MEDAIR | newsNo. 2 | 2019 | medair.org

Disaster in MozambiqueInnovations in AidStopping Ebola

W E L C O M E

Cover Photo: Celestina, 6, stands in the rain in front of one of the accommodation centers set up in Pemba, Mozambique, after Cyclone Kenneth. © Medair/Paola Barioli

Program Funders Afghanistan: Swiss Solidarity, Global Affairs Canada, Canton of Aargau (CH), Finanzdirektion Kanton Zürich (CH), Fürstentum Liechtenstein, Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation (CH), UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, US Agency for International Development, World Food ProgrammeDR Congo: European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid, Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, UN Childrens Fund, US Agency for International DevelopmentLebanon: Global Affairs Canada International Humanitarian Assistance (in partnership with Tearfund Canada), Swiss Solidarity, European Union Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian crisis, the EU ‘Madad’ Fund, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and Lebanon Humanitarian Fund (LHF) administered by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)Mozambique: Läkarmissionen (SE), Transform Aid International (AU), Canton of Thurgau (CH), Woord en Daad (NL), Fondation du Protestantisme (FR)South Sudan: European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid (ECHO), US Agency for International Development (USAID), UK Aid from the UK Government, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Swiss Solidarity, and SlovakAid

M O Z A M B I Q U E

On March 14, 2019, Cyclone Idai struck Mozambique near Beira City with devastating force. Floodwaters rose swiftly, destroying homes and submerging entire villages. More than 1.8 million people were affected.

© R

ick

Emen

aker

, Mis

sion

Avi

atio

n Fe

llow

ship

On April 6th, Medair and our partner Food for the Hungry (FH) began distributing emergency shelter kits, household items and hygiene kits. In central Sofala province, we reached more than 3,800 households in response to Idai.

© M

edai

r/Pa

ola

Bario

li

In the city of Pemba (pop. 200,000), Medair and FH provided 2,000 displaced families with hygiene items to help prevent cholera and other diseases. “It’s a tough blow for our country," said Ana, with FH. “Our people are strong, but the needs are many. Without outside help, it will be very, very difficult to get up again.”

© M

edai

r/Pa

ola

Bario

li

On April 25th, Mozambique was struck by a second disaster: the strongest storm in its history, Cyclone Kenneth. Our team traveled to Cabo Delgado province, which was severely affected by Kenneth. In partnership with FH, we distributed basic shelter and water/hygiene kits to 3,000 families.

© M

edai

r/Pa

ola

Bario

li

Disaster Upon Disaster People were stranded for days waiting for flooding to subside. Tens of thousands of people lost everything in the blink of an eye.

            My biggest fear is to not be able to feed my children in the coming months. I am scared.

— Rosa, Chiboma village

© M

edai

r/Pa

ola

Bario

liDaniel Xu Director, Medair US

Less than 6 weeks apart, two unprecedented cyclones, Idai and Kenneth struck the south-eastern coast of Africa, wreaking havoc across Mozambique—destroying crops and livelihoods, decimating infrastructure, and taking lives. The storms’ torrential rains created massive floodwaters, submerging an area larger than New York City, Boston, Chicago and Washington, D.C. combined. But all was not lost! Read on to learn about Antonio and Ortensia’s strength and hope.

In Mozambique and around the world, Medair serves the most vulnerable people in hard-to-reach places. From Afghanistan to South Sudan, and Lebanon to DR Congo, Medair goes the extra mile because we believe every life is precious. One way we do this is through serving with innovation in mind. As an innovative leader in the humanitarian sector, Medair prioritizes a culture of collaboration and working with like-minded partners to make an even greater impact. Innovation-in-aid enables us to reach more people with higher quality assistance. We see it in Lebanon, in our partnership with Qlik, which seeks to ensure all Syrian refugees, especially those living in informal settlements, receive the assistance they need. We see it in our partnership with Airbus and the development of a precise infant-weighing scale that will be piloted in our South Sudan nutrition projects.

Our lifesaving mission is people-based and people-focused. As one of our faithful supporters from Switzerland notes, it is values like empathy and courage that inspire her and many others to partner with Medair. As we celebrate Medair’s 30th anniversary this year, we continue to go the distance relieving suffering in remote places and bringing hope and dignity to people in crises. Join us.

