Happy New Year!

A new year is on its way and we need to look back at what we achieved in the past year, as individuals and think forward to what more needs to be done.

Politicians ought to do their best to fulfil the promises they made, business people must aim to be honest with their customers and religious leaders should be committed to building bridges between different faiths to establish cooperation and trust.

Teachers have to help the children gain those critical skills for life. Children should ask their parents not to destroy our planet. Humanitarian workers should take on the most critical issues people are facing around the globe.

Our life is short as a moment, but our actions should be an everlasting story. To a prosperous 2011!

Empowered women series - Part 5

These four stories are meant to show the strength of women and enforce the idea they are the driving force behind some of the greatest achievements in this world.

I believe that women have more than one role to play in society: not just mother and daughter, but also teacher and mentor for future generations. These roles complement women’s leading roles in society as professor, nurse, doctor, minister etc.

I feel strongly that women are behind their brothers’, husbands’ or sons’ success in society without undermining the role of the ones they support.

I mentioned these four models for humanity to remind all of us that we shouldn’t only remember the great acts delivered by Prophets and messengers of God, but also the modest acts performed in history by mothers, sisters and wives.

Behind every Prophet, there is a great wise woman as well.

Empowered women series - Part 4

Once upon a time, in a luxuriously decorated room inside the King’s Palace, a young beautiful girl was sat on a chaise. An older lady was standing by her side, holding a golden brush and precious hairclips. She was hairdresser to the Princess of Egypt.

The hairdresser looked at the girl and said “Oh, God! You look beautiful today!” The girl said: “Thank you. When you said God, did you refer to my father?”

The hairdresser replied: “No. I mean the real God, our God”. The girl was startled: “Can I tell my father about this conversation?”The hairdresser serenely answered: “Yes. Why not?!”

Soon enough, the hairdresser was brought in front of the court of the Man God. When asked “Who is your God?” she gave the same answer she gave the Pharaoh’s daughter.

Everyone was yelling at the hairdresser to change her mind, but she didn’t waver. The Man God threatened her with punishment: “If you don’t recognise me as God, you and your children will be put to death in this boiling oil”.

The woman didn’t blink once in the face of this threat. After a few seconds, she begged to speak. The Man God asked: “Have you changed your mind? What can I do for you?” The brave hairdresser answered: “After our death, please bury us together”. This angered the Man God, who carried out his sentence.

The moral to this story highlights the qualities of this hairdresser, who had the courage to stand up for her unshakeable belief and should be an inspiration for all humanitarian and community workers on the field.

Empowered women series - Part 3

Once upon a time, a mature woman of 40 liked a younger man, who was 25. It’s easy to see why she liked him, as he was the best man of the tribe. He was handsome, intelligent, and pious.  His nickname was “Trustworthy”.

The woman was a widow and a divorcee and felt she had no hope to aspire to his hand. She talked about it to a friend and expressed her wish to marry this young man. To her surprise, the man accepted to be her husband and they lived happily ever after.

She worked tirelessly to help him succeed in his community work. She was for him an advocate, financial support, moral thinker and guide. She was his backbone throughout their 13 year marriage.

The man was Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) and his wife was Lady Khadija. She was a crucial element in supporting Mohammed as Prophet and community worker.

Empowered women series - Part 2

Once upon a time, a young beautiful girl was so chaste, pure and modest that the community had the greatest respect for her. She implemented her moral values through her relationship with the community and was loved by God very much.

One morning, a man came to her and told her she was pregnant. At first she was shocked and fearful, trying to keep away from the man, who turned out to be an angel. He also told her she was carrying a baby boy. The girl was afraid and ashamed.

How could a chaste girl become pregnant? Even though this issue was very painful, she still took on the responsibilities and built her community. We must share the same feeling and take on responsibilities in our community, thus building the future of nations.

The girl’s son was Jesus (Peace Be upon Him) and the little girl was Virgin Mary. She managed to prove her quality of leadership and rose to the magnitude of responsibility she took on at a very young age.

On this note, I wish everyone Happy Holidays!

Empowered women series - Part I

Once upon a time, a King dreamt that a baby boy from a different ethnic group would be born to claim his throne. The King ordered his guards to kill each one of the baby boys born within this ethnic group.

The chosen boy’s mother was distraught when she found out about the King’s order. She prayed arduously to God, who told her: “If you are afraid for your boy, put him in a basket on the river”. It was incredible, for a mother to put her son in the river, and God gave her strength. God whispered in her ear: “Your son will be taken by an enemy of yours and raised in their house”.

