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| Thank you from Jahanshah Assadi |
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Robert Salin, External Relations Officer and Peter Joshi, Field Worker
Robert Salin, External Relations Officer and
Peter Joshi, Field Worker
Peter and Robert’s team at the Workshop in Emergency Management. © UNHCR colleague
How do you know each other?
We ned YOU on our team!
In an emergency, trained UN Refugee Agency volunteers like Robert and Peter are always standing by, ready to drop everything and go to the aid of people who are destitute and vulnerable. But in order to act quickly when it counts, we need you on our Emergency Response Team too, standing firmly behind our staff on the frontline with monthly financial support.
To join today, visit the ERT page today
Peter: Robert and I did the UN Refugee Agency Emergency Response Team training together. It’s an intensive course that prepares staff volunteers for emergency situations. When an emergency arose in Dadaab, Kenya, in November 2006, we were deployed together – this is normal practice because the team spirit you build up during the training is very important.
Robert: It was my first mission and experience of being in the field. Being deployed with Peter, who I knew pretty well from the training, was helpful.
Why did you want to help refugees on the ground?
Robert: There was a multiple emergency in Dadaab. Thousands of people were fleeing a coup in Somalia just as heavy rains and flood hit the region. The existing camps in Dadaab and about 160,000 people had to be relocated, along with newly arrived refugees.
Peter: The dirt roads were totally gone, the camps washed away – things had just disappeared into the water. Around 50,000 more refugees were sitting at the border between Somalia and Kenya, exhausted; they’d already been on the move for many weeks. It also continued to rain heavily.
What was the worst moment?
Peter: The day and night we convoyed all those people from the border. Being in the middle of nowhere, forcing our way through in terrible conditions, the trucks totally overcrowded. The journey took 20 hours. But if we hadn’t done it, people might not have survived. And we managed to get everyone – not a single person was left behind.
Robert: The food situation when we arrived was grim. Later on, disease became a huge problem – along with malaria, Rift Valley Fever broke out. It was only after I left, and relaxed for the first time, that I realized how tense it had been.
And the best?
Robert: In the midst of all the disaster, I saw children playing in the flood water. They were laughing, jumping and swimming around. The region is normally very dry, so for them it was something new.
Peter: When we arrived back from our awful journey to the border, at 3 am, all our colleagues were there waiting for us with food and juice. It meant a lot. That’s the value of team spirit.
Thank you from Jahanshah Assadi Dear friend, Generosity. Kindness. Increased public support. This has been the response from Canadians since I began my tenure in Canada over four years ago. I am delighted to report that Canada’s tradition of support for those in need is an example to the rest of the world. I thank each of you for being part of that well-deserved international reputation. You have made a tremendous difference in the lives of those displaced by violence and persecution. Public support is fundamental to our work. Overseas, the generosity and kindness of countless citizens in host nations and the supportive fellowship within refugee communities is so important as refugees begin a new life. Here in Canada, I am proud to have been able to ensure that the financial support of more than 20,000 individual Canadians has gone directly to assist people in Colombia, Darfur (Sudan), Afghanistan, Nepal, Algeria, Malawi, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, and many other nations. In January 2008, Mr. Abraham Abraham will begin as my successor as the High Commissioner’s Representative in Canada. He will continue to work with generous Canadians like you, to responsibly invest your contributions and make the world a better place for refugees and others who look to the UN Refugee Agency for help. Jahanshah Assadi
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