Yesterday my school held a "Make a Difference Day", a day of seminars and fundraising activities for the whole school. The day was manic, there were pupils busking on the school site, endless bake sales, a coconut shy and a fun run. The causes that this was all for varied hugely in scope and purpose. From freedom of speech and saving the whales to providing earthquake relief, our eyes were opened to the many ways that we can make a difference.
One of the speeches that I watched was given by Baroness Cox, a truly amazing woman. Caroline Cox is a member of the House of Lords, a nurse, the founder and CEO of Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (abbreviated to HART) and most importantly an all round wonderwoman. She told us with complete humility the work that HART does, providing humanitarian aid to any country that needs it. Run by a mere four people, the organisation focuses on countries that have largely been ignored or forgotten by the media of the world.
HART give aid to people that are oppressed or persecuted and, as it says on their website, they currently work on behalf of and in collaboration with local people in Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Burma, India, Nigeria, Sudan, Timor Leste, Uganda and Egypt. A key part of their strategy, which I found to be innovative, is to use "local partners" in the countries that they help in order to achieve their goal. This means that they find the local people in charge, and give them a helping hand to start up hospitals, schools or housing in the area. I thought this strategy seemed very wise; rather than introducing a state of dependency on the organisation, this encourages local pride and cooperation, and gives a clear end point to the aid mission, but they can stay if needed.
Baroness Cox held the year group in awe as she told us about helicopter journeys fleeing heat-seeking missiles, jungle treks and earthquakes, but I found the most hard-hitting stories to be personal ones about individuals that she met.
One such recount was set in an area of South Sudan, ravaged by civil war that broke out in 2003, where tensions are still high as clashes between government forces, rebels and rival ethnic groups leave civilians in desperate need of medication, healthcare and a refuge from the violence. Baroness Cox told us how she was on standby while a both woman's legs needed to be amputated. In that region at that time, there were no analgesics on hand whatsoever. This surgery was done with no painkillers, only some alcohol that was administered to the patient once the surgery had begun. The woman survived the operation, but was in utter agony. On her next trip home, the Baroness described how she stockpiled as many of the strongest painkillers she could get her hands on, sometimes via illegal dealings. When she got them back to South Sudan, the villagers gratitude was immense. She said that the way she got them over the border was a story for another time...
Throughout her talk Baroness Cox described the wonderful people that she met and the hardships that they face. One village of people in Burma had their whole street burned to the ground, as all the houses were made of wood, and so had to trek across the jungle, fleeing the local soldiers that had been commanded to shoot on site any civilian in the area. Entire families carried everything they own on their backs, through dense jungle and unclean rivers. The jungle there, she told us, is not tropical; it is mountainous which means it is very cold at night. If they swam through a river, they could not light a fire to dry themselves because the smoke would be seen by soldiers, and so they walked sopping wet for miles and slept damp on the floor.
Baroness Cox told us about her journeys with them and with others, recounting stories of jungle medicine, hope and sadness. Pervading the talk however was a sense of optimism and motivation. At the end, questions were asked and one person asked her where she finds the motivation to do all the things that she does and has done for many years. She replied that when we see suffering, it evokes compassion, and this compassion gives us the fire behind our motivation. I find this notion to be incredibly inspiring. Baroness Cox ended her talk with the following idea: "I cannot do everything, but I cannot do nothing."
Wise words, from a truly inspiring woman.
References:
HART's Website: here
Image of Baroness Cox at the top of this post is taken from here
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