|
|||
 |
|||
|
|
Earlhamites at the Heart of Asia and For Immediate Release: RICHMOND, Ind. — The news from Southeast Asia and Darfur, Sudan, is all too tragic, of course. Still, members of the Earlham College community can take pride in the knowledge that two recent graduates are doing their part to help alleviate at least some of the human suffering stemming from the recent Indian Ocean tsunami and continuing ethnic conflict in western Sudan.  Both Estefania Samper ’04 and Su’ad Jarbawi ’03 are involved with the international humanitarian relief agency Mercy Corps. Samper, a native of Colombia, is the organization’s current Landrum Bolling Fellow in International Service. Jarbawi, from the Palestinian town of Ramallah, on the West Bank, was the agency’s inaugural Bolling Fellow in 2003 and has remained with Mercy Corps in the professional position of assistant program officer since the end of her fellowship term. The Bolling Fellowships are named in honor of Earlham’s President Emeritus, who, as director-at-large for Mercy Corps, also is deeply involved in ongoing efforts to provide disaster relief in those areas devastated by the Indian Ocean tsunami, specifically by helping to raise money for food, medicine, rebuilding material and other much-needed supplies: • Plentiful generosity: Bolling says much has been given, but much is still needed — Richmond Palladium-Item (Jan. 4, 2005) Presently based at Mercy Corps headquarters in Portland, Oregon, Samper is “working very hard at two or three jobs,” reports one of her supervisors, Randy Martin, director of global emergency operations (GEO) for Mercy Corps. Chief among those jobs right now, Martin says, is preparing for a global security conference that he, Samper and several of their Mercy Corps colleagues will lead in February in Istanbul, Turkey. Relief agency staffers from 30 countries, including Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka — regions hit hard by the Dec. 26 tsunami — will attend the week-long security session. 
Su’ad Jarbawi ’03 at her post in the village of Zalingei, Sudan. Although not the kind of direct aid action that gets the bulk of media attention in the immediate aftermath of disasters like the Southeast Asia tsunami, Martin insists Samper’s contributions are absolutely critical to the long-term success of those relief efforts. Before aid workers in the field can hope to effectively deliver assistance to people in crisis, says Martin, they first must have some reasonable confidence in their own safety and security. “We know from experience that the situations in Sri Lanka and Sumatra, for example, will soon become what we call complex emergencies,” Martin says, noting that both areas have experienced varying degrees of civil unrest and rebel activity in recent years. “We know that for the first several weeks we’ll have relatively good access. But, we also know those conditions are going to change. Eventually it’s going to get more difficult to gain access. It’s going to be more and more difficult to work in those environments.” The purpose of the security conference in Turkey, explains Martin, is to instruct humanitarian field officers regarding the best ways to manage themselves and their field office staffs in order to be secure. And key to that, Mercy Corps’ GEO director says, is training field personnel on how to earn community acceptance, how to connect sincerely with the people living in a particular emergency zone “and have them understand that your motives aren’t political or economic or anything other than truly wanting to help. “Nothing makes you more secure than actually being welcome in the places you’re trying to work,” says Martin. Samper is quick to agree. “Really, the most important part of security is knowing how to reach out and connect with people,” she says. “It’s not so much about protecting buildings and offices as it is about interaction and attitude. Honestly, I think that’s what has made Mercy Corps so safe for so many years in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, and why we’re still there when so many [other relief agencies] have left. It’s because we do this” kind of training. “Doing a really great job” To illustrate the importance and value — in terms of the effective provision of services, as well as security — of gaining genuine trust in a given disaster area, Martin points to Su’ad Jarbawi, who he describes as also “doing a really great job” on behalf of Mercy Corps in the violence ravaged Darfur region of Sudan. Dispatched to the village of Zalingei last September, Jarbawi and roughly a dozen other Mercy Corps field officers are working together to administer a range of humanitarian aid programs (funded at more than $3 million) aimed at many of the more than 200,000 Sudanese that have been made homeless by the ongoing ethnic conflict in Africa’s largest country. Although for much of her tour of duty the only woman in the group, in a nation where females suffer from a decided lack of social status, Jarbawi has been instrumental in advancing Mercy Corps objectives amid that displaced population, Martin says. “It’s helped a lot that she’s a native Arabic speaker,” says Martin. “The people there call her ‘the Palestinian.’ They’re very curious about her, and so there’s been a lot of that very important engagement and interaction, which means we get more quickly and more accurately that crucial information about what’s most needed to help in this situation. “Having her there, particularly as someone from the Middle East, has helped our credibility immensely.” According to Martin, the extent of Jarbawi’s stay in Darfur is indefinite at this time because of uncertainty about how long humanitarian assistance will be needed there . Although conscious of the fact that two British aid workers were killed in the region in December, the GEO director says Jarbawi remains dedicated to and enthusiastic about her work. “I know that everyone here is very impressed with how well she’s doing,” Martin says. “She’s just a tremendous asset.” — EC — Contact:
|
|
|
|||
Earlham
College · 801 National Road West · Richmond,
Indiana 47374-4095 |