Reminiscing the Sacrifice of Humanitarian Workers

As a call to the World Humanitarian Day in August, the special day was initially recognised to pay tribute to humanitarian workers killed while helping thousands of the world’s most impoverished people caught in some of the deemed riskiest crises on Earth.

One historical fact about the incident dated back in August 19th 2003 was, the worst assault on the United Nations (UN) Headquarters blew up in Baghdad, which sacrificed 22 innocent souls including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the leader of the UN Mission in Iraq, Sergio De Mello.

The point is, the main highlight since that incident is the growing risk that all humanitarian workers face to date while assisting people in need. Hence, the World Humanitarian Day is about the present where millions and millions of people remain in need of necessary assistance such as shelters, food, and non-food items as affected by related issues, whether political clashes or natural disasters.

Emergency events cause massive impacts on the life of these innocent people living under poverty, and the number of people in need keeps growing each day where they are usually marginalised and residing in the world’s poorest countries. Thus, the responsibility falls right to humanitarian workers without secluding the presence of health care workers in efforts to provide long-term aids when emergencies happen regardless where they are in the Earth and without discrimination based on their social status.

Director General of World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus claims, “Health is a fundamental human right, and attacks on health care are a blatant violation of that right.” In more general terms, essential life-saving assistance must be protected at all cost for emergency-populated locations unobstructed by any form of violence.

Seeing this, Islamic Relief Malaysia (IRM) as an international and humanitarian-based organisation was delighted to offer a celebration of the World Humanitarian Day on the same day as a call to reminisce the sacrifice made by the past and present volunteers working at the expense of their life and safety in which the objective is to encourage more volunteers in giving aids to beneficiaries.

Worthy of note, the event was set up to bring in local personalities in Malaysia as part of the members so they could gain the experience on-ground and spare a thought or two which leads to sharing of knowledge about the event with the public. Irma Hasmie alongside her husband, Redza Syah Azmeer both of whom are humanitarian icons for IRM believe that such event is a good initiative by IRM as it gave more insights for their children to see the real situation by observing what volunteers were doing.

“For the sake of humanity, it should not come to our mind that who we are helping, and who they are based on their race and religion. As in line with the World Humanitarian Day, we should never judge their social status,” said Irma when being interviewed.

Just as what is emphasised by UN Secretary, General António Guterres, the World Humanitarian Day is a chance for us to express solidarity with people affected by conflicts, crises, or natural disasters.

Effective Communication with the Disabled

Human communicates to convey information in various forms. One of the approaches is via daily conversations, in fact the technology also enables people to communicate using mobile phone. It is by communication as an enabler that can channel through our information so other people could grab the desired content. Even so, the system is only subject to those who are normal, listing off the disabled out of this context.

Disabled people can be put into different categories such as the visual impairment, audio impairment, and physical abnormalities. Each category engages different ways and approaches to communicate when initiating conversation, in exception of people with physical abnormalities who are able to talk, see, and listen normally.

This is a guidance discussing several tips and approaches on how to communicate with the disabled.

Visually Impaired People

If you happen to encounter someone with visual impairment, remember just to be yourself and act naturally. These are tips by Vision Australia that can be of guidance.

Introduce yourself normally. They may not able to recognise you by your voice.
The intonation should be kept normal too but very clear. This type of people does not necessarily mean they are deaf.
Use everyday language but avoid some words such as “see” and “Oh look!” to ensure they are not irritated.
If you’re in a group, introduce each and everyone clearly.
Do not leave a conversation hanging without telling them. Ask politely if you are to leave.
When giving direction, explain it in detail like “the window is on your right” instead of “the window is there”.

Audio Impaired People

For these people, their vision may be clear and able to see the person communicating with them and the limitation is only their listening ability. These are the approaches suggested by Deaf-Hearing Communication Centre when communicating with them.

Avoid yelling or talking too loudly.
Avoid mumbling.
Reduce facial expressions and stresses when having conversation to avoid being misunderstood.
When using words, do not talk either too fast or too slow.
When using written communication, make sure you understand the context before showing it to them.
Photos and drawings might be helpful.
Utilise technology such as computer writing, mobile phone, and emails.

