Medair News 2013

MEDAIR | news No. 1 | 2013 | medair.org

Heart of the Storm Inside an Emergency Response THE SYRIAN CRISIS SOUTH SUDAN: LIFE IN A STATE OF EMERGENCY

© Medair/Andrew Robinson

VISION EDITORIAL

SYRIAN CRISIS

There’s a great question I’m often asked. You might wonder the same thing: How does Medair decide where to start – or not start – a new emergency response?

That’s one of the toughest questions we face at Medair. When a crisis strikes, the decision to act must be made without delay. Our hearts call us to relieve suffering wherever it exists, but the answers are rarely so simple.

In 2012 we watched as Syria’s conflict escalated and erupted across the country, with millions caught in the crossfire. We followed events closely and kept in touch with our contacts on the ground. We had to decide whether Medair should respond to the emergency and if so, how we would finance our response and bring swift relief to those who need it most.

In these pages, we take you behind the scenes into the decisionmaking process we follow when we launch an emergency response.

We take you to Lebanon, Jordan, and South Sudan, where families face life-threatening situations and are receiving the emergency relief they need with your support.

EMERGENCY

Jim Ingram, Medair CEO

4

C R I S I S B R IE FI N G Inside an Emergency Response

6

T h e i m pac t Heart of the Storm

8

T h e i m pac t 1 0 P R O G R AMME S South Sudan:

Emergency Responses Life in a State of Emergency Around the Globe

Funding Partners: Syrian Crisis, Swiss Solidarity. South Sudan, E.C. Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection, United States Agency for International Development, Common Humanitarian Fund.

Source: ECHO Global Needs Assessment (GNA) 2012-2013 Cover: Two young Syrian girls examine a wood-burning stove during a day of distributions in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

Medair provided families living in temporary makeshift shelters with materials to help keep them warm for the coming winter. © Medair/Andrew Robinson

2

Medair December | 2012 | medair.org

ME D AI R

1024 Ecublens Switzerland Tél: 021 694 35 35 suisse@medair.org medair.org

500,000 Syrians flee for their lives to escape the violence at home.

I’ve worked in a lot of conflict areas around the world, but the stories we are hearing from the Syrian families arriving in Lebanon are absolutely heartbreaking.

Many are escaping unspeakable violence where neighbourhoods have turned on

RESPONSE

neighbourhoods, and aerial bombardment,

Medair delivers life-saving relief to more than 9,400 Syrian refugees to help them survive the coming winter.

norm. Families arrive seeking safety,

shelling, and gunfire have become the carrying only what is in their hands.

– James, Medair Emergency Response Team

Photo: A Syrian woman and her young brother take refuge in a makeshift shelter in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

medair.org | 2012 | Medair December

3

© Medair/Andrew Robinson

VISION EDITORIAL

SYRIAN CRISIS

There’s a great question I’m often asked. You might wonder the same thing: How does Medair decide where to start – or not start – a new emergency response?

That’s one of the toughest questions we face at Medair. When a crisis strikes, the decision to act must be made without delay. Our hearts call us to relieve suffering wherever it exists, but the answers are rarely so simple.

In 2012 we watched as Syria’s conflict escalated and erupted across the country, with millions caught in the crossfire. We followed events closely and kept in touch with our contacts on the ground. We had to decide whether Medair should respond to the emergency and if so, how we would finance our response and bring swift relief to those who need it most.

In these pages, we take you behind the scenes into the decisionmaking process we follow when we launch an emergency response.

We take you to Lebanon, Jordan, and South Sudan, where families face life-threatening situations and are receiving the emergency relief they need with your support.

EMERGENCY

Jim Ingram, Medair CEO

4

C R I S I S B R IE FI N G Inside an Emergency Response

6

T h e i m pac t Heart of the Storm

8

T h e i m pac t 1 0 P R O G R AMME S South Sudan:

Emergency Responses Life in a State of Emergency Around the Globe

Funding Partners: Syrian Crisis, Swiss Solidarity. South Sudan, E.C. Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection, United States Agency for International Development, Common Humanitarian Fund.

