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OPINION | The question that haunts me on this World Humanitarian Day

2020-08-20T17:58:08.412Z


I am angry about the trajectory of our evolution as a species. I am mad at us, because we created a world where being "humanitarian" is a "thing" and not the norm.


Editor's Note: Arwa Damon is a Senior International Correspondent based out of CNN's Istanbul office and President and Co-founder of the International Aid, Relief and Assistance Network. The opinions expressed in this comment are yours. See more opinion pieces at cnne.com/opinion

(CNN) - I'm angry about the trajectory of our evolution as a species. I am mad at us, because we created a world where being "humanitarian" is a "thing" and not the norm.

There is the kindness of strangers. I know that. It is literally the lifeblood of my charity, the International Aid, Relief and Assistance Network, which provides medical care for war-wounded children who cannot access the treatment they need.

He is in the army of volunteers who descended on the devastated neighborhoods of Beirut and swept, cleaned and carried debris for days from the streets and into people's homes. It is in those who choose not to charge rent during the covid-19 pandemic; those who had businesses that they transformed into food delivery and mask-making entities; in the individual who does not pass in front of the beggar or the tramp on the street, but stops for them. It is in those who are commemorated on World Humanitarian Day, humanitarian workers killed or injured while trying to do the right thing for the less fortunate, and those who continue to try. And yet that is not the narrative of our human collective. Because if it were, we would not be where we are today. We would be in a better place.

There are those who fight every day to try to make the slightest difference in the lives of people who have so little and who have had so much stolen from them. I don't know of a single humanitarian worker who is not completely exhausted and emotionally drained.

  • LOOK: The explosion in Beirut in the first person: the testimonies behind the apocalyptic scenes

I often wonder: why is it so difficult to do the right thing? Why are we humans so fundamentally flawed that selfishness, greed, hunger for power, and contempt for others have become the predominant definers of our collective? Because we are the cause of the greatest tragedies. We are the creators of the greatest humanitarian crises. We are our worst enemy. But we have the power to change that.

I fundamentally believe that we can do better with each other, because I see overwhelming courage in activists facing oppressive governments, I see inspiration among people who already give little to those who have even less, I see encouraging solidarity in the wake of an inexplicable disaster.

It takes something as incomprehensible and horrible as the Lebanon explosion to capture the world's attention, but even that is finite. Other crises have disappeared. What about the nearly 80 million refugees around the world?

From Bangladesh to South Sudan, Myanmar, Syria and Somalia, the needs - food, shelter, medicine, education, the opportunity to rebuild lives and shattered communities - are more desperate than ever. But they can also exist on another planet.

I was recently talking to one of my many wounded friends in Beirut, a psychoanalyst, about why there is cruelty to others on such a large scale.

Goodness is not as powerful as destruction. She said. "Building something takes time, destruction takes seconds."

Our conversation should not be dismissed as an emotional reaction to the terrible explosion in Beirut or as a by-product of my overdeveloped cynicism. We live in a world where, despite the connectivity, the window to the realities of others that social networks have created, it seems that we become more and more immune to the suffering of others. We live in a world where we spend hundreds of billions of dollars on military power, but if a fraction of that were diverted to humanitarian aid, hunger could cease to exist.

While governments provide some funding, it is far from sufficient, and many are largely apathetic, energizing a false sense of fear of the 'other' and turning humanitarian aid into another pawn on the geopolitical chessboard.

The ripple effect of the coronavirus pandemic on the world's many acute humanitarian crises has been profound. Funding has been diverted or exhausted, aid budgets have been slashed, NGOs are desperately looking for ways to keep essential activities alive, state actors are looking the other way.

According to the UN, "in 2020, almost 168 million people around the world will need humanitarian assistance and protection," he said. “That represents approximately one person in every 45 on the planet. It is the highest number in decades.

And yet aid agencies do not have sufficient funds to begin to address the magnitude of the need.

The individual response to covid-19, in many ways, epitomizes what we can become. It feels as if those of us who have soap, running water, the means to buy food, disinfectants, and masks have become more aware of the plight of those who do not have them. It's as if you've created a moment of frozen realization: what if you had to face this in a refugee camp, a slum, a war zone? - which led to inspiring stories around the world of those who have transformed that moment into something greater than themselves.

We need to stop destroying each other and our planet. Our minds, our creativity have resulted in extraordinary things. There are amazing people, philanthropists and organizations trying to upset the current balance of our world. We need to focus on their missions. I believe that if more of us work together we can be successful.

I recognize that the numbers can seem overwhelming, that the challenges and complexities can be suffocating, that there is a sense of powerlessness and questions about what each can do to really make a difference. None of us are going to change the world alone. But if we continue to discount the impact we may have as individuals, what chance do we have of deviating from our current trajectory? Nothing is too small, no gesture is insignificant, no donation is too small; because all this fuels the construction of a collective good.

We can do better. We can do more. We can build and work towards a future in which World Humanitarian Day celebrates all of us.

Humanitarian aid

Source: cnnespanol

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