Disaster in Mozambique

Medair United StatesPO Box 4476 Wheaton, IL 60189-4476united.states@medair.orgmedair.org

medair.org | August 2019 | Medair 3

3 M O Z A M B I Q U E Disaster Upon Disaster

8 L E B A N O N Stories that Drive Change

4 M O Z A M B I Q U E The Source of My Strength

9 D R C O N G O Stopping Ebola

1 0 E A C H L I F E M A T T E R S

6 W H A T ’ S N E W ? Innovations in Aid

7 S O U T H S U D A N Where Innovation Meets Tradition

1 2 A F G H A N I S T A N The Beauty of Afghanistan

M O Z A M B I Q U E

The Source of My Strength   By Paola Barioli, Global Emergency Response Team Officer

Thanks to your support, Medair and our partner, Food for the Hungry, are providing people in

Mozambique with shelter, household items, and hygiene kits (including filters and water treatment tablets). With your help, Medair reached more than 6,000 families with essential relief items in the most remote and hard-to-reach areas affected by the two cyclones.

Antonio and Ortensio carry their emergency supplies home.

Antonio and Ortensia stand outside the ruins of their house.

@ M

edai

r/Er

ic It

in

@ M

edai

r/Er

ic It

in

medair.org | August 2019 | Medair 54 Medair | August 2019 | medair.org

Idai’s wind came at night, shaking the roof while the floodwaters rose, until Antonio and Ortensia’s house collapsed. “Antonio was trapped under the rubble," says Ortensia, 60. “I was the one who saved him. I dragged him out. Up to the nearest tree. I climbed the tree, took his arm and pulled him up.”

I look at this petite woman, and then at Antonio, almost twice as big as she is. And then I ask the question on everyone’s mind. I ask it so many times that Ortensia bursts out laughing and asks me, “Don't you believe it?” Her words come back simple, direct, incredible, “Where did I find the strength to do that? I think we call it love. I will never, ever let him down. This is what love means.”

Antonio and Ortensia want to show me everything: their house that was swept away, the tree they climbed, the well full of earth. Antonio, 75, limps as he walks, clutching his leg in pain from wounds sustained that night. When he shows me the level reached by the floodwater on the tree, I can’t believe my eyes. The height was at least six feet. They stayed in the tree for two days, without water or food, not knowing if their family and friends had survived. They tell me many

women lost their babies during the disaster, because the babies slipped away while their mothers tried to climb up the trees.

"I wonder where my clothes are now, my pots, our blankets. Maybe someone found them. What do you say, Antonio, maybe our tragedy was used to help someone else,” says Ortensia.

“Before, we had shoes,” says Antonio. “Now we walk barefoot.”

With the sun about to set, I need to return to Beira. Antonio and Ortensia don't ask me for anything. They don't ask me if I will come back or if we can help them. Rather, they thank me, “Thank you for listening to us. For having observed. For being interested.”

Less than a week later, we arrive in Haruma with emergency supplies. We’ve spent the past week on the monumental task of procuring tarps to reinforce roofs, blankets, solar lanterns, soap, chlorine, and water filters to prevent disease.

Hundreds of people are there waiting for us. As we get out of the car, they begin to applaud. Antonio sees me from afar and

accelerates his pace as much as he can, dragging his injured leg. He shakes my hand and says to me with a huge smile, "You're back! You really are back!” My heart tightens. I ask him how he is, I ask him to show me the wound, which is infected. "I am not well. My body seems to abandon me. I tremble often, and I get so cold at night.” I tell him we passed his information to another NGO and a medical team will soon visit the village. Antonio hugs me, saying, “Obrigado, obrigado” (Thank you, thank you).

I ask Antonio if he needs help carrying his emergency supplies. "Don't worry," he says, "I will call my wife." Ortensia arrives, raises the heaviest sack on her head, hands the lightest to Antonio and hugs him. "Take a picture of us!” she says. There is something in the way this couple looks after each other that touches me deeply.

“When I opened your bag and saw the blankets, I immediately hugged my wife, saying, "We can finally have a warm sleep tonight,” says Antonio. That evening I fell asleep thinking of Antonio and Ortensia tucked warmly under the covers.

Two weeks later, I return to Haruma to monitor if people are using the items we’ve distributed and if they are satisfied with the quality. Antonio happens to be the first person I see.

“Paola!" he shouts, "Come on, come home. My wife will be delighted to see you again!”

They invite me to sit on a can in front of a temporary hut they built a dozen feet from the ruins of their old house. Ortensia is busy tending a few stalks of corn that survived the floods.

I notice the roof of the hut is covered with the tarps we distributed. Outside, the solar lantern is resting on the ground recharging in the sun.

