Update Against Hunger - October 26, 2005
Field Notes:
World Hunger Day in Washington, DC
Dear Action Against Hunger Team Member,
As readers of this newsletter know, on Saturday, October 15, we demonstrated in Washington, D.C. to call attention to World Hunger Day. We set up human silhouettes made of wood on Dupont Circle, and every four seconds we struck a gong and toppled another silhouette to illustrate how frequently someone dies of hunger somewhere in the world.
Many people contributed to this event, and I thank them all. To begin with, we were supported by the Congressional Hunger Center, a bipartisan anti-hunger training and awareness organization co-chaired by Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) and Rep. James P. McGovern (D-MA). We're especially grateful that Rep. McGovern, a fifth-term Congressional veteran, visited the demonstration and spoke passionately about the challenge posed by world hunger.
We were also helped indispensably by a regiment of volunteers, led by Maha Khan who works for the U.S. Department of Transportation. Those who contributed their time and effort are Stephanie Abdulin, Paola Agusti, Jennifer Brady, Joanne Campione, Abigail Currie, Nicole Dial, Jon Donnelly, Tanya Facey, Anitra Haithcock, Joe Kovacs, Ronald Niebauer, Mia Overall, Alexis Rourk, Grace Simmons, Thao Tran, and Audrey Wood.
Cathy Skoula
Executive Director,
Action Against Hunger (ACF) USA
New from US Headquarter:
ACF's US Headquarters Welcomes New Staff Members
The cast is changing at our New York headquarters. First, Program Advisor Jeanette Bailey is leaving for Bolivia on a Fulbright scholarship to study access to food and water for indigenous people. Jeanette first came to us as an intern in
operations after graduating from Tufts. She left to work in Panama in sustainable agriculture, then returned to our headquarters as an intern. We soon hired her to work in office management and operations, and we sent her twice to Uganda to collect data and establish local partnerships as part of our participation in USAID's Child Survival and Health Grant Program. And when her year-long project in Bolivia is finished, Jeanette hopes to work for us yet again.
Our newest arrival is Human Resources Administrator Sarah Favorite. Sarah graduated from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and then worked in human resources and finance for the International Monetary Fund. She left to earn an M.Sc. in international development from the University of Bath in
England. But all the while, she says, she knew about us and wanted to be part of
our team. "It's hard to find work in this sector," she says. "I was absolutely thrilled to get this job."
And finally, office manager Brendan Tronconi has been at our headquarters for
many months. After majoring in international relations at Hunter College, he
looked for an internationally focused non-profit job on http://www.idealist.org and found us. We took him on as an intern answering telephones at our reception desk. Then we asked him to help manage the office, which he did with such efficiency that we've hired him full-time.
We expect more new arrivals at our headquarters during the next few months,
and we'll tell you about them all as soon as they're on board.
News from the field:
Update: ACF Progress in Earthquake-Affected Pakistan
Preliminary details regarding our Mission in Pakistan, begun on October 8 within hours of a 7.6 magnitude earthquake: Pakistan has announced a death toll of 47,700, but estimates from on-site observers put the count closer to 79,000. This number will almost certainly rise further due to cases of gangrene from untreated injuries and cold-related health problems complicated by a lack of shelter as winter arrives in the Himalayan foothills. Already, we've received reports of two deaths from hypothermia.
Aftershocks during the night of October 18 forced our team in Manserha to find a new house and office when their base developed severe cracks. Then we canceled a trip into the field the next day because new landslides blocked roads. Currently, however, Pakistani and U.S. military personnel are opening roads, and 69 helicopters in the country are helping with distributions. But because winterized tents are particularly heavy, one helicopter can transport only 41 tents at a time, and at that rate, distribution will require more than four months.
Clearly, relief isn't arriving quickly enough for many Pakistanis, some of whom have aimed hostility at aid workers. When distributions occur, recipients often refuse to wait in line. Crowds have pushed each other into the rotors of landing helicopters, and at some distribution points, soldiers or police officers have had to protect aid workers and ensure that each desperate recipient took only an equitable share.
We plan to focus our efforts on districts that we've identified as isolated and less likely to receive immediate aid than more urban areas are. Fortunately, food crops are either mature or recently harvested, though their adequacy is difficult to assess from overflights, which in certain parts of Pakistan is all we've been able to make so far. Markets appear to be functioning, but the destruction of roads prevents trade between villages. Similarly, water quality and sanitation can't be judged by hovering overhead. Even so, using helicopters, trucks (when possible), and mule teams, we project reaching a minimum of 33,200 beneficiaries in our target areas and hope to distribute shelter kits that include winterized tents, blankets, cooking utensils, and tools such as shovels, pickaxes, and wheelbarrows. We're also discussing "cash for relief"distributions of money that would allow dispossessed Pakistanis to purchase food and shelter autonomouslywhich would be a first for us.
Our initial forecast is that our effort will cost in excess of $4.5 million.
Person Profile:
Profile LARA SERGOVICH
Lara Sergovich knew she wanted a humanitarian career after taking a course, "Essentials of Humanitarian Practice," in London, Ontario, where she was born, grew up, and went to college, and which she still considers home. But first she got sidetracked.
After college, she worked in Toronto for a local gas distributor as a chemical engineer, where her chief task was monitoring flows in pipelines. She rose within her department until she hit the department's ceiling, she says. Then she took time off to accompany her (ex-)boyfriend to Mt. Everest, where as Base Camp Manager she organized his expedition and helped him find sponsors. (He got to the top. She stayed below.)
In all, Lara made three trips to Everest, "then I ran out of money," she says, and went back to Canada to sell water treatment chemicals to oil refineries in Edmonton. "That wasn't my thing," she says. "It had no greater purpose."
So she resigned, spent four months in Veracruz, Mexico, learning Spanish as a volunteer at an aquarium. When she had to leave (because her low-priced airline ticket was expiring), she began networking until she found Action Against Hunger. She applied, and we sent her to Uganda as Capital Logistician, which required 11-hour days six days a week. Little about the job surprised her, she says, not even the huge amount of work and the frustrating delays finessing government red tape. What impressed her most, however, was how comfortable she felt in Kampala and how friendly and receptive everyone was. "Everyone in Uganda would say, 'You're most welcome,'" she says. " It's a phrase I want to use the rest of my life."
Lara recently returned home to recharge after an intense year in Uganda, but then she wants another field assignment from us. The only siren call she hears, she says, is "humanitarian practice."