The mother’s sister followed the river to see where the boy would end and God led the boy to be seen by the First Lady, who loved the child the moment she saw him. The boy refused to be breastfed by any nurse, so after many trials, he was sent back to his mother’s house, after the stepmother convinced the King to allow him at Court.

That boy became the first humanitarian worker and saved his people from punishment. His name was Moses.
We all know the story of Moses, but we must celebrate the importance of Moses’ mother, his aunt and the wife of pharaoh, and their strength and leadership skills within the community.

The runaway train

In my view, religion holds an important part in public life and has done so since ancient times. Even if we live in a laic society, we cannot forget to give religion’s due place.

I believe it is not a question of democracy versus theocracy, but one of monopoly, as practiced by politics. Are we more democratic than we were before? Are we supporting diverse growth in different parts of the world? Are we imposing a “one size fits all” solution?

In my view, all this pushes us towards political monotheism. Everything becomes like an unmanned runaway train, ready to derail at any point, producing radicalism, extreme fundamentalism, terrorism, internal and external conflict, refugees, poverty etc.

If we look at the man-made calamities the world is facing today, we can assume that the “one size fits all” model of politics and democracy has failed, and local solutions must be sought and some of those might just involve bringing religion forward.

Whites in shining armour?

At the begining of the most technologically sophisticated century so far, we still rely on what we know best, instead of exploring new avenues. This doesn’t just apply to industry, but to humanitarian work as well. Should you look closely, you’ll discover humanitarian actions around Christmas, Ramadan, Hannukah, Diwali etc., activities long established in the history of charity.

However, it seems that more recently people have been waiting for the Prince and his White Elephant  to save the princess in distress from the gorilla of hunger, sickness and poverty. They dream about him coming from London, Paris, New York, without considering there may be a king coming on a dolphin from South America, or even somebody on a dark horse from Asia.

In my opinion, the only difference between the white elephant, the dark horse and dolphin is given by our comfort zone. I feel we must expand this comfort zone, for the sake of humanity as a whole and ask ourselves: who will save the princess? The elephant, the horse or the dolphin individually? Or should they complement each other and save the princess together, for the greater good?

I leave you to draw your own conclusions.

Who is the owner?

We can talk about car ownership, house ownership, business ownership, however, in humanitarian work, we tend to call it governance.  In my opinion, governance is somewhat different, as it implies management, whereas ownership suggests belonging.

As humanitarian workers, we try to diversify our message to create a new club culture, which could turn out either negative (separated from the community) or positive (intellectual growth of the sector). I believe that when we will answer the question of ownership, we will be at ease with the community and the world in general.

In my view, the owners of the humanitarian organisations and their assets are the poor, the sick, the vulnerable etc., the ones we aim to champion. If we consider this view a reality, then we must draw a stronger bond between us and them, as they are our employers, after all. If we empower our employers, they could sack us because of the lack of delivery in our promised services to them.

What usually happens is that they fully authorise us to spend funds in whichever way we see fit and we just keep them distantly silent. We abuse their private images, showing how frail, unlucky and miserable they are.

I think that the moral bond between us and our real employer should be revisited every time, so that when we speak to them, we say “Yes, Sir” or “Yes, Ma’am”. When we visit their dwellings, we ought to have their permission. More importantly, when we spend the funds, they should have a say. That is true ownership.

The “leak” soup

My favourite dish is soup. I can never have enough of soup, no matter what flavour (lentil, tomato, sweet and sour, chicken etc.) and that’s why my wife always cooks it for me. The one I like best is leek soup, as it has an earthy taste, it creates a sense of belonging to its roots.

However, this November, a new soup caught my eye: the “leak” soup, distributed by Wikileaks. I woke up one morning and strange news were capturing the media’s attention, upsetting people, creating havoc and inspiring mistrust.

My first question on hearing these facts was: What are the parameters of the media’s ethics? More importantly, are there any ethics? I believe that ethics have been left on the shelf, to become dusty, rusty and outdated.

My second question followed naturally: Can there be leaks in my roof without something or somebody creating them? Surely somebody made my roof leak and therefore “leak” soup is all over my bedroom (and in the public news). In my opinion, it takes two to tango and we cannot pretend the nail can make a hole without the hammer helping it along.

At a time when everyone is looking to put behind all the world’s problems, the “leak” soup should be put aside. We must all focus on helping the humanity to feast at the table of peace, safety and unity.

Happy Islamic New Year

Salam,

I want to take the opportunity to wish you a Happy Islamic New Year and invite you to celebrate together with me during this time of happiness and sharing!