Source: ECHO Global Needs Assessment (GNA) 2012-2013 Cover: Two young Syrian girls examine a wood-burning stove during a day of distributions in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

Medair provided families living in temporary makeshift shelters with materials to help keep them warm for the coming winter. © Medair/Andrew Robinson

2

Medair December | 2012 | medair.org

ME D AI R

1024 Ecublens Switzerland Tél: 021 694 35 35 suisse@medair.org medair.org

500,000 Syrians flee for their lives to escape the violence at home.

I’ve worked in a lot of conflict areas around the world, but the stories we are hearing from the Syrian families arriving in Lebanon are absolutely heartbreaking.

Many are escaping unspeakable violence where neighbourhoods have turned on

RESPONSE

neighbourhoods, and aerial bombardment,

Medair delivers life-saving relief to more than 9,400 Syrian refugees to help them survive the coming winter.

norm. Families arrive seeking safety,

shelling, and gunfire have become the carrying only what is in their hands.

– James, Medair Emergency Response Team

Photo: A Syrian woman and her young brother take refuge in a makeshift shelter in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

medair.org | 2012 | Medair December

3

CRISIS BRIEFING

CRISIS BRIEFING

With so much suffering in the world, how does Medair decide where to send its relief teams?

Why are private donations so important for an emergency response?

STEP

1

2

STEP

Your Donations Are the Difference

STEP

Inside an Emergency Response

3

Identify the Crisis

Ask Key Questions

LAUNCH THE RESPONSE

Where to Respond? We scan the

Will We Respond? We assess the

Green Light. After weighing all

globe for sudden-onset disasters

country’s capacity to handle the

factors, Medair’s executive leadership

and slow-onset, complex crises.

crisis on its own, identify how many

decides whether we will respond.

We analyse humanitarian research

NGOs are responding and whether

If so, we send an emergency team to

to identify the most vulnerable

we add value, and verify that we

assess the situation on the ground

countries as measured by key

will be able to access the country in

within 72 hours, identify unmet

indicators like under-5 mortality

terms of logistics and security. We

needs, and plan a quick-impact

rate, number of affected people,

make sure we have sufficient cash

response that will deliver immediate

immunisation coverage, or water

on hand and experienced staff to

life-saving relief. The team is soon

supply. We communicate with

launch a response, along with the

expanded so that we can deliver

our partners and contacts on the

ability to procure and transport

more comprehensive projects to

ground to get a clearer picture.

essential supplies.

relieve suffering.

80

%

Most of Medair’s funding (80%)

But releasing these funds

Private donations give us a

comes from public institutions

takes time. When a new crisis

foothold in a new crisis, after

that support aid. They provide

strikes, time is of the essence and

which we can apply for public

funds to NGOs through a

lives are at stake. We need cash

funding to continue our response.

competitive application process.

donations to act quickly and save lives where the need is greatest.

When you give to a good cause, put your money in good hands.

87% of Medair’s incoming donations are used in field programmes that serve our beneficiaries.

24 successful audits (internal and external) in 2012 vouch for the integrity of your donation to Medair.

EC’s Global Needs Assessment Final Index 2012-2013 WORLD’S MOST VULNERABLE COUNTRIES (2012)

MEDAIR RESPONSE

Somalia (Somaliland)

✓

South Sudan

✓

Central African Republic Chad

✓

Democratic Republic of Congo

✓

We use humanitarian research tools like the European Commission’s Global Needs Assessment (GNA) to identify the world’s most vulnerable countries and assess whether we should launch an emergency response. The GNA Final Index (2012-2013) reveals that Medair is active in four of the five most vulnerable countries in the world.

