Our volunteers recount their humanitarian action
day by day, their joys and their difficulties ...
 Macedonia
: humanitarian action cannot always be sensational
"And
since humanitarian action cannot always be sensational and/or
visual, Solidarités distributed baby food and milk to refugee
families with babies and to the families that lodged them...
(Since) the return of the refugees, we now keep count of
those who remain in Macedonia and who have babies to whom
we can distribute baby food and hygiene kits.
But
how should we find them ? The more I look for refugee babies
(or even babies in host families), I sometimes wonder if
I will not end up speaking the onomatopoeical language of
"my" little ones.
Mostly, humanitarian action is not palpable: a glance, an
attention, a feeling. I believe that the most significant
is sometimes just to listen, to exchange a smile or a few
words. |
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Although
the media have lost interest in this part of the world,
the humanitarian volunteers are still helping the refugees.
The team is now applying itself to carry out post-emergency
or rehabilitation programmes. Indeed the programme that
we are launching in the mountains between Macedonia and
Kosovo fills me with enthusiasm. The populations which live
there suffered and shared everything with the refugees.
It is our turn to assist them this winter...
"
Fabrice, Macedonia |
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Burundi : " the true gift is to give of oneself
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"
Bujumbura,
in the heart of the "Grands Lacs" region, an equatorial
sun is shining above my head. I am in a large house, which
lacks neither electricity, nor water. The night clubs remain
open for some until dawn, alcohol flows freely.
Ten kilometers away, perched on the mountain, the sites
of Muyaga and Ruyaga. A living reminder of the disparity
of a country which runs at two speeds. 30.000 people are
forcibly parked there and their only support is humanitarian
aid.
They are there to remind the world which looks down at them
with condescendance, where ethnic difference can lead. War
is here, very close, but also much too hidden from our eyes.
Solidarités, for which I work, works to provide the
"drop" in their ocean of needs.
These
men and women have no energy left, they are worn out by
their daily life which strips them of their desires, their
honor, their pride. Their life or their death is decided
a few kilometres from there, in large offices.
On my night table, I look at the photographs of the people
who are dear to me, that I have left to do my bit, however
small it may be, because I realize that, like Khalil Gibran
says, " in vain one gives what one has, the true gift is
to give of oneself "."
Wenday,
Burundi
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Afghanistan : Time
flies by at a vertiginous speed ...
"Time
flies by at a vertiginous speed and already the Afghan nights
are covered with white frost. I am well but still do not
really know how to take this new experience which is both
captivating and depressing at the same time - because to
consider human beings in extreme situations hardly emphasizes
their good sides but rather forces them to abandon the moral
and/or religious beliefs which are supposed to guide them.
We face incessant requests from all directions, from the
civilian population of course but also from various authorities
- commanders or underlings, soldiers or civilians, talebans
or " opponents " - who use all possible means to attract
our attention and to obtain totally selfish assistance from
us. We
are engaged in eternal negotiations, diplomatic wrangles
where happily we hold some supremacy since we are supplying
humanitarian aid, and it is precisely this aid which some
try to divert. The whole difficulty lies in the fact that
we are fighting to help the poor to survive, and it seems
sometimes like we are doing so despite all opposition, and
even in spite of the poor themselves. Thank goodness the
landscapes help to heal our wounds despite their torn and
ambiguous appearance. "
Olivier, Afghanistan
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