WHD in Nicaragua

 

Since I was a student I’ve been interested in volunteering and participating in NGOs and associations activities because I have always thought it was important to contribute to local and international projects. At first I collaborated in my spare time with NGOs taking parting in awareness activities about humanitarian crises in other countries. Then I decided to dedicate more time of my life in this sector and I got a lot of interesting experience from working and volunteering in different countries (Dominican Republic, Spain, Italy and Iceland) and in different sectors (immigration, development cooperation, co-development, environmental protection) . At the moment I’m deployed in Nicaragua working for the EU Aid Volunteer project funded by ECHO with the collaboration of GVC, AWO International and Alianza por la Solidaridad and for the first time I have the opportunity to understand how is the humanitarian aid in the ground and know directly humanitarian workers and volunteers and beneficiaries. All of them are for me an inspiration to go on in this field with this job, they are the most exposed to natural hazards, crises and conflicts. Even if I spend most of the time in the administration office I feel more involved in giving my contribution to the victims of humanitarian emergencies. Nicaragua is one of the most highly vulnerable countries with high risks of natural disasters, principally earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, floods, hurricanes, droughts and tsunamis wrongly called ‘natural’ disaster, even if they are only natural hazards. Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) aims to reduce the damage caused by these events because disasters often follow natural hazards. In the commemoration of the World Humanitarian Day I think that is important to congratulate all those influential people who gave their contribution to make this world a better place in different contexts and countries.

 

By David Wiersma