4

Medair April | 2013 | medair.org

We send in a small emergency team to assess the situation on the “To be able to respond to ground. We identify unmet needs, and plan a quick-impact response we need emergencies, that will deliver immediate lifesaving relief.donations throughout the

A single donation of USD 100 to Medair:

year. We don’t know exactly

The other key element in providing

Can help unlock access to as much as when a disaster will happen, a rapid response is a comprehen USD 400 in support from public funds. sive preparation strategy.

Supports our emergency fund so that we can respond quickly.

Becomes a gift that keeps on giving

when public funders reimburse us for project expenses incurred during start-up.

but with funding ready and

available, People: An emergency rosterwe of have a faster over 50 experienced Medair perresponse time to save lives sonnel – including doctors, water engineers, and managers – who are when it does.” able to travel to crisis or disaster locations within 48 hours.

— Emma Le Beau, Head of Country Programme, Syrian Crisis

medair.org Medair| 2012 April | 2013 December | Medair | medair.org

55

CRISIS BRIEFING

CRISIS BRIEFING

With so much suffering in the world, how does Medair decide where to send its relief teams?

Why are private donations so important for an emergency response?

STEP

1

2

STEP

Your Donations Are the Difference

STEP

Inside an Emergency Response

3

Identify the Crisis

Ask Key Questions

LAUNCH THE RESPONSE

Where to Respond? We scan the

Will We Respond? We assess the

Green Light. After weighing all

globe for sudden-onset disasters

country’s capacity to handle the

factors, Medair’s executive leadership

and slow-onset, complex crises.

crisis on its own, identify how many

decides whether we will respond.

We analyse humanitarian research

NGOs are responding and whether

If so, we send an emergency team to

to identify the most vulnerable

we add value, and verify that we

assess the situation on the ground

countries as measured by key

will be able to access the country in

within 72 hours, identify unmet

indicators like under-5 mortality

terms of logistics and security. We

needs, and plan a quick-impact

rate, number of affected people,

make sure we have sufficient cash

response that will deliver immediate

immunisation coverage, or water

on hand and experienced staff to

life-saving relief. The team is soon

supply. We communicate with

launch a response, along with the

expanded so that we can deliver

our partners and contacts on the

ability to procure and transport

more comprehensive projects to

ground to get a clearer picture.

essential supplies.

relieve suffering.

80

%

Most of Medair’s funding (80%)

But releasing these funds

Private donations give us a

comes from public institutions

takes time. When a new crisis

foothold in a new crisis, after

that support aid. They provide

strikes, time is of the essence and

which we can apply for public

funds to NGOs through a

lives are at stake. We need cash

funding to continue our response.

competitive application process.

donations to act quickly and save lives where the need is greatest.

When you give to a good cause, put your money in good hands.

87% of Medair’s incoming donations are used in field programmes that serve our beneficiaries.

24 successful audits (internal and external) in 2012 vouch for the integrity of your donation to Medair.

EC’s Global Needs Assessment Final Index 2012-2013 WORLD’S MOST VULNERABLE COUNTRIES (2012)

MEDAIR RESPONSE

Somalia (Somaliland)

✓

South Sudan

✓

Central African Republic Chad

✓

Democratic Republic of Congo

✓

We use humanitarian research tools like the European Commission’s Global Needs Assessment (GNA) to identify the world’s most vulnerable countries and assess whether we should launch an emergency response. The GNA Final Index (2012-2013) reveals that Medair is active in four of the five most vulnerable countries in the world.

4

Medair April | 2013 | medair.org

We send in a small emergency team to assess the situation on the “To be able to respond to ground. We identify unmet needs, and plan a quick-impact response we need emergencies, that will deliver immediate lifesaving relief.donations throughout the

A single donation of USD 100 to Medair:

year. We don’t know exactly

The other key element in providing

Can help unlock access to as much as when a disaster will happen, a rapid response is a comprehen USD 400 in support from public funds. sive preparation strategy.

Supports our emergency fund so that we can respond quickly.

