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“I have been a logistics coordinator for emergency teams for over 16 years now. For a few years, I thought I had already seen everything by constantly responding to disasters and emergencies and many refugee crises, but nothing could have prepared me for Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh. I have never ever seen a camp that size grow so quick. Imagine that, from one moment to another, everyone from North Dublin had to pack up everything they could hold in their hands and move into an area the size of the Phoenix Park, without any shelter, food or running water. Also, the area takes several days of hiking through bushes, rivers and all sorts of dangers… The people who make it to the refugee camps are already the lucky ones. Some people experience so much trauma that they hide about 4-5 hours of a hike away from any road or people… I remember travelling into the refugee camps with the confidence that I have the right experience and that my team and I would be able to make a significant difference by providing the very basic necessities to the refugees. But then, you see the sheer size of the growing camp and the more time you spend there and the more stories you hear, the more you realise just how big of a crisis these people are really in. It’s very hard to understand the situation of these people from your own home. You need to see it. But we are the ones who get to see it, so here I am asking you, the reader, to consider helping us to help them. There is a saying that I live by: If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one. You can make a huge difference in that one person’s life. I always think that if enough of us got together and each of us helps only one person in this world, it would be a far-far better place. The ‘Step In Their Shoes’ event is a way for people to experience a little bit of what the refugees who we work with feel when they have to flee from the home. It’s a way for people to show solidarity with refugees and to raise some much-needed funds.”
This post was highlighted by @Concernworldwide Join their ‘Step In Their Shoes’ Campaign and find out more below.
Concern’s work is crucial to refugees all over the world, and can only continue with the support of the public. With almost 80 million people displaced worldwide by conflict or disaster, funds raised from events like Step In Their Shoes are more important than ever Next week during Refugee Week, will you Step In Their Shoes? Walk 10,000 steps every day from June 14th-20th and help raise vital funds for vulnerable refugees who desperately need it.
People who sign up for the ‘Step In Their Shoes’ event will also get exclusive access to recently recorded interviews with Syrian refugees being supported by Concern in Lebanon. So whether we’re walking side by side or we’re worlds apart, we can all take a step towards hope.