UNICEF Goes Wherein Assistance Is Needed Most

Abdulkadir (AK) Musse, Senior Emergency Coordinator with the Humanitarian discipline aid segment of UNICEF's workplace of Emergency applications, lately lower back from an emergency venture to Bangladesh, wherein he become assisting UNICEF's response to the Rohingya refugee disaster. A complete of 122 million people have been stricken by the crisis in Myanmar, which includes over 656,000 Rohingya refugees arriving in Bangladesh in view that August. Almost 60 percentage of the refugees are kids.

AK has been with UNICEF in numerous roles due to the fact 2003. Based totally in new york, he travels frequently to war and herbal disaster areas to offer technical aid to UNICEF's emergency and humanitarian efforts at the floor. In 2016, he supplied technical guide to the ecu migration disaster in Macedonia and Serbia in addition to aid missions to protracted crises in South Sudan and Somalia. In 2015 he turned into chargeable for coordinating the Nepali earthquake response. He additionally responded to the Ebola disaster in Sierra Leone, and has enjoy in Syria, Nigeria, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast and the us.

What Is It Like For Rohingya Children Living Inside The Sprawling Refugee Settlements That Have Sprung Up In Bangladesh?

AK MUSSE: One factor that struck me changed into the resilience of the youngsters right here in the camps. You can see the first , three weeks the children are very traumatized, but after a while their intellectual fitness improves. I spoke to a child who became 6, 7 years vintage and that i asked him, "What do you want to be whilst you grow up?" First, he stated,

"I need to be a teacher." Then the subsequent time, he said, "No, I want to be a doctor." This child changed into maintaining a small UNICEF pocket book, and it became the primary time he become honestly keeping a pen, you know, a 6, 7-12 months-antique child who had in no way been to highschool. The desire and expectation that they've, no matter all the tragic events that they have got long past via, is really very touching. They have hope, they have got a future in advance of them.

UNICEF Senior Emergency Coordinator AK Musse, far proper, recently back from an emergency mission to Bangladesh, wherein he become assisting UNICEF's response to the Rohingya refugee crisis.

You crossed from Myanmar into Bangladesh with the Rohingya refugees. What became the adventure like?

AK MUSSE: when refugees go from Myanmar into Bangladesh, there may be this no guy's land, a buffer region: muddy, wet rice fields. They stay there for some nights till the government lets them in. So in this case, we've four,000 refugees who commenced on the border, and a number of the women had been pregnant. There has been this young woman, 15 or 14, however she claimed to be sixteen or 17. She changed into closely pregnant. She went into labor while we were there and she or he needed to deliver. Way to God we have been there. We used our jackets, the entirety, to present her privateness. We needed to run back to get scientific elements and a blanket, then we helped the baby and the mother, cleaned them up and washed them the use of hand cleaning soap.

Then the mom, she stored crying. We have been thinking if she had a pain, and we have been wondering maybe we are able to talk to the commander and take her to the health facility. But she changed into crying of happiness, due to the fact she survived. The day earlier than we crossed from the Myanmar aspect, she witnessed considered one of her household, a young lady, who died in the front of her while giving start. So she was waiting for to die. However thank God, with our help, she survived and the child, lovely infant, was born in no man's land.

In which are you from?

AK MUSSE: i'm Ethiopian, from East Ethiopia. It's a location that has been uncovered to battle ever on account that i was born. Ever considering the fact that i used to be a younger age, i used to be uncovered to displacement and the refugee existence. I used to be a refugee myself. I was inside the identical state of affairs, and i recognize what children need, whilst they are that young and uncovered to displacement. So that is what prompted me to turn out to be a humanitarian worker; all my profession is operating humanitarian operations. I commenced as an preliminary officer within the field right here, but from 2012 to now, and in my international career for the ultimate 10 years, all I do is humanitarian operations.

Did you spend time in a refugee camp as a infant?

AK MUSSE: yes. What passed off became there was combating among Ethiopia and Somali jap Ethiopia, and we had to flee to Somalia. I spent some years in a refugee camp earlier than we went again to Ethiopia. So I realize what the refugee existence is. I was simply 4, five, 6 years old at that point, in the past due 70s.

© UNICEF united states of America

"One aspect that struck me was the resilience of the youngsters here inside the camps," says UNICEF Senior Emergency Coordinator AK Musse (proven here in Bangladesh). "The desire and expectation that they have got, no matter all the tragic events that they have got long gone thru, is simply very touching. They have got wish, they've a future beforehand of them."

How did you emerge as marching with refugees in Europe?