Becomes a gift that keeps on giving

when public funders reimburse us for project expenses incurred during start-up.

but with funding ready and

available, People: An emergency rosterwe of have a faster over 50 experienced Medair perresponse time to save lives sonnel – including doctors, water engineers, and managers – who are when it does.” able to travel to crisis or disaster locations within 48 hours.

— Emma Le Beau, Head of Country Programme, Syrian Crisis

medair.org Medair| 2012 April | 2013 December | Medair | medair.org

55

THE IMPACT FE ATU RE STO RY

THE IMPACT FE ATU RE STO RY

Heart of the Storm

“Compassion is what motivates me to respond to emergencies. Compassion and love. I’ve been © Medair/A. Robinson

doing this work a long time, so I’ve seen the life-saving difference we can make. But I also know

Behind the Scenes of an Emergency Response

© Medair/Andrew Robinson

by Andrew Robinson, Syrian Crisis Field Communication Officer

that just the fact that you are beside your sisters and brothers when they are going through terrible events means so much to them. They really do appreciate our presence. It’s where I’m convinced we can make a difference.”

Parents hold back their excited children as the truck carefully reverses onto the muddy ground, while my teammates and I look on with big smiles on our faces.

Sy ri a n Cri s i s: Q u i c k- Im pac t Em erg en c y R e s p ons e Nov. 2012 – Jan. 2013

L e b a non ’ s B e k a a Va ll e y

• 7,603 refugees received materials to improve the water resistance and insulation of their shelters.

• 1,568 refugees received wood-burning stoves, blankets, and mattresses.

Baby Lilith, the daughter of Syrian refugee Wessam, sleeps soundly on the floor of the half-built house where she and her family are sheltering in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

25 September 2012

“Hi Andrew. How quickly can you get to Lebanon ?”

I stop drinking my breakfast coffee mid-sip and re-read the email. I’m in my brother’s kitchen in New Zealand. After two years with Medair in Afghanistan, I’m glad to be home with friends and family. But Medair has launched an emergency response for Syrian refugees in Lebanon. They need people on the ground ASAP. Am I willing to go? After a quick phone call to my parents and a few deep breaths, I send my reply: “I can be there next week!”

6

Medair April | 2013 | medair.org

16 October 2012 Winter is on everyone’s mind. With freezing cold weather soon to arrive, relief agencies are concerned about how refugees will survive.

Many families fled to Lebanon with nothing more than the clothes on their backs.

We speak to Syrians living in crudely built shelters constructed out of tattered plastic sheets and discarded signs. People speak longingly about the homes they’ve left behind. Many are deeply traumatised and disoriented, not knowing whom they can trust. They worry about their children with so few blankets to protect them during the cold nights and no way to heat their shelters. It has become clear that if Medair cannot help these families, there is no one else who will.

• 120 families (more than 800 people) received water filters and hygiene kits.

J ord a n

• 1,200 children were screened for acute malnutrition and mothers were counselled in improved nutrition practices.

– Manuel Jagourd, Medair Head of Emergency Response

8 November 2012 Today I met Wessam, his wife, and their three children. They arrived from Syria 15 days ago and with nowhere to go, spent their first two nights living on the streets. A kindly Lebanese man invited them to stay in the house he was building. It’s barely a roof over their heads, but they are grateful to have somewhere to stay.

As I talked with Wessam, his baby daughter, Lilith, lay sleeping on a thin mattress on the cold floor. Wessam’s eyes were red, as if he hadn’t been sleeping well, and as we talked, his eyes grew moist. With no money and no job, he worried about how he would provide for his family in the coming months. He thanked me for visiting, and I left feeling terrible that there was nothing, for the time being, we could do to help him.

19 November 2012 When our truck comes into view, children break into spontaneous cheers and applause.

What a moment! The truck is full of mattresses tightly roped down and stacked high.

