* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
This post is part of our 'Humanitarians at risk' series, dedicated to World Humanitarian Daywhich will take place on 19 of August. The series features testimonies of humanitarians around the world who risk their lives daily, while saving those of others. World Humanitarian Day is our opportunity to recognise the personal sacrifice made by humanitarian professionals and pay tribute to those who were injured or killed while doing their job.
It's been less than two months since we received the devastating news that two of our colleagues from the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) were killed by an improvised explosive device (IED). The bomb was planted in the middle of the road and triggered to cause maximum damage. The four-by-four they were driving was reduced to twisted shards of metal; a graphic demonstration of what 20 kilos of explosives can do to an ordinary civilian vehicle. The facts were reported in a staff meeting, a technical explanation of where, and when, and how. It might have seemed too clinical, too detailed, until we came to the final point: “The explosion was huge and the effects were catastrophic. It would have been instant. They didn’t see it coming. They didn’t suffer.”
The entire NRC Mali and Burkina Faso team have been affected both personally and professionally by this tragedy. Our team members in Timbuktu – the people who were closest to them – are still coping with all the anger, sadness and stress related to the sudden loss, and the particular burden of being the ones who had to confirm the news. Other staff members continue to work with our colleagues’ families. Some were charged with investigating the circumstances of the attack and still others helped analyse what needs to be done in order to keep our colleagues and beneficiaries safe in future. The incident has affected all of us and every aspect of our work. Moving forward means addressing the past every day, forcing all of us to keep tearing open the same old gashes.
Read the rest of this story here.
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