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The response to the horrific attack in April exemplifies the values this day seeks to recognize
Thirteen years ago today a blast tore through the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, killing 22 UN staff and hotel workers and wounding over 100 others. August 19 has since been designated World Humanitarian Day in recognition of humanitarian workers around the world, many of whom endure significant personal risk.
Each year we now have the opportunity to pay tribute to humanitarians who provide support to the millions of people worldwide impacted by conflict and disaster. The response by governmental and non-governmental medical staff to the horrific attack on Garissa University four months ago exemplifies the values that World Humanitarian Day seeks to recognize.
On the morning of April 2nd of this year, four Al-Shabaab gunmen walked into Garissa University campus in northeastern Kenya and began a killing spree that targeted non-Muslims. As the scale of the attack became apparent, overwhelmed health officials in Garissa reached out to humanitarian agencies in Dadaab refugee camp, 120km away.
Around 10am Abdi Jemal Hassan, Reuben Nyaora and Abdirahman Omar, three medical staff working for the International Rescue Committee (IRC), were called into a meeting by their supervisor, who briefed them on the ongoing attack and requested them to deploy. Within 15 minutes they equipped an ambulance, arranged a police escort for the insecure route to Garissa, and departed.
In Garissa the team identified themselves to the county hospital staff and were given the option of either stabilizing patients in the ER or going to the attack site to retrieve survivors. Because they had travelled with a well-equipped ambulance, they made the decision to go the university campus, where the attack was still underway.
For six hours they worked alongside other responders to pull wounded people out of the university and either treat them or rush them to the local hospital. The team made seven trips in all, each time re-entering the campus while the shooting continued. In the end the attack lasted for over 12 hours and 147 were killed.
Without the coordinated and timely response of the emergency teams, that number would have been much higher.
Growing up in Kenya does not inure these staff members to violence. Before departing that morning, Abdirahman called his wife, an IRC staff member working in Somalia, and she begged him not to go. He later said he was “very afraid” each time he had to go beyond the police cordon that surrounded the university.
Following the Garissa attack, and other recent but less prominent incidents around Dadaab, many staff are undergoing counseling. Others’ families demanded they resign or seek reassignment, causing a staffing shortfall across the camp.
The main camps in Kenya–Dadaab near the Somalia border and Kakuma near South Sudan–have existed for over two decades. A survey from late-2014 revealed that less than 2% of Dadaab’s predominantly Somali population would volunteer to move to Somalia in the next two years, the vast majority citing insecurity.
In addition, less than 1% of camp residents are ever resettled to other countries. As these and other long term solutions for this population remain elusive, public and donor interest continues to wane. News about renewed refugee crises in this chronic context fades into the background.
Last year the 45,000 new arrivals from South Sudan to Kakuma camp went largely unnoticed outside of the region. With declining interest, and subsequent reduced funding, comes increased pressure on staff. To illustrate with one example among many, IRC’s health workers now each conduct approximately 90 consultations per day, almost double the maximum accepted international norms.
Over the 12 months until the next WHD, experience unfortunately tells us that there will be renewed crises in the region; security is again deteriorating in South Sudan and cyclical climate patterns will likely soon result in another regional drought. While we must push for better, longer term solutions to humanitarian crises, we should also take this day to recognize work of aid workers that provide support to those who have no other options.
Over the coming year we can go further to support people affected by disaster and conflict by continuing to educate ourselves about humanitarian crises, new and old.
Conor Phillips is Kenya country director for the International Rescue Committee
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