We hand out blankets and mattresses as part of the relief package we’ve assembled to help families survive the winter. I am hugely privileged to shake the hands of many of the men — husbands, fathers, and grandfathers — who throughout the morning have come up to me and wordlessly expressed their thanks for what Medair has done. It’s a great day, which leaves me both exhilarated and exhausted.

7 December 2012 The rain is pouring down and I’m soaked to the bone, but I’m leaping happily over puddles as I run towards a tall, half-built concrete house, clutching four mattresses close to my chest.

A month has passed since I met Wessam, and I am anxious to find out how he is doing. When I see him, he smiles broadly and slaps my back before taking the mattresses from my hands. His wife is boiling water on a small gas cooker and Wessam gestures for me to join them for tea. I really want to stay and talk but there are more distributions to be done. For now, I’m just glad to see that Wessam and his family are well. Our hired truck driver steps into the room carrying a stack of blankets, and Wessam’s smile grows wider.

When Mohammed appears with a stove in his hands, Wessam laughs with happiness. It makes my day.

,

Medair April | 2013 | medair.org

7

South Sudan: Life in a State of Emergency

87 %

Emergencies strike often in South Sudan, keeping Medair’s full-time Emergency Response Team (ERT) busy all year. Floods, disease outbreaks, malnutrition, mass displacement— we respond to life-threatening crises all across the country.

I am proud to be a health and hygiene promoter because I can tell people to drink clean water and use latrines.

Alawiya.

Medair provided our latrines.

We didn’t have a latrine before.

We like it and take care of it.

of Medair’s incoming funds © Medair/Stella Chetham

Bajita.

© Medair/Stella Chetham

DO NATE N OW

THE IMPACT

are used in field programmes that serve our beneficiaries.

Give hope in the heart of the storm. Give today.

Medair has trained refugees Bajita (left) and Alawiya to promote safe health and hygiene practices in Maban County, South Sudan.

Emergency in Maban. When conflict in Sudan forced more than 110,000 people to flee to Maban County, South Sudan in 2012, Medair’s ERT opened an emergency health clinic that gave exhausted families free health care. Today that clinic continues to be busy, and we are building latrines, improving water supply, and training refugees in life-saving health and hygiene practices.

“What many people don’t know is how critically important private donations are for emergency response. Much of our work as an organisation is supported by public funders. But those first responses —

Bajita: The war started during Ramadan. A plane started bombing the area. After four weeks, ground troops reached our village. We couldn’t even collect our belongings, just our children and some clothing.

Even though people had to leave their things behind, it doesn’t matter. Possessions are not important – we can get those again. But the important thing is I am still alive and have escaped war.

the quick-impact actions that deliver actual

Alawiya: I escaped with my husband and child and the rest of the village. We walked at night, as it was too hot during the day. We gave food only to the small children because there was not enough.

Alawiya: I now work for Medair as a health and hygiene promoter and I tell people to wash their hands with soap and use latrines to protect themselves from diseases. Before, we did not know these things, so I am learning.

ignites an emergency response.

Bajita: It was horrible to hear the sound of a gunship coming. You had to run and hide. Often, we hid in the riverbed. They came at any time, night or day. I kept my daughter close by, telling her to keep quiet because she was crying.

8

© Medair/Andrew Robinson

Your gift enables us to save lives without delay, wherever the need is greatest.

That’s the life-saving difference you make when you give a gift to Medair.

Medair April | 2013 | medair.org

Bajita: I had a cough for two weeks and so did most of my family. We have all been treated at Medair’s clinic. Thank you for what you are doing. It is good to have the clinic near us. I don’t know what the future holds, but my dream is for good health.

help when people need it most — those responses rely on having cash on hand.

Private donations are the spark that

That’s not all: every donation you make can help unlock access to as much as four times its value in public funding. That’s an immense and life-saving impact you can make with a single contribution.”

