I feel very lucky because I love my job. I really do. I get
paid to travel the world and see places many people will never see. I get to experience
different cultures and some amazing food (also some pretty dire food….. such as
in an unnamed country where green pepper puree is included in every meal). No
day is ever the same as the last and I get challenged. The most ridiculous
things occur which are hard to explain to anyone back in my ‘real world’ as
they are too bizarre to understand or explain. For at least 10 months of the
year I get to live in sunshine and grey skies are reserved only for when I
return to the UK.
I recently had the joy of meeting an amazing woman who
benefited from our family strengthening program. As is the tradition in some
parts of Morocco whilst she was married she would stay at home with the
children, if she went out it would be with other women from the family to
purchase food to prepare for the family. She never finished formal education and
had never worked. One day her husband became very ill. He was taken to hospital
and sadly did not survive. She told me that she will never forget leaving the
hospital with her four young children and thinking ‘what on earth do I do now?’.
She enrolled in our family strengthening program and was
taught to become a tailor. She started to sell the things she was making. She
soon had enough to buy her own sewing machine. Now she has bought her own car
so that she can deliver her products to her clients. Her business is booming
and now she is supporting other women to set up their own enterprises. Hearing
her story, and knowing how many women globally benefit from our family
strengthening program, is the kind of job satisfaction only a few of us get and
I am one of the lucky ones.
However, sometimes the work that we do is challenging. So challenging
because you cannot begin to comprehend how one human being can treat another. These
are the days that I have to do a dance in the bathroom with the most upbeat
song I can find on my ipod or to watch Modern Family reruns to try and get a
balance and to laugh, because otherwise you would cry.
This past week has been one of the most challenging weeks
yet.
The government and rebel forces in Syria agreed to allow
humanitarian aid into three besieged towns in Syria. These towns have been
besieged since July (under heavy fire) and have received no aid – medicine,
fuel, food, anything external since October. One child told us ‘once they had
eaten all of the donkeys they started eating cats. Now we have spices in water
or cooked grass’.
On Tuesday aid was finally let into the areas. However,
Madaya is a pro-government controlled area with government forces and Lebanese
Hezbollah in charge. Kafaya and Foah are rebel held areas. For the same number
of trucks which enter Madaya an equal number must enter the other two towns.
This is because besieging areas is a tactic of war. When one side ‘weakens’ and
let the aid in, it can lead the other side to gain greater ground. The same
applies for evacuating children and adults: equal numbers from each place.
As a result in the coming week we aspire to travel to all
three areas to determine the children most in need and how we can evacuate them
to get them ‘safely’ to our Interim Care Centers in Damascus. So many variables
come into play to make this a success.
We were the only aid agency allowed access until the late
evening on Thursday. We came out with first hand stories, images and footage of
what we saw which has now gone global in the media telling the world what is
happening. Being able to give these people a voice is at least a small step in the right direction.
One little boy told us 'you can run from the bombs but you cannot hide from hunger.'
The next round of peace talks for Syria is held on 25th
January 2016 and no matter what the reality is we must have hope that something
will change.
As I said at the beginning no two days at work are the same
and in these circumstances the rules changed hourly. I love my job. I love that
we change lives. I love that when you have a hard day you remember it is not
that hard or as hard as those who live with this reality daily. And i love that I have family and friends who support what i do and that i have two cats to snuggle with!
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