Mute people

These people create another story. They may have the capability to see and listen but are unable to speak. If you are to interact with them, follow these steps as suggested by Health & Disability Commissioner.

Be calm and try to be a listener if they are trying to talk.
If you have a question, throw questions that require only simple answers to understand such as nodding and shaking head.
Try to use written communication only if you do not understand their verbal message.
Avoid facial expressions if you fail to comprehend.
Avoid saying anything when they are trying to communicate with you.

“I Feel The Quake Too..”

EARTHQUAKE. The only term that could best describe the loss of 437 souls as at August last month in one of the famous tourism destinations, Lombok, Indonesia. According to many local newspapers, more than 50,000 houses were affected in the unexpected presence of quake which eventually further intensified humanitarian situation. It has also captured the attention of many international humanitarian organisations across the world.

Following the calamity, Islamic Relief Malaysia (IRM) standing strong in the world as one of the leading international humanitarian organisations saw the recent condition in Lombok as an opportunity to help ease the burden help by those affected in the tremor. This time around, IRM brought a different mechanism in efforts of minimising the post-effect of the disaster.

Aside from the same concept to raise awareness such as emergency appeal campaign, IRM sent two of its full-time staff to work on-ground and acquire the hands-on experience as a practical way to observe the real situation in Lombok, Indonesia.

Izzat Ruslan, one of the staff that were sent for On-Job Training for a month in Indonesia believes that his presence at the location was not only for the emergency training, but the emphasis was more solid on experience while working under critical condition.

“The main purpose of this On-job Training was to undergo intensive training when disaster takes place. We are obligated to see key tasks practiced by Islamic Relief Indonesia as I can be certain that they have different sets of works if it were to be compared with Islamic Relief Malaysia.

“In an emergency case, we need to expedite our work process even more in terms of making analysis and evaluation. I have my full respect towards Islamic Relief Indonesia as they use an application installed on the mobile phone to actually ease our work,” said Izzat when being interviewed.

Nonetheless, we should be aware that there are challenges that exist in every provision. Usually, the style of work in Malaysia is bound towards ‘work smart’ and this adaptation is parallel in the way one acclimatises to environment. But the situation is the other way around in Lombok as more energy is required to accomplish a single task.

“In Malaysia, my nature of work is all about ‘work smart’ in whatever situations I am in so it would be uncomplicated for me. However so in Indonesia, we got to ‘work hard’ to ensure the smoothness of work can be achieved seamlessly. For instance, the process of food pack distribution, as it can be very time-consuming and could eat up a day and I had to manage 200 families.”

When asked about the condition in Lombok, Izzat expressed that Northern Lombok is among the most affected regencies as infrastructural damages can be observed from afar. Apart from that, the road leading to Northern Lombok was congested with vehicles coming in and out to for delivery and distribution purposes.

“I can be certain the damages of infrastructures in Lombok are completely terrible. Buildings collapsed that they struck all vehicles in the surrounding area. Only at least around five houses were unharmed by the disaster and apparently, they were all made up of bamboos unlike those that were built of bricks.”

“Following the third tremor, which was around 7.1 Ritcher scale in Sembalun, Lombok Timur, the condition became worse as the environment in the area was cold. And based on my observation, I could see that the residents suffered a mini trauma and they slept outside their home for safety reasons.”

In such emergency, Izzat too had unanticipatedly felt the quake and a series of aftershocks when he was sleeping at his place.

“I could still remember it was around 12.30 AM that I felt the quake too when sleeping. Of course, it was shocking and worrisome because I felt the shake for the first time in my life with my own physique until my friend and I had to get out of the house, afraid if the aftershocks that followed would collapse down to the soil.”

“However, in such emergency situation, I learned the fact that safety and security should be vitally put as the utmost priority because we never knew what would happen later on.”