– Manuel Jagourd, Head of Emergency Response

Bachir, a relief worker with Medair’s local partner, Heart for Lebanon, plays with a Syrian child during a Medair distribution to refugees in Lebanon. medair.org | 2012 | Medair December 9

THE IMPACT FE ATU RE STO RY

THE IMPACT FE ATU RE STO RY

Heart of the Storm

“Compassion is what motivates me to respond to emergencies. Compassion and love. I’ve been © Medair/A. Robinson

doing this work a long time, so I’ve seen the life-saving difference we can make. But I also know

Behind the Scenes of an Emergency Response

© Medair/Andrew Robinson

by Andrew Robinson, Syrian Crisis Field Communication Officer

that just the fact that you are beside your sisters and brothers when they are going through terrible events means so much to them. They really do appreciate our presence. It’s where I’m convinced we can make a difference.”

Parents hold back their excited children as the truck carefully reverses onto the muddy ground, while my teammates and I look on with big smiles on our faces.

Sy ri a n Cri s i s: Q u i c k- Im pac t Em erg en c y R e s p ons e Nov. 2012 – Jan. 2013

L e b a non ’ s B e k a a Va ll e y

• 7,603 refugees received materials to improve the water resistance and insulation of their shelters.

• 1,568 refugees received wood-burning stoves, blankets, and mattresses.

Baby Lilith, the daughter of Syrian refugee Wessam, sleeps soundly on the floor of the half-built house where she and her family are sheltering in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

25 September 2012

“Hi Andrew. How quickly can you get to Lebanon ?”

I stop drinking my breakfast coffee mid-sip and re-read the email. I’m in my brother’s kitchen in New Zealand. After two years with Medair in Afghanistan, I’m glad to be home with friends and family. But Medair has launched an emergency response for Syrian refugees in Lebanon. They need people on the ground ASAP. Am I willing to go? After a quick phone call to my parents and a few deep breaths, I send my reply: “I can be there next week!”

6

Medair April | 2013 | medair.org

16 October 2012 Winter is on everyone’s mind. With freezing cold weather soon to arrive, relief agencies are concerned about how refugees will survive.

Many families fled to Lebanon with nothing more than the clothes on their backs.

We speak to Syrians living in crudely built shelters constructed out of tattered plastic sheets and discarded signs. People speak longingly about the homes they’ve left behind. Many are deeply traumatised and disoriented, not knowing whom they can trust. They worry about their children with so few blankets to protect them during the cold nights and no way to heat their shelters. It has become clear that if Medair cannot help these families, there is no one else who will.

• 120 families (more than 800 people) received water filters and hygiene kits.

J ord a n

• 1,200 children were screened for acute malnutrition and mothers were counselled in improved nutrition practices.

– Manuel Jagourd, Medair Head of Emergency Response

8 November 2012 Today I met Wessam, his wife, and their three children. They arrived from Syria 15 days ago and with nowhere to go, spent their first two nights living on the streets. A kindly Lebanese man invited them to stay in the house he was building. It’s barely a roof over their heads, but they are grateful to have somewhere to stay.

As I talked with Wessam, his baby daughter, Lilith, lay sleeping on a thin mattress on the cold floor. Wessam’s eyes were red, as if he hadn’t been sleeping well, and as we talked, his eyes grew moist. With no money and no job, he worried about how he would provide for his family in the coming months. He thanked me for visiting, and I left feeling terrible that there was nothing, for the time being, we could do to help him.

19 November 2012 When our truck comes into view, children break into spontaneous cheers and applause.

What a moment! The truck is full of mattresses tightly roped down and stacked high.

We hand out blankets and mattresses as part of the relief package we’ve assembled to help families survive the winter. I am hugely privileged to shake the hands of many of the men — husbands, fathers, and grandfathers — who throughout the morning have come up to me and wordlessly expressed their thanks for what Medair has done. It’s a great day, which leaves me both exhilarated and exhausted.

7 December 2012 The rain is pouring down and I’m soaked to the bone, but I’m leaping happily over puddles as I run towards a tall, half-built concrete house, clutching four mattresses close to my chest.