They tell me the medical team came and treated Antonio’s wound and that his chills have passed. But life is hard today, "The crops were washed away by the water and I have no seeds or tools to replant," says Ortensia. “We are all in the same situation, but we help each other.”

When I ask them what gives them the strength to go on, they reply, "Part of our strength comes from you. We were living in darkness and afraid of snakes. Then you came. You gave us lanterns so we can see at night. You gave us tarps to reinforce our roof so the water does not come in anymore. Yes, you are one of the things that bring us joy.”

They don't know where my strength comes from. They don’t know that part of my strength comes from them. From the way they live their lives and love each other in the midst of this crisis. Despite my fatigue and the long working hours, people like Antonia and Ortensia make it all worthwhile.

In remote South Sudan, Medair has relied on paper-and-pencil for assessment, registration, and data collection. In 2018, the team took a leap forward and began field-testing electronic data collection using smartphones.

“The biggest challenge was the Emergency Response Team locations where we are often meeting a community for the first time, sometimes in areas with no access to electricity or the internet,” said Edwin Ogendi, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Manager.

Medair recruited local staff to work as enumerators, but many of them needed to learn how to use smartphones first. “I had some doubts about how the technology would be accepted,” said Edwin, “but the enumerators were excited to learn. They saw the possibilities right away.”

The enumerators worked hard to understand the new process and to explain the gadgets to the community. They used traditional storytelling techniques to chart the ages of children under five.

“Since the majority of the caregivers do not have birth records, we create a timeline of things that happened over the past 59 months,” said Edwin. “Harvesting groundnuts, the death of a leader, a significant cattle raid; all of these things go on the timeline. We have fun working with the enumerators to get consensus on when these things happened, and then during the survey we ask mothers about the birth of their children in relation to these events.”

As soon as the first survey was completed, the benefits were clear. Using smartphones saved an average of 15 minutes per household for data collection, and we could see the collective results in minutes compared to weeks with manual data input and analysis. Cost savings were significant as well—no printing, storage, or transportation of records required.

“Improving how we collect feedback is essential to putting people at the center of what we do,” said Edwin. “Good-quality data must drive our decisions about the types of projects we run and the assistance we provide.”

Where Innovation Meets Tradition

Innovations help us find creative ways to reach more people with life-saving aid, maximizing impact while minimizing cost.

W H A T ’ S N E W ?

© M

edai

r/Ed

win

Oge

ndi

S O U T H S U D A N

Medair has partnered with the newly created Airbus Humanity Lab to develop a precise infant-weighing scale for nutrition projects. It is challenging to precisely weigh young children in remote field locations, making it more difficult to treat them for malnutrition. Airbus engineers rose to the challenge and are designing a prototype for an improved infant-weighing scale that we will test in South Sudan.

“From the technical side, it could be just a measurement of one or two grams,” said Enrique Maldonado, Airbus Humanity Lab Engineer. “In real life, it is an impact without measure.”

Innovations in Aid

THE ETHICS OF DRONE USE SCALING UP INNOVATION

In Lebanon, Medair partners with Qlik, an industry leader in business intelligence and analytics, to make a much wider impact with Syrian refugees. The Medair-Qlik project in Lebanon won the "Innovation of the Year" Award at the 2019 National Technology Awards in London, after winning the Corporate Engagement Awards' "Most Innovative Collaboration" and the Third Sector Awards' "Corporate Partnership of the Year" in 2018. This pioneering project, supporting Syrian refugees in the Bekaa Valley, continues to inspire a new way of working in the aid sector.

INNOVATIVE COLLABORATION

© M

edai

r/G

eorg

e M

gham

es

© M

edai

r

© M

edai

rMedair enumerators approach a village to conduct an electronic survey.

© M

edai

r/Ed

win

Oge

ndi

An enumerator uses Open Data Kit to conduct surveys in Aweil, South Sudan

In Nepal, Medair used drones to map a landslide area.

Medair staff register refugee families for assistance in Lebanon.

The Airbus team tests the new scale.

Medair is part of a University of Zurich study on the ethical use of drones in humanitarian action, together with the World Food Programme, World Health Organization, and Doctors without Borders. The research project is funded by the Swiss Network for International Studies (SNIS), co-founded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, and hosted by the Institute of Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine at the University of Zurich. One expected outcome from the research will be a draft framework for the ethical use of drones in humanitarian contexts.