In Lombok, young kids or children are exposed to Islamic teachings. According to Izzat himself, although the tremor had spooked many of the residents in the area, there was this child, a young boy that still wanted to perform a prayer at the mosque nearby and not feeling shocked with the quake. Interestingly, the children in Lombok were also taught to respect their parents and devote themselves to religion.

“I couldn’t describe my impression. When Lombok was once again shaken, many of us were afraid and running wild like headless chicken to save ourselves. Nevertheless, there was a kid I knew, a really young kid who looked fine yet so calm. He was on his way to the mosque for Isyak prayer.”

Throughout the course of emergency training in Lombok, it has granted an impactful experience as a humanitarian worker as it is closely associated with the quickness in working and self-security. In any situation, Izzat emphasised that we should not be so full of ourselves that we think no help is needed from the local. In this case, learn to open the mind to grab something from them.

Aside from acquiring the hands-on experience, out-and-out preparation in emergency situations should be primarily emphasised as calamity never comes once in a blue moon, it is without prior expectation. Security is also seen as the greatest asset when one is in a humanitarian mission no matter where he is. If given another chance, Izzat is confident to join again.

2 Million Affected by Drought

Afghanistan, 9 Oct 2018 – Approximately 2 million people are affected by drought, of whom 1.4 million people are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.

Approximately 253,600 people are currently displaced due to drought across the Western Region of Afghanistan, of whom 75,000 are in Herat.

At least 20 out of 34 provinces in Afghanistan are facing severe drought as declared by the government and requested international community’s support.

The drought has further intensified the existing humanitarian situation which affected Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), refugee returnees from Pakistan and Iran and ongoing conflict in majority provinces of Afghanistan.

Islamic Relief (IR) Afghanistan was initially requested by Emergency Shelter & Non-Food Items (ESNFI) cluster to provide assistance to the IDPs who desperately need urgent shelter in Herat Province.

IR Afghanistan has also proposed an intervention in Bamyan and Balkh provinces as there exists operational capacity and operational presence. Among the needs saw are food supplies and protection initiatives.

The Voice of Youth in Humanitarian Activities

The passing of time will always lead to change as aligned with technological progress and development of a country. The course of change too, produces new generations that are able to think critically and creatively in driving the world towards building a stronger development of human capital as in line with the country’s mission to produce more talented youth.

Undeniably true, universities and education institutions have progressed in grooming and producing more professionals and experts in various fields as a driving force towards becoming a modern country. But often, we keep forgetting the fact that most graduates today are lacking aesthetical values that shape their identity in our enthusiasm of promoting courses deemed to be the ‘chasing-after’ component for them to start a career.

Dr. Aizan Sofia Amin, Humanitarian Icon Islamic Relief Malaysia (IRM), a very much experienced volunteer in humanitarian activities since her early 20s. Speaking on behalf of young generations, Dr. Aizan who is also a person with disability (OKU) suffered from bone cancer which sacrificed her right leg.

Despite the disability she held years ago when she was 16, after the leg has been cut, her spirit was never shaken to devote herself to humanitarian activities. All thanks to her determination to give back to society. In other words, she wants the public to see individuals with physical disabilities are also able to contribute to the nation.

As Dr. Aizan claims, humanitarian works or activities are an action that we perform for the goodness of other human without hoping for any returns. According to a psychological concept, it is called altruism which puts an emphasis on the good deeds we perform with all sincerity towards other human being. It is believed to give calm towards the doer.

“I believe humanitarians works are all about the kindness we give to people in our surrounding for the sake of their happiness without hoping for something in return. This habit can be correlated to the concept of altruism in the context of psychology. The concept is diverse and not only limited to human being, but also involves all types of living things in the Earth such as animals,” she said when being interviewed.

When asked about her engagement in humanitarian activities that she got to join, Dr. Aizan stated that she has become a volunteer since her day at university for a small society. As she felt the contributions given to the community were quite as nothing as to take pride in, she tried venturing out into another initiative to then devote her time with humanitarian activities.

“I have been occupying my time with activities since university days. However, the experience was sort of limited. Then right after bachelor’s degree and in the middle to purse master’s degree, I took a major step to become a hardcore volunteer at National Cancer Council (MAKNA) with my mother as we share the same interest.”

