This Humble Medium Writer Crushes His Goals in Unforgettable Ways

Working in Humanitarian Aid, in war-torn countries is seriously-risky business, yet people do it.

In the most gentle and quiet of ways, each of us is capable of shaping the world. Believe it can happen and it will.

Last week I had been thinking about a few Medium writers I’d not read in a while, and suddenly, there was one of them, making comment on one of my stories.

I was delighted.

The last time I read Haimish Mead, I learned he was heavily-engaged in humanitarian aid for the people of Ukraine.

And then he was gone.

So you can understand the reason for my delight, the huge relief I felt that he was alive and doing well.

Humanitarian aid workers

What a special group of people they are, helping transport terrified refugees fleeing their countries, enabling them to reach safety, hopefully with extended family, but often not.

But to safety at least.

War-torn countries are dangerous to be anywhere near, yet the volunteers do it, leaving their own wives and children behind, working tirelessly for a cause.

There is risk all round.

Heroes they are, though they would shrug at the very suggestion. They are not there to be lauded.

They’re far from safe…

as the statistics below would suggest.

• In 2020, there were 276 major attacks across 40 countries, with 108 frontline workers killed, 242 wounded and 125 kidnapped.
• Last month, three Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff in Tigray joined a lengthening list of deaths. The Aid Worker Security Database records over 6,000 casualties since 1997. This is no doubt an underestimate as many assaults are not notified.

The stories and statistics we read are troubling to say the least.

Canada calls for a much higher protection of its workers. Last year proved to be unacceptably violent for their volunteers.

“1,989 violent incidents against health facilities and staff were recorded, resulting in 232 deaths among health workers. Around twenty countries, including South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar and Ukraine, are dangerous for aid and health professionals.”

And despite the rules “for international humanitarian law and humanitarian principles In 2022, the Aid Worker Security Database recorded at least 439 attacks against humanitarian workers. For health workers, 2022 was the most violent year in over a decade.”

Why is it that volunteers are not adequately protected?

Do we assume that everything will turn out well because they are doing good

These are people who are at the coal face of crises, working in areas where need is greatest, areas where they are unacceptably-exposed to violence and danger.

And to death.

Finding ways to support them is vital, if we want the help to continue.

In this story, Haimish paints a grim picture of refugee reality.

“Having often endured weeks in makeshift underground shelters, the uncertainty of their futures, the fear, and the trauma finally forces them from their homes, their towns, cities, and their loved ones.”

What have they to lose? Death may be kinder.

“Any association their world may have had with what we regard, and so often take for granted as civilized, ended abruptly when Russian tanks rolled across their border on 24 February this year.”

So the reality of where you were born, could be your biggest mistake.

“More than five million Ukrainians uprooted themselves and fled, many leaving behind the rubble-strewn ruins of their homes once the indiscriminate shelling commenced.”

Kind of makes you squirm in your seat, does it not? Who has the right to foist such suffering on innocent people…or any one at all? ?

And we can watch

From the comfort of our lounges we can watch the stories play out. They are horrifying and we want to look away.

We shed tears. But tears are hardly enough.

Fortunately small cohorts of brave men and woman don’t look away.

Accepting the danger of volunteering, accepting that they may never see their families again, they join up and fight against the odds.

They often win.

But sometimes lose.

Haimish and all the other volunteers accept the wins, and though they are not always winners, as he says, they keep going because they are making a difference.

“The tireless, ongoing, humanitarian work of the volunteer drivers and back-office teams at Fast Lane Ukraine (FLU) is not going to resolve this needless conflict. However, it is making a difference.”

Our hearts are heavy right now.

Throughout the world war has become almost commonplace, yet many of us have never lived through war.

Nowhere feels safe today.

Travel has become risky business.

This seemingly bloody era…

Should be a concern for us all.

“The number of countries involved in some kind of conflict outside of their borders had risen from 58 in 2008 to 91 in 2022.

“The Institute for Economics and Peace put this down in part to increasing geopolitical competition, with the United States no longer the only country willing to project its power far outside its region: Russia, China, and even smaller powers such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran are all part of the trend.”

And then…Ukraine…

Will Ukraine ever enjoy peace?

And will we civilians ever know the absolute truth, given that civilian buildings, used by journalists, are not protected in any way?

“Ukraine’s counteroffensive is ongoing and Russia came alarmingly close to being at war with itself. And this year has already seen one new conflict — a disastrous civil war in Sudan that began in April has already caused an estimated 3,000 deaths, according to the United Nations.”

I switched the news off tonight. I’m not dealing well with war right now, if I ever did.

For those of you confused by the present attack, I found this.

“Hamas is a Palestinian Islamist militant group which rules the Gaza Strip. Hamas is sworn to Israel’s destruction and has fought several wars with Israel since it took power in Gaza in 2007.

“In between those wars, it has fired or allowed other groups to fire thousands of rockets at Israel, and carried out other deadly attacks. Israel has also repeatedly attacked Hamas with air strikes, and, together with Egypt, has blockaded the Gaza Strip since 2007 in what it says is for its security.”

Somewhere, from the rubble of our despair, we must somehow find hope, hope for a world that has lost its moral compass.

Some quotes to consider…

“The need for justice grows out of the conflict of human interests. That is to say, if there were no conflict of interests among mankind, we should never have invented the word justice, nor conceived the idea for which it stands.”

Eleanor Roosevelt, renowned for her take on human rights offers these words that resound now, more than ever before.

• “Courage is more exhilarating than fear and in the long run it is easier. We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just one step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up, seeing it is not as dreadful as it appeared, discovering we have the strength to stare it down.”
• “Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home — so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighbourhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerned citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.”

Individually and collectively, I’d say we have much work to do.

“How many hearts must break before greed is conquered and humanity rises?”