RescueNet Teams Unite!

From Billabong to Hong Kong

Dear friends and family,

I’ve just returned from the WHO Emergency Medical Teams (WHO EMT) Global Meeting in Hong Kong. Thank you to all who supported me in prayer and giving – I can report that the trip was genuinely worthwhile. My brain feels chock-full of new information, concepts and a lengthy to-do list, but I’ll try and summarise here as best I can 🙂

It was an honour to be invited to this conference and sit amongst politicians, NGOs and other dignitaries from around the world. A key message from these leaders in the field was that “good intentions are not good enough”. Unlike other medical disciplines, disaster response has often been driven by charity rather than results, with teams working to variable standards and under little accountability. When a disaster occurs, uncoordinated response flooding in poses a substantial burden and can lead to a great deal of harm.

Some important dignitaries with WHO Director General, Margaret Chan
Some important dignitaries with WHO Director General, Margaret Chan

In the coming years there will be no space for solo workers or unqualified disaster tourists to come and lend a hand. Instead, registered and quality assured teams will be intentionally chosen by the host country to come and fill gaps in their own capacity. The future looks very different from the stories that are still coming out of Haiti: stories of amputations being done without anaesthetic and unaccompanied children being taken away – all with “good intentions”.

Even in our own limited experience we can see the value of what the WHO is developing. After tropical cyclone Winston earlier this year we saw volunteers coming in to Fiji to do uninvited ‘relief work’: perhaps bringing water filters or tarpaulins but simultaneously relying on hard-hit communities to feed them and provide accommodation. After cyclone Pam in Vanuatu, Ali and I were dumbfounded at the amount of red tape and the length of time it took for us to get registered and deployed to where the actual need was.

Chinese New Year on a budget
Chinese New Year on a budget

The WHO EMT Initiative has been developed to set minimum standards and classify teams in order to improve coordination and speed up response time. RescueNet is one of the 75 teams that have started the verification process and this meeting gave us a great deal of understanding of what this will involve. The short answer: a lot of hard work and plenty more resources. It is a BIG challenge!

The conference days were long but we took time as a team to debrief and even visited the YWAM base in Hong Kong one evening. It was good to connect face-to-face with RN representatives from the USA and Europe branches, gather direction and unity, and make progress on some organisational issues. I was delighted to be welcomed and accepted despite my being a newbie and also letting some occasional Dutch directness slip out when it came to discussing issues I’m passionate about 🙂

The YWAM Hong Kong base
Joining in fellowship with the YWAM Hong Kong base

The story of the Good Samaritan is what RescueNet is built upon – to go the extra mile in helping anyone who needs it, regardless of background and without expecting in return. Yet the story becomes much more complicated when the wounded number in the thousands and every decision is influenced by a multitude of variables. The humanitarian sector is an inspiring community but even she is tainted by those who manage to turn helping others into a political goal or form of self-service. In contrast, as Christians it is part of our journey to understand that nothing is truly ours.

We don’t know the answer to the many difficult ethical problems that surround humanitarian aid, but we do know that RescueNet belongs to the Lord. He holds the solutions, so we want to align ourselves not with human wisdom but with what God is doing in the world.

6 thoughts on “From Billabong to Hong Kong”

    1. Thank you Ans, yes interesting times for RescueNet! PS i liked your Christmas hat craft on FB 🙂 Bless you, lots of love dani

  1. The conference certainly sounded worthwhile and interesting, particularly to hear about some of the consequences of unqualified help and expectations. Love to you and Ali, Carna x

  2. Thank you Carna! It’s amazing what isn’t reported in mainstream media 🙂 Hope you and Simon are well, danix

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