Emergency expertise to match the situation
Tuesday 22 June 2010
I’m leaving Goma, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in two days. I’ll head first to Kinshasa and then back to London. After that I’m off to Niger.
I’m going from rainforest at the equator to desert near the tropic of cancer, from a balmy 20 degrees to a 40 degree oven, from years of conflict and risks to children’s protection to a massive food crisis and appalling levels of malnutrition. I’m going from the dry season to the rainy season, from mainly Christian to predominantly Muslim, from the seventh least-developed country in the world to the least developed of them all.
Responding to emergencies are at the very core of Save the Children’s work. They have to be – where else do children need saving more clearly than in an emergency? In the last year, Save the Children has responded to 30 emergencies, and every one has been different to the one before. Find out more in our five minute film: ‘It’s what we do‘.
Every time an emergency strikes there is the immediate, desperate needs of the affected people, and a whole new operating environment for the people responding. How do we manage that? By having a hugely diverse work force, so we can bring in the expertise to match the situation.
We can send Portuguese-speaking staff from Mozambique to help manage floods in Brazil, or we can move people from West Africa to share their skills in Haiti. My flatmates are from the USA, Kenya, and Guinea, and I share an office with people from France, Italy, and Cote d’Ivoire. It’s an amazing world to work in.
Tags: responding to emergencies
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June 22nd, 2010 at 2:04 PM
Blah.
This is corporate waffle — blogs are supposed to be interesting, real, authentic. This is nothing of the sort.
Save the Children: where has your spirit gone? and what will you do to get it back?
June 22nd, 2010 at 2:39 PM
Hi Supporter –
I’m sorry you don’t find this one interesting. Fair enough, I can’t win them all!
But real – I’m now sweltering in Kinshasa over a spreadsheet with a finance manager from Madagascar and dreading dealing with the airport tomorrow. It certainly feels real to me!
And I’m worried that you don’t think it’s authentic. Could you explain why?
Thanks
Amy
June 23rd, 2010 at 11:57 AM
Such a shame to acuse a real person of writing corporate waffle and then to ask the organisation where its spirit has gone. The blog is written by an individual. Your rapproach is to an organisation. Save the Children is staffed by individuals who are full of spirit and work exceptionally hard for children around the world.
July 22nd, 2010 at 11:01 AM
Great work Amy..You have all our support for the important work you are going to achieve in Niger.
Safari Njema
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:06 PM
Thanks Zina! And I hope you’re doing well wherever you are now.