At MAKNA, her experience was not revolved around just being a volunteer, she was granted the opportunity to polish up her skill to become a special speaker. In simple words, MAKNA groomed her skill and confidence.

“I can assure that my existence at MAKNA was something so precious as I went further beyond humanitarian activities. To add the point, I was groomed to become a speaker representing MAKNA as a cancer survivor to share my experience when I first caught up with the illness.

“With the involvement in all humanitarian activities, I feel, and am satisfied for being able to stand up and contribute to the society in spite of having physical disability which I see it as a challenge to do good deeds. Thus, through all these humanitarian activities, I have faith in myself that I am actually capable to make contributions with all the energy and time I used to sacrifice,” she strongly expressed in her statement.

Dr. Aizan believes her heart is tied to compassion, close to humanity by a single touch. When Dr. Aizan furthered her Doctorate studies in Glasgow, Scotland, opportunities were everywhere and she did not compromise any one of those chances but also spread wide her intention to help people.

“Among the things I’d never forget is, I took a drastic challenge along with another group of Malaysian students. We were given a task to collect funds in total of 2,000 Pound Sterling for a community programme.”

As she returned Malaysia, Dr. Aizan expanded and magnified her zone with IRM by connecting students from National University of Malaysia (UKM) to undergo industrial training, or internship programme at their office. Apart from that, she advocated herself by giving a special training course on how to interact with beneficiaries. This year, she was nominated as one of humanitarian icons of IRM. Her duty as a Senior Lecturer at Faculty of Social Science and Humanity UKM is utilised as such to contribute to community.

Asked about the engagement of students and youth in humanitarian activities, Dr. Aizan accentuated that each student from any college or university must compulsorily involve in humanitarian activities as it helps shape a person’s identity while simultaneously polish up communication skill and confidence to stand in the public.

“I also believe that our students are multi-talented and highly intelligent. However, what seems to concern us today, we found out that they are not given the right trust and opportunity to follow humanitarian activities. Worse, they are also undertrained to become the future leader. So, in order to tackle this problem, we should be able to empower leadership among the youth so in the future, more undergraduates can be the successor for the leaders we have today.”

“In terms of academic, students are also given the exposure on specific courses that comprise volunteering activities in hopes they will continuously make contributions and realise their responsibility.”

In addition to shaping their identity and polishing up self-confidence, students who frequently take part in humanitarian activities can raise their marketability before starting a career because it is viewed as an added-value to their resume apart from academic achievement.

“Among the significances as to why humanitarian activities are seen so relevant and valuable is that it can add more good reviews for students to start their career, not just the usual academic reference we always put in our resume.”

Advising future graduate who will undergo a new chapter after studies, Dr. Aizan is of the opinion that they should engage in as many humanitarian activities as possible for which the effort should start from down the bottom as no easy way is offered ahead in their life. Just as life, people are required to strive hard in order to achieve the dreams.

Non-Government Office Feels ‘Bite Size’ Session

Kuala Lumpur, 8 Oct 2018 – Several local Non-Government Offices (NGO) including Islamic Relief Malaysia (IRM) were given the opportunity to undergo ‘Bite Size Taster’ course in collaboration with Humanitarian Academy for Development (HAD).

The programme which invited several other NGOs such as Yayasan Salam, SOLS 24/7, Pertubuhan Al-Firdausi, and The 3rd Force is also an enabler for the participants to learn a special course in completing the needs of NGO in serving humanity.

The participants who attended the course felt that it is good for the future. Alia Shahida Alias from SOLS 24/7 was of the opinion that she explored something new aside from enhancing her knowledge through the programme.

“Actually I did not expect that I learned a lot today. The facilitator did touch on EQ because in Malaysia, EQ is rarely promoted,” she said when being interviewed.

Apart from giving direct exposure, the participants were also trained to improve their motivation level at work.

For information, HAD was established by Islamic Relief Worldwide in 2013 and is among the best academy for learning and research in international humanitarian sector.

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