A month has passed since I met Wessam, and I am anxious to find out how he is doing. When I see him, he smiles broadly and slaps my back before taking the mattresses from my hands. His wife is boiling water on a small gas cooker and Wessam gestures for me to join them for tea. I really want to stay and talk but there are more distributions to be done. For now, I’m just glad to see that Wessam and his family are well. Our hired truck driver steps into the room carrying a stack of blankets, and Wessam’s smile grows wider.

When Mohammed appears with a stove in his hands, Wessam laughs with happiness. It makes my day.

,

Medair April | 2013 | medair.org

7

South Sudan: Life in a State of Emergency

87 %

Emergencies strike often in South Sudan, keeping Medair’s full-time Emergency Response Team (ERT) busy all year. Floods, disease outbreaks, malnutrition, mass displacement— we respond to life-threatening crises all across the country.

I am proud to be a health and hygiene promoter because I can tell people to drink clean water and use latrines.

Alawiya.

Medair provided our latrines.

We didn’t have a latrine before.

We like it and take care of it.

of Medair’s incoming funds © Medair/Stella Chetham

Bajita.

© Medair/Stella Chetham

DO NATE N OW

THE IMPACT

are used in field programmes that serve our beneficiaries.

Give hope in the heart of the storm. Give today.

Medair has trained refugees Bajita (left) and Alawiya to promote safe health and hygiene practices in Maban County, South Sudan.

Emergency in Maban. When conflict in Sudan forced more than 110,000 people to flee to Maban County, South Sudan in 2012, Medair’s ERT opened an emergency health clinic that gave exhausted families free health care. Today that clinic continues to be busy, and we are building latrines, improving water supply, and training refugees in life-saving health and hygiene practices.

“What many people don’t know is how critically important private donations are for emergency response. Much of our work as an organisation is supported by public funders. But those first responses —

Bajita: The war started during Ramadan. A plane started bombing the area. After four weeks, ground troops reached our village. We couldn’t even collect our belongings, just our children and some clothing.

Even though people had to leave their things behind, it doesn’t matter. Possessions are not important – we can get those again. But the important thing is I am still alive and have escaped war.

the quick-impact actions that deliver actual

Alawiya: I escaped with my husband and child and the rest of the village. We walked at night, as it was too hot during the day. We gave food only to the small children because there was not enough.

Alawiya: I now work for Medair as a health and hygiene promoter and I tell people to wash their hands with soap and use latrines to protect themselves from diseases. Before, we did not know these things, so I am learning.

ignites an emergency response.

Bajita: It was horrible to hear the sound of a gunship coming. You had to run and hide. Often, we hid in the riverbed. They came at any time, night or day. I kept my daughter close by, telling her to keep quiet because she was crying.

8

© Medair/Andrew Robinson

Your gift enables us to save lives without delay, wherever the need is greatest.

That’s the life-saving difference you make when you give a gift to Medair.

Medair April | 2013 | medair.org

Bajita: I had a cough for two weeks and so did most of my family. We have all been treated at Medair’s clinic. Thank you for what you are doing. It is good to have the clinic near us. I don’t know what the future holds, but my dream is for good health.

help when people need it most — those responses rely on having cash on hand.

Private donations are the spark that

That’s not all: every donation you make can help unlock access to as much as four times its value in public funding. That’s an immense and life-saving impact you can make with a single contribution.”

– Manuel Jagourd, Head of Emergency Response

Bachir, a relief worker with Medair’s local partner, Heart for Lebanon, plays with a Syrian child during a Medair distribution to refugees in Lebanon. medair.org | 2012 | Medair December 9

© Medair

P R O G R A MM E S

AFFILIATES

Emergency Responses Around the Globe © Medair/C. O’Connor

Haiti. Hurricane Sandy caused massive flooding and landslides that buried homes and farmland and washed away roads, isolating remote communities from the outside world.