Medair was the first organization to form part of the case study. In a remote area of Nepal, Medair used drones to map a landslide that was affecting the local community’s livelihood.

medair.org | August 2019 | Medair 76 Medair | August 2019 | medair.org

Stopping Ebola

L E B A N O N D R C O N G O

Stories that Drive Change   By Hiba Hajj Omar, Lebanon Communications Officer

Medair staff take turns reading their parts in a story about pregnancy and warning signs. When the story is over, the team facilitates engaging discussions in which everyone has a chance to talk and ask/answer questions.

Asma claps her hands and laughs along with her family. “This story is familiar and true!” she says. “Mothers-in-law need to be helpful and empowering.”

For years, Syrian refugees in Lebanon have told us stories about children facing traumatic events, women suffering during pregnancies, fathers sinking into depression, families breaking apart. This year, our community health team created 16 stories about reproductive health, newborn and children’s health, mental health, and the shared responsibilities of women and men at home.

“We chose stories, because they touch the heart and the mind, and can lead to change,” said Dr. Ghada, Medair’s Health Advisor in Lebanon.

The stories are written in Arabic, and include local lingo and references, and illustrations of key characters. “The more familiar it looks and feels, the more it has the chance to stick in the mind and the heart," says Kamal, creative consultant.

Working with 32 Syrian community health volunteers and nine Lebanese NGOs, Medair found a truly innovative way to promote change to thousands of families, while fostering discussions around topics that are difficult to talk about. Each family receives a "storytelling visit" twice a month for six months; the whole family is encouraged to attend and participate in role playing and discussions.

“We are away from our homeland, trying to cope with the difficulties of living here,” said Fatima, a Syrian refugee.

“These stories help me and my husband know how to deal with our kids, and for me, to know how to take care of myself during pregnancy.”

Thanks to the European Union's Madad Fund and donors like you, the Healthy Family, Peaceful House

storytelling project encourages healthy family relationships for 6,000 Syrian families and 660 Lebanese families.

Asma (center) with her daughter-in-law, Khadija (left), and grandson Aziz. Kamal draws ‘Amina’, a character in one of the stories.©

Med

air/

Nat

heer

Hal

awan

i

© M

edai

r/N

athe

er H

alaw

ani

© M

edai

r/N

athe

er H

alaw

ani

© M

edai

r/N

athe

er H

alaw

ani In two provinces of DR Congo, Medair is a strong participant in the humanitarian efforts to

contain the second largest Ebola outbreak in history.

© M

edai

r/Pe

te H

arris

onBéatrice, Medair Health Supervisor, trains hospital staff to work with Ebola patients.

Celestin Balita (aka Papa Ebola) is an obstetrics nurse who has worked for Medair since 2011 as a Reproductive Health Supervisor. When the Ebola epidemic was declared, Celestin was asked to be the focal point for Medair’s response in Ituri Province.

Why were you given the nickname Papa Ebola?

At the beginning of the outbreak, I was the only [trainer]. I had to train the community volunteers from the eleven health facilities we supported, their staff and guards, and their drivers. I had to attend all the coordination meetings. I became the most learned Congolese staff member in Ebola, so people were

coming to me with all kinds of questions, hence the nickname “Papa Ebola.”

What have been the biggest challenges?

Community acceptance has been difficult to obtain because most of the local people here didn’t know what Ebola was. Engaging with the community is really the only way to achieve what needs to be done.

In the first seven months of the outbreak, I found myself stretched and exhausted to the point of telling myself I needed to quit. I was often surrounded by Ebola experts in meetings where I knew nothing and felt I was not contributing. It was hard to find my place.

But I was well-supported by our experts at Medair who had worked on the West African outbreak. The reason that I’m still here today is because I have learned so much. I worked non-stop, day and night, and came to accept that this difficult time would pass; that I would come out wiser and stronger. I never studied epidemiology at school, but I’ve had to study that on my own in order to be an effective “Papa Ebola” at Medair. Today, I can say with certainty that I am glad I stayed. I love my job.

© M

edai

r

Celistin Balita earned the nickname "Papa Ebola."

Q&A with “Papa Ebola”

medair.org | August 2019 | Medair 98 Medair | August 2019 | medair.org

               I support Medair because I find in this organization the values and causes that I really care about: empathy, courage, helping forgotten people in great distress, taking care to provide specific solutions for women and young girls in danger, caught up in humanitarian crises. I have met many Medair employees, all of whom are engaged, highly professional, and motivated to have an impact… I have every confidence in Medair and their humanitarian projects.