Dr. Hany El Banna (OBE, MBBCH, MD)

The Sudan Connection

Sudan is very close to my heart, as I was born by the river Nile and also opened the first Islamic Relief office there 20 some years ago. It is also a very important actor in the global stage, being the biggest and most diverse country in Africa.

On this note, I remember meeting a special advisor of the Sudanese president as part of a high-level governmental delegation. My message on that occasion was: “ Let us look at the value of Sudan for humanity”. I didn’t want to restrict Sudan to East Africa, the Arab and Muslim world, as a country or its provinces, but I wanted to look at it in its entirety.

A year on from this most interesting meeting, the future of Sudan will be decided in January 2011 by referendum. This would bring to the table the opinions of the people living in South Sudan, opinions which must be respected and supported by everyone.

My nightmare scenario after the referendum is fuelled by a few discussions I’ve had with some governors from South Sudan. One of them told me in no uncertain terms: “If we divide Sudan, it wouldn’t be between two countries. It would be around 4, 5 or even 6 countries.” Another official told me: “I have my own personal army and own territory. I want my own seat.”

Working in the humanitarian field, I can’t help but worry about the outcome of the referendum. As humanitarian worker, I can’t focus on the river Nile, on natural resources or land. I focus on the well-being of the people, particularly at the end of 50 plus years of fighting in the region which lead to so manyinnocent lives being lost.

I have just come back from Kuwait where I attended a conference for East Sudan, where the international community pledged 3.5 billion $. Earlier this year, I attended a conference for Darfur, where over 1 billion $ was pledged. I would have liked an international conference for the whole of Sudan, a more inclusive approach. I was unusually quiet at the conference and when somebody asked me about it, I answered I would like peace for all, not a piece meal for everyone of us.

While uniting our efforts in other parts of the world, we should spare a thought for the safety and well-being of the Sudanese vulnerable groups of people and respect the decision to be made early 2011.

The donkey, the politician and I

Policy and politics are facts of life. In my view, we all have common characteristics we can enjoy, such as shared values, faiths, feelings and I would also add policy and politics. This doesn’t just stop at humankind, but extends to other creations of God.

Why should we restrict policy and politics talk just to governments in the broader sense?! Most of the time, government personnel are the ones who abuse policies and fail to fulfil their promises.

I respect and admire donkeys as one of the most dedicated and committed workers God has created. When we look closely at the lifestyle of a donkey, we find that it also plans and draws a policy. The donkey’s policy is tailored to suit the needs of its herd, its master and its relationship with the other creatures around it. I find the donkey very transparent, impartial and focused and I like that it always meets the expectations of its master.

On the other hand, a lot of politicians are interested in only gaining seats, or Presidency or Premiership. As soon as they’re in, we and our dreams are out. This state of affairs has been going on for centuries, so I ask: Whose example shall we follow: the donkey’s or the politician’s?

I recommend trusting the donkeys, because as a community we become a vehicle and the donkey makes us its mission. The donkey, through its hard work and integrity, wants to succeed and make each and every one of us happy.

PS: The donkeys described present no similarity to any other donkeys, political party symbols or not.

Reflection on charity as an industry

I see my last blog post divided opinions on charity as an industry. I would like to answer one particular comment from my Facebook page: charity as an industry to make money and power for many.  I would like to thank the user for his constructive criticism as the thought rose in my mind that many may believe this about charity.

In my opinion, industry has more than one dimension, marred by negative connotations as it also means enterprise. Let’s not forget Henry Ford, who managed to turn car manufacturing into an industry, revolutionising transport across the globe. I would like to add to that the philosophical, implementation and development dimensions.

The philosophical dimension takes into account the concept of industry, which should be more inclusive to broaden the thinking of people in charge. The implementation dimension encourages us to perfect and excel in our services to the needy, since they are the true owners of charity operations. The third dimension includes the development of the lives of the beneficiaries and the creation of a new generation who will be empowered to lead their communities.

Looking again at the pyramid, if we consider charity an industry, we manage to overcome the seasonal and traditional giving, therefore going from the individual to a legitimate institution.
People usually judge industry from a mechanical point of view. I believe we ought to look at it from a fresh, thought-provoking point of view. We need to create the industry of thinking, mentoring, cultural development, dialogue and trust building.

Charity, with its links to other sectors, must be accountable and transparent, reflecting and responding to the needy, otherwise it becomes entangled by individuals who want only money or power for themselves.
Charities must work together to ensure the development of communities continues, without any place for individuals with ulterior motives.