Using cash reserves from private donations, Medair launched a short-term emergency project that repaired the main access roads and paid community members much-needed cash to repair their homes and buy food. Now, thanks to support from institutional donors Swiss Solidarity and USAID, Medair has started a larger emergency response—rebuilding homes, feeding families, and repairing roads in a sustainable way to withstand future floods.

SYRIAN CRISIS

AFGHANISTAN

LEBANON JORDAN

HAITI

Loreum Ipsum dolori. Cantor immi dono ipsum dolori canton vi nomi.

Loreum Ipsum dolori. Cantor immi dono ipsum dolori canton vi nomi.

Loreum Ipsum dolori. Cantor immi dono ipsum dolori.

CHAD

SOUTH SUDAN SOMALIA/SOMALILAND EMERGENCY RESPONSE

D.R. CONGO

ZIMBABWE

MADAGASCAR

10

© Medair/M.Samper © Medair

© Medair/S. Chetham

© Medair/A. Robinson

© Medair/Demaurex

Where we work can quickly change due to sudden emergencies around the world. Visit medair.org for updates.

MADAGASCAR

AFGHANISTAN

SOMALIA/SOMALILAND

D.R. CONGO

Frequent cyclones and tropical storms devastate the island and impede development. We provide emergency relief when cyclones strike and conduct activities year-round to reduce the risk of future disasters.

Natural disasters strike hundreds of thousands of Afghans every year. With four other NGOs, Medair is implementing a project that provides rapid humanitarian access to emergencies across northern Afghanistan.

Severe drought and high rates of child malnutrition require an ongoing response to save lives in times of crisis. We treat malnourished children and improve water access to parched villages.

Ongoing militia violence has forced people to leave their homes and live in makeshift camps. Medair provides free health care and medicine to help them survive the crisis.

Medair April | 2013 | medair.org

Team member says: “Typi non habent claritatem insitam; est usus legentis in iis qui facit eorum claritatem.

Investigationes demonstraverunt lectores legere me lius quod ii legunt saepius. Claritas est etiam processus dynamicus, qui sequitur mutationem consuetudium lectorum. Mirum est notare quam littera gothica, quam nunc putamus parum claram, anteposuerit litterarum formas humanitatis per seacula quarta decima et quinta decima. Eodem modo typi, qui nunc nobis videntur parum clari, fiant sollemnes in futurum.”

Getting into relief work. Throughout the summer, we’ve held 10 successful “Getting Into Relief Work” events around the UK. Many folks have discovered more about our work, while others have applied to work in our programmes overseas.

For details of upcoming events, take a look at our website, www.medair.org/uk, or on our Facebook and Twitter pages. If you’d like to hold a “Getting into Relief Work” event where you live, please contact Anna Hartridge for more details. anna.hartridge@medair.org , 020 8772 0100.

Help Medair where you are. Are you interested in keeping your church or group up to date with what’s happening in some of the neediest, most forgotten places on earth? If so, you could be the person we’re looking for!

We’ll provide you with all you need to promote Medair in your local area. For more details, please contact Andy Prescott. andy.prescott@medair.org, 020 8772 0100.

© Medair/A.Robinson

“I am the grandmother of everyone here! Everything has arrived now and we are very happy. The blankets, mattresses, and the stove – it is all so good for us. Already it is much warmer. We would like to thank everyone who has helped us continue our lives. You have helped us to stand again.”

— Marella, one of thousands of Syrian refugees taking shelter in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

Your gift gives us the power to help the people who need it most.

Join our worldwide team of supporters today at medair.org.

Thank You from South Sudan. The last issue of Medair News highlighted our efforts to treat thousands of children with acute malnutrition in South Sudan. We are sincerely grateful for your generous donations that give young children the nourishment they need to grow up healthy and strong. You have given them a life-saving and long-lasting gift.

As hungry refugees flood across the border from Sudan into South Sudan, we have seen a sharp increase in the number of malnourished children who need urgent care. Your gift has made it possible for our teams to give them the treatment they need to survive. THANK YOU!