— Philippine Baron, President, Giving Women Zurich Chapter

Why Do You Support Medair?

$20 Emergency safe water kit

for one family

© M

edai

r/ P

aola

Bar

ioli

$57 Emergency shelter kit

for one family

$161 Safe delivery in a 24-hr reproductive

health clinic (care for 1 mother and child)

© M

edai

r/D

iana

Gor

ter

© M

edai

r/Lu

Ann

e Ca

dd -

MAF

Your gift matters. Give today at donate.medair.org

© M

edai

r/Jon

atha

n Ky

le

COMMITTED TO EXCELLENCE

Medair received full certification of the Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability (CHS) for principled, accountable and high-quality humanitarian action. CHS certification is a significant achievement and testament to the quality of Medair’s work and to the extraordinary efforts of our staff to support people with humanitarian aid and treat them with the dignity they deserve.

E A C H L I F E M A T T E R S

What motivated you to cofound Medair in 1989 with your husband?

Between us, we had nine and five years of field experience, three of them together. On my side, in a refugee camp in Thailand, in a children’s hospital in Cambodia, in integrating refugees from Southeast Asia in California, then in Lebanon during the war. My husband had worked in a hospital in Chad during the civil war and famine. So, that’s where we found ourselves. I was an emergency doctor, and my husband was a dentist and experienced manager.

When we came back from the field in late 1987, three organizations who knew us well on the ground—Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), Medicaments pour L’Afrique (MEDAF) and Youth With A Mission (YWAM)—proposed that we all launch a project devoted exclusively to responding to crises and disasters. They had named it Medair. The idea was exactly the same vision we had, so we agreed to do it.

In what context did you create Medair?

After some intense discussions, we met in June 1988 to create the Medair association. Our first response was in the Teso region of northern Uganda, then in civil war. An emergency aid program under the name of Medair was quickly set up in the field with the support of MAF and YWAM, as well as many contacts in Europe: friends, families, churches, MEDAF and the Swiss Confederation through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

This first program, highly appreciated by the Ugandan authorities and the three parent organizations, proved to be a model for the future. Medair was registered in Switzerland in 1989.

What do you think is Medair’s DNA, present from the beginning?

Inspired by the text of the Gospel [of Matthew], “I was hungry and you gave me food, thirsty and you gave me something to drink,” Medair has always sought to provide concrete help to people greatly suffering. Medair has done this by carefully taking into account the details of the context, the affected people and their communities. The focus has always been to

Interview with Dr. Josiane Volkmar-André, Medair pioneer

go to the places that are less well served by other NGOs and then to work closely with the communities we serve.

The care and personalization of Medair’s help is at the heart of what it is.

What is your view on the organization today?

I am proud of Medair because it has maintained its values and mission, even though it is now four times bigger than it was when we left at the end of 2003. Medair is recognized and appreciated as an NGO by private donors, institutional donors, and the authorities in the countries where it works.

What do you want to see in the next 30 years?

A lot of kindness towards others, and, for the organization itself, continued multiplication of the mission; and, as we say in French, BON VENT.

medair.org | August 2019 | Medair 1110 Medair | August 2019 | medair.org

The Beauty of Afghanistan

© M

edai

r/ E

ric It

in

A F G H A N I S T A N

Follow us on

Medair 1989–2019: Celebrating 30 Years of Saving Lives Together

© M

edai

r/Jon

atha

n Ky

le

© M

edai

r/Jon

atha

n Ky

le

© M

edai

r/Jon

atha

n Ky

le

In Afghanistan, Medair teams travel long distances on rough roads, crossing narrow mountain passes to reach people who need help in remote areas.

            At cash distributions I saw people arriving who were living in great poverty. It was heartbreaking to see young boys come alone, because they were the oldest male in their household. I saw the care and respect our staff had for every person who came. As people waited in line, our staff would move chairs so the elderly could sit down to wait. Everyone was involved, and there was such solidarity in the team to make sure that people were well cared for and the distributions ran smoothly.

Travelling around the area, I saw the difficult conditions people live in. But I also saw such beauty too. The beauty of Afghanistan is in the kindness of the people. Everywhere our team went, the people welcomed us. It was a great reminder of why we do this work, and how important it is we do this work. Thank you for your support, you help make this work possible!

— Sarah, Medair relief worker

Medair reaches people living in Afghanistan's remote Central Highlands with emergency assistance.

Each life matters. Please give today or sign up for monthly giving at donate.medair.org