AK MUSSE: I desired to check myself. I used to be assisting refugees in Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and i used to be at the border in Macedonia and i saw these people on foot and we helped them and at once, they left. And that i said, 'Why don't I go together with them, and spot what they face between this land and no guy's land." So I walked with refugees from Macedonia to Serbia, nearly five kilometers, however as we had been approximately to enter Serbia the Serbian border guards stopped us and demanded our papers. So that is after I needed to produce my U.N. passport and say, "i am not a refugee, i'm U.N. personnel." and that they stated, "No, move lower back and come via legal immigration."

I honestly desired to see how it labored: Syrian, African, Afghan. Women, children, a number of them pulling elderly human beings in wheelchairs. So I walked with them. I marched.

What did you find out about the refugees' experience?

AK MUSSE: It turned into raining, cold, snowing and we gave them plenty of blankets and heavy things. These people need to transport very rapid. So I after they go away, they honestly throw away most of the heavy stuff. That's what i found out, and it helped us to layout our response. Rather than giving them heavy coats, maybe we will deliver them very mild things that they can use quickly. In place of giving them huge food gadgets, we are able to provide them very small biscuits, suckers they could simply consume on the manner. In case you supply them lots of factors that upload weight, they simply throw them away.

Some of them do not have proper footwear, so we need to deliver them proper shoes, so that you can walk that 5 kilometer border and the border among Serbia and Macedonia. So it helped me to genuinely trade the whole reaction design.

How were you and the refugees handled with the aid of the border guards?

AK MUSSE: For me, it's now not a problem. They really simply gave me entrance. But the way the Serbian and Croatian border guards have been managing the refugees was a piece tough. They had been slapping and beating them. Refugees face a number of harassment on the border they input. They use barbed twine close to the border, and households turn out to be separated: children on this aspect, the mom on this facet.

Rohingya refugees crowd onto a makeshift raft to pass the Naf River setting apart Myanmar and Bangladesh in November 2017.

What do the Rohingya refugees need maximum urgently?

AK MUSSE: In Bangladesh, we found that the majority of the youngsters crossing the border are either naked or semi-naked. They don't have a shirt or trousers, neglect about footwear. No one within the camps has footwear. So we are giving them clothes and footwear. However now it's honestly getting cold, specifically at night time time, so we've a high number of upper breathing infections recorded in our fitness facilities. So we notion, if we should deliver the children from 0 to 10 years antique a few garments and footwear, and linkage to infant protection and faculty facilities, that could be a start.

Do you communicate to them about your paintings?

AK MUSSE: yes, They realize my task, and they apprehend there are issues. They realize that anywhere i'm going, there is a disaster. The humorous factor is, someday i used to be going to Geneva for a workshop. And that they said, "you're going to Geneva? Is there a problem in Geneva?" I said "Come on, men."

They understand that generally I meditate, and i journey globally. We live in New Jersey. I speak to my children each evening, or each day, depending at the time difference. They ask in which i am, and what's happening. On occasion i'm away for 4 weeks to 2 months, depending at the magnitude of the crisis and the way rapid the usa workplace gets the potential to take over the operation. But there are instances, like in Syria, where i might pass for six weeks or longer. It took me nine months to go out from Syria. I visit South Sudan every 12 months, due to the fact the disaster continues getting bigger and larger and never-finishing.

Do you note a difference among the way UNICEF responds to a disaster and the way other groups respond?

AK MUSSE: generally I don't, due to the fact UNICEF and different groups work in coordination. We do nearly the same thing, but the distinctiveness of UNICEF is that, average, we're a multisector organisation. The relaxation humans cognizance on meals. And UNICEF might attention on one vicinity, but UNICEF additionally offers with the whole lot: water, sanitation, vitamins, schooling, child safety. We combine our reaction. And we always positioned the child on the center: that is the kid, what does the kid need? We strive to cope with all of the needs of the kid. If we cannot, we get our different partners to do it.

UNICEF commonly already has a regular presence in maximum of the international locations in the advanced world. So, when a disaster begins to hit, we're one of the first groups to be definitely on the ground to respond. Due to the fact we are already there. Emergency programming is a part and parcel of our normal programming. Each UNICEF united states office is meant to do chance programming and examine the dangers and threats, and have contingency plans for every specific risk, in order that whenever something happens, within the first few weeks, each united states of america workplace has the potential to reply until we mobilize initial assets. So this is additionally a unique distinction that UNICEF has globally.

I recall in northeast Nigeria, i was capable of coordinate the operation in the identical way, and different groups had been piggybacking on UNICEF. We had been the first human beings to be deployed, due to the fact we have been already there as part of our application. So we had been those who ought to lead the whole operation.