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Humanitarians at risk: The phone call Kate won't forget

This post is part of our 'Humanitarians at risk' series, dedicated to World Humanitarian Day which 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.

Wednesday, 21 May 2014. Kidal, in northern Mali, centre of the disputed territory of Azawad, had been comparatively calm since the previous Saturday, when violence erupted resulting in multiple deaths and injuries.

Humanitarians use the term ‘calm’ (often followed by ‘but volatile’) to describe those periods between the outbreaks of violent conflicts which punctuate the lives of the people living in places where order cannot be maintained. It’s a misnomer, of course. There is nothing calm about trying to get enough food, water and shelter to protect your family, whilst waiting for the next blow, the next attack, the next confrontation. There is nothing calm about living where fighting makes survival a daily challenge, and where nothing about the future is certain.

But in this relative calm, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) team on the ground had been visiting partners and beneficiaries, providing information, and undertaking initial assessments. Early on Wednesday 21 May, I called my team, locally recruited staff with a long experience of working in Kidal, to get the morning’s news. A female colleague told me that the night had passed “calmly”. She explained that the people who had fled the town on Saturday were struggling to find enough water for their families and their animals. She told me of her plans for the day.

It was maybe an hour later, around 9.30am, that my colleague called me back. It was calm no more. News had arrived that the armed groups were preparing to fight. She was frightened and told me it was too late to flee. I asked her where she could be safe. She didn’t know. We talked quickly, the urgency gathering in her voice. She’d go with her children to the other side of town; she’d take all the people she could with her. We rang off, and I started to make the round of calls to confirm and add to the information I’d just received, talking with partners, UN, security specialists. Less than 30 minutes later, my phone rang again. “It’s started” she told me “le feu est ouvert”, French for indicating that there was shooting. I heard gun fire and heavy artillery exploding in the near background. “Pray for us. Pray for us and keep us safe”.

She hung up, the explosions still ringing in my ears. We talked again that evening, and she described how she had sought safety and, had escaped the worst of it. Others had suffered much more, losing homes, friends, family members. Many had fled. Many needed help, urgently.

And so the work began again, picking up from where they had left off, brushing off the effects of what they had seen and experienced, and focusing on the tasks at hand. IRC is now making safe spaces for children, many of whom have been deeply affected by what they saw that day. My colleagues, still living with the fear that it will happen again, alongside their neighbours, are working to provide humanitarian aid to those who need it most, and for that we owe them both respect and gratitude. So on this world humanitarian day, let’s remember those who stay, whether it’s calm or not, in order to serve those who need it more than they do.

Kate Moger, Country Director, IRC - Mali

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