The doctors, nurses and aid workers rebuilding Syria | Rola Hallam

40,348 views ・ 2018-06-05

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"Five hospitals in Aleppo have been bombed."
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That was a text message that I received on a dark winter night in November 2016.
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One of them was a children's hospital
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run by my Syrian colleagues
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at the Independent Doctors Association, IDA.
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It was the sixth time it had been bombed.
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I watched in horror heartbreaking footage of the head nurse, Malak,
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in the aftermath of the bombing,
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grabbing premature babies out of their incubators,
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desperate to get them to safety,
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before she broke down in tears.
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And I felt devastated.
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Fellow humanitarians and I have spent blood, sweat and tears
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rebuilding hospitals
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so that our patients may live, not die.
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And through this work, I made a discovery.
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The reason that people survive in crisis
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is because of the remarkable work of the people in crisis themselves.
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People survive because of the local doctors, nurses and aid workers
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who are from the very heart of the affected community,
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the people who dare to work where others can't or won't.
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People survive because of people like Malak,
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who, despite sustaining a severe burns injury in the line of duty,
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the first thing she did when discharged from hospital
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was to go back caring for small children.
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From the rubble of death and devastation
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arise the most gallant and noble human beings.
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Local humanitarians are the beacons of light
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in the darkness of war.
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Now, the data shows that Syrian organizations carry out
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75 percent of the humanitarian work in Syria.
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Yet, they receive 0.3 percent of the Syria aid budget.
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And what's more, the same is happening across the crises of the world.
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I have witnessed this reality.
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It means those with the knowledge, skill and ability
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to respond on the front lines
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have little of the necessary tools, equipment and resources
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they need to save lives.
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It means groups like IDA don't have funds to rebuild their hospital.
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The humanitarian system is failing the most vulnerable communities
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in their darkest hours.
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Now, at the time of receiving that message,
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I was on sabbatical from my clinical work,
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setting up CanDo,
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a start-up determined to address this imbalance
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and enable local responders to provide health care
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to their war-devastated communities.
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We had devised a simple model:
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source trusted and impactful local groups,
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support their development through an accelerator program
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and connect them to you via our crowdfunding platform,
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where they can fund-raise for their health needs.
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So when IDA asked for help,
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I decided to launch CanDo seven months early,
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with very little money,
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and many people, including myself, thought I had finally gone mad.
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I wanted to do something that transformed our collective anger
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into something beautiful.
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And that's how the People's Convoy was born.
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It was a global crowdfunding campaign
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to enable IDA to rebuild a whole new children's hospital,
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and, if successful, we the people would take the medical equipment
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all the way from London to the Syria border.
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And we did it.
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Thousands of people came together from across the world
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to achieve a global first:
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we built the first-ever crowdfunded hospital.
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The location was carefully chosen by the local experts, IDA,
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where they knew it would be safe
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and serve the greatest number of displaced children.
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IDA was so moved by people's response,
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they named it "Hope Hospital."
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It's been open for exactly one year,
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and they have treated over 15,000 children.
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(Applause)
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We can provide lifesaving assistance in the most volatile places on earth.
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The system needs to change,
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and change starts with us all sharing a new humanitarian vision,
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one where you, global citizens with skills, expertise and resources,
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stand together with the local responders;
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one where we are all humanitarians,
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putting the necessary resources in the hands of those who need them most
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and are best placed to use them effectively and efficiently.
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We need to support the people who are not only saving lives now,
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but it will also be them stitching their wounded communities back together,
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once a conflict is over to help them heal.
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Local humanitarians have the courage to persist,
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to dust themselves off from the wreckage
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and to start again, risking their lives to save others.
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And we can match their courage by not looking away or turning our backs,
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by helping those who are helping themselves,
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and together, save more lives.
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Thank you.
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05:23
(Applause)
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(Cheers)
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(Applause)
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Shoham Arad: Come over here, please.
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Why are hospitals being bombed?
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Rola Hallam: Yeah, good question.
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So, Physicians for Human Rights have documented
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nearly 500 attacks on hospitals
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and over 800 medical personnel who have been killed --
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over 90 percent of it by the Syrian regime --
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and they say this is part of a systemic targeting
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and destruction of health care,
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using it as a weapon of war.
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And the thing with this is that it's not just our problem,
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it's yours, too, and everyone's,
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because A, it exacerbates the refugee situation --
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when you have a decimated health care system,
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it means the next Ebola-type epicenter of disease is going to be Syria;
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and unfortunately, it sets a very dangerous precedent
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that makes all of our hospitals anywhere in the world dangerous,
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and that is not how it should be.
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SA: So this actually isn't just about money, either,
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CanDo isn't just about money.
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Tell me what it means to you that 5,000 people all over the world
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contributed 350,000 dollars to build Hope Hospital.
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RH: I think the answer is in that word, it's in hope.
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I think everyone who donated, they had their faith in humanity renewed,
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knowing there are people like IDA and those doctors,
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who are exhibiting the absolute best of humanity,
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and it was like an absolute reciprocation.
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IDA and these Syrians and many people in places of conflict
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feel very unheard and unseen.
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And I think the fact that --
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and they see things through the prism of government,
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so when they see government's not acting,
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they assume everyone who lives in those places doesn't care.
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So when they see that display,
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it really does just renew everyone's faith in humanity.
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SA: Thank you, Rola.
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RH: Thank you. SA: Thank you for everything.
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(Applause)
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