From the International Donors and Investors Conference for East Sudan in Kuwait,

Dr. Hany El Banna

Charity as industry

 
In my view, charitable feelings are God given gifts, embedded in ourselves. Humanity cannot exist without some form of charitable activity. Philanthropy is as old on this Earth as human beings, as it started when one human helped another human in need.

I see charity in the form of a pyramid. At its base, there is the individual, who does humanitarian work in a seasonal way, reacting to natural disasters and conflict as and when these occur. One example of seasonal giving is when people share their wealth with others during harvest festivals.

However, we must not stop at seasonal giving and we must go beyond charity in times of natural disasters. With the development of our society, our individual seasonal response becomes traditional and ineffective in the longer run.

Society is reluctant to change and very few people consider charity as professional work that could be subject to structural framework, like any other work. Professionalization, in my opinion, happens when an individual specialises in a role that could be useful to serve the community or sector. Structured professional humanitarian activities can only be performed in an organisation environment, in order to cope with the diversity of the needs of beneficiaries.

We need to start seeing charity as an industry, in order to serve more people in need. Why an industry? I think it’s because of the money we take, the money we spend... The tears we wipe and the smiles we bring... The nakedness we cover and the shelter we provide... The despair we eliminate and the hope we plant.

Let us all work together for the success of this industry!

How to build a Civilisation

In my view, civilisation bases itself on an idea shaped by the philosophy and culture of an individual. Such an idea will never allow the thinker to rest until he/she imagines the boundaries, the framework and develops the outlook. This is step 1.

The same individual will become restless- they would like to express their idea to the people they trust and gain support in order to further the development of the idea. Once they have found support, the individual will put the idea into practice in a chosen locality for a period of time. This is step 2, the project phase.

The same group of idea supporters will continue building on the frame they created, advocating the idea at a higher organisational level. This is step 3, the organisational phase.

Once ideology is served by institution, over a longer period of time (step 4), the idea is exposed to masses of people, which could in turn, become an ideology in itself (step 5). It’s important not to lose focus on the idea at the heart of this endeavour.

If the ideology is supported by institutions, we can discuss of culture change, which becomes step 6.  If the changing culture serves the original idea, then civilisation will follow, after a period of time and we have reached step 7.

It all comes back to the individual who succeeded laying down the foundations of a civilisation. History will remember them and their success, making it thus step 8.

From one idea, a little stroke of genius on behalf of an individual, one day, we might just be able to see a new civilisation based on humanitarian moral values and history books will present a message of peace.

Inspector Poirot and the Pressure Cooker

I like to watch the Inspector Poirot series because he manages to solve cases so easily and always comes to the rescue when needed. This character inspired me to imagine a brand new episode:

Nobody could say that either Pan or Mama don’t run their restaurant well. Pan is the chef and Mama works front of house and they both own a small family restaurant in London. Their cooking is always in demand because of its unique flavours, blending different cultures.

The only problems they face are the ones caused by Mr. ET, their business partner.  When he takes an order from the Daslam family, ET passes on the wrong order to Pan or Mama.

Inspector Poirot is hired to investigate the reasons of Mr. ET’s behaviour. What he finds out stuns everyone: the Daslam family children annoy him greatly. If it is because they make funny loud noises, speak foreign languages and wear different clothes, the real reason is unknown. The rest of the Daslam children generally agree with Mr. ET’s perspective.

Poirot finds Mr. ET's behaviour odd, as he would not acknowledge his non-communication with some of the Daslam. Therefore, Poirot had to write in this report that Mr. ET ignores this noisy group, sometimes even going as far as antagonising them.

Investigating further, Inspector Poirot finds out that Mr. ET slowly but steadily changed the recipe for Pan or Mama’s famous Spaghetti sauce. What was a homogenous mixture, cooking well in the pressure cooker, turned into the “bin lid in growing deadly salsa”. ET tightened the lid so badly on the pressure cooker, not allowing for the steam to vent off.

All this wasn’t known to Pan or Mama, so one day, as Pan was in the kitchen and Mama was serving the clients, ET let the “bin lid in growing deadly salsa” to over boil in the pressure cooker.

Poirot comes in quickly to the kitchen to release the pressure, jumps high to courageously rescue Pan or Mama and their clients from the explosion and saves the day.

My conclusion to such an episode would be that a business partner such as ET should be impartial, neutral, substantial, innovative and accommodating of all the customers’ opinions to enable the kitchen to produce the best quality in the industry.

If it’s witty, I’ll wink ;)

I was once described by somebody as an “analogue individual living in a digital world”. Recently I have astonished my