do the challenge, that means I succeeded in sending the message about Gaza,” he said.

The conflict that has killed more than 2,100 Palestinians and 68 Israelis since July 8 has also leveled swaths of the Palestinian enclave.

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