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International Humanitarian Workers Tell Their Stories
by Carol BergmanHumanitarian workers define courage in the 21st century. This book gives voice to their stories, to their ability to survive in the face of death, to their humanity to one another and to those they seek to serve.
From the world's most troubled corners, true stories of courage and
compassion.
Sudan, Rwanda, Somalia, Afghanistan, Bosnia, the Gaza Strip … Places that
evoke scenes of unimaginable suffering and hardship, the human condition at its
worst. But they are also places that highlight humanity at its best--the capacity
for generosity, self-sacrifice, and compassion. Among those who live at the
intersection of these realities are thousands of international humanitarian
workers--dedicated men and women from many countries who leave behind their own
comfort and security to face dangers, sorrows, and brutality that most of us
cannot imagine. Carol Bergman sought them out and encouraged them to tell their
stories--not to add to the chronicles of horror, but as a witness and a
challenge. Some of them are heroes; others, ordinary men and women who could not
sit idly by while others were suffering.
PREFACE
This book began over dinner at a small Italian trattoria in Manhattan, far
away from the world's continuing conflicts and natural disasters. Sitting
opposite me was Iain Levine, a lithe and gentle man, who was Amnesty
International's Representative to the United Nations. My plan was to interview
Iain for a magazine article about humanitarian workers. Several had turned up in
my writing workshops over the years, and I had met others socially. I found them
compelling, and complicated.
Iain is a nurse whose first job in the field was with Mother Theresa in
Calcutta. The son of Orthodox Jews, he grew up in the north of England, and
speaks with a lilting drawl. Philosophical musings and stories spill out of him
rapidly. Then he will fall silent and listen attentively, or ask questions about
the New York Yankees, his adopted team.
One of Iain's stories was about Foday Sankoh, the butcher of Sierra Leone. Iain
had just returned from that war-torn country,...
From the Foreword by John le Carré
What is it that makes this anthology of personal experience in the
field so particularly moving? Is it the courage and dedication of the
contributors? To a point. Is it their self-humbling in the face of monstrous
disaster? That too. But for my money, it is their self-control. It's their
suppression of useless pity in favor of doing something practical. It's their
determination, in the foulest conditions that man and nature can dream up
between them, to make human decency work rather than weep; to do whatever they
can, again and again, knowing it can never be enough. Madame Sadako Ogata,author of The Man Who Tried to Save the World
Gives the reader a good sense of the challenges involved [in
humanitarian work]--and why the effort matters. Roy Offenheiser, President, Oxfam America
Humanitarian workers define courage in the 21st century...This book gives
voice to their stories, to their ability to survive in the face of death, to
their humanity to one another and to those they seek to serve. Scott Anderson, author, The Man Who Tried to Save the World
In this extraordinarily powerful collection, we hear in the
humanitarian workers' own words their testimonials of life and death, of
compassion and simple courage, tales which should both haunt and inspire
us.
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