Imtiaz Sooliman – Preparing the planet for humanitarian crises
AI: Summary ©
The hosts of a two-day conference on humanitarian disaster relief emphasize the importance of adaptability and planning in various missions, particularly in the face of severe challenges such as airport closures and the presence of Turkey. They stress the need for adaptability and the importance of learning to overcome obstacles, particularly in the face of severe volcanic er wheelions. The speakers emphasize the importance of creating a foundation for sustained success in various missions, including search and rescue work. They stress the need for skill development and empathy in preparation, as well as flexibility and respect in the face of challenges.
AI: Summary ©
Now the planet has seen its fair share of natural and man made
disasters, often the first to respond are humanitarian aid
workers. The gift of the givers has been dealing with the
disasters for over 30 years. Now it's teamed up with Stellenbosch,
University Center for Global surgery, to host a two day
conference it will look at preparedness for humanitarian
disasters. And our senior reporter descent, Tatia, is at that
gathering in Cape Town right now. He joins us now. Thank you so
much. Des, what can you tell us there with the gift of the givers
celebrating 30 years in Cape Town?
Well, I can tell you that this is a two day conference, and we've
only gotten through the first half of the first day, and already
there's been so much information that has been shared here,
information of value that will assist all of the people that
operate in this space. And it's not just one particular facet.
It's not just search and rescue workers. It's not just doctors.
There are number of people that play their role when the gift of
the givers does respond to these disasters, as they have been doing
over the past three decades or so. And just a short while ago, before
we broke for lunch, that was when there was a detailed discussion on
the need for search and rescue during these missions, and what
that actually entails. And I've got with me now the head of search
and rescue at the gift of forgiveness, Mister Ahmed. Bab
Ahmed, thank you for joining me. Something that kept coming up in
your discussions was that you can be the best in your field. You can
prepare all you want to, and I know that you guys do prepare, but
unfortunately, life and the environment has something else in
store for when you get there.
That's true. Dustin and thanks for having me.
You know, search and rescue, our response over the 30 years have
showed us that, especially that you can never plan enough. So as
much as we plan, you need to keep on planning. But adaptability and
rescues are very, very different. So just take it, for example,
you're going to any country, the infrastructure is damaged. There's
no basically, electricity, the airports might be closed or so. So
what you need to do is keep on planning. Once you hit the
obstacle, what do you do next? So you need to have that plan, B, C,
D, E, F, up until you go and reach you and achieve your goal that you
need to achieve. So adaptability is very, very important, and
that's what it's taught us. It's gift of the givers over the years
that you know, if everything is going perfect, something's wrong.
Yeah, so we trained now in a way that we are going to encounter
obstacles, and we just need to adapt and see how we overcome
those obstacles. Turkey, for example, I was just going to ask
you, Ahmed, like in your time, and you've done a lot of these
missions, what for you has been, you're talking about challenges.
What for you has been the perfect example of having these severe
challenges and then being able to overcome it for the greater good,
obviously, to help those that I need. First challenge would be
Haiti. I'd always say, because look where Haiti is situated, and
where we, as South Africa, was situated. So to get through to
Haiti, the airport got closed all of a sudden. Then what you needed
to do divert to what
was the country there? Dominican Republic. Sorry for that. So you
have to divert to Dominican Republic, but you don't know
anyone in Dominican Republic, so you needed to make sure that NGOs
can receive you there. So we had Caritas and CRS that assisted us
and from Dominican Republic to get into Haiti as well and to assist.
And then when you arrive in Haiti, you're going into a disaster zone.
You need to make sure that you have now your base of operations
ready, your food, your equipment, where you're going to stay before
you can do search and rescue efforts. Turkey, for example, was
quite the same. I mean, they sent us through to Hatay. We arrived
there. Things were promised in terms of it, but you don't blame
them, because it affected almost 13 million people the areas we
went to. So you're going into the disaster zone, you need to be
prepared in terms of where you're going to stay, how you're going to
sustain yourself, because you don't want to become a burden on
the country or the area and you come there living a luxury life, I
want to prepare and have all the best or five star hotel when the
people all around you have lost everything. So adaptability is
very important, and you need to plan ahead. And over the few
years, on these missions, we've traveled all over the globe, it's
assisted us how to adapt, and that's the most important aspect,
and that's, I think, an important but I saw some the young people
here chatting to you a little while ago, and I think just to
share with anyone who may be listening or watching and who
might have an interest in this kind of work, what is it that
would set them apart? Or what would it? What is it, or what
characteristics would they need to be able to assist on the level
that the gift of the givers does in these types of situations,
beyond just having the skills for that job, as you mentioned, the
skills are very important, so you want the right shoe fit. But with
us in the success of gift of the givers, especially with the types
of volunteers we do take.
Is, you might have all the theory. You might be good at the
controlled environment you work in, but you might not be able to
adapt in a disaster zone. That doesn't make you any less bad, or
anything you know, or your skills, or putting that in repute, or
something. But sometimes you need to have beyond the type of skills
that you've acquired in terms of knowledge, and what's very
important with us is you need to have integrity, you need to show
empathy, you need to learn how to respect all different cultures.
You need to be sensitized to things like that. So it goes much
more beyond than just the normal skills you have, and that's the
important characteristics that makes our teams very successful.
You've traveled with us, and you've seen whether you a doctor,
whether you're a paramedic, rescue or the media you all want. There's
no hierarchy system. And there's times where you as media as well.
You've dropped the camera many times. You adapt and say, What can
I do because of the need that needs to arise? I'll say, doesn't
you need to pack tablets? You'll do that because, you know, that's
a type of person. But besides what's off camera and what we need
to do, empathy, integrity, dignity, that's the most important
thing, you know. Thank you so much for your time. Ahmed bang there.
And I think what's important to take away from that is that it's
really not just all of the stuff that you find in textbooks. I
think this is, you know, some people are just born to do this
kind of work. By the end of this conference, these two days,
hopefully there will be a whole new generation, a whole group of
other people that will also be prepared to assist when they are
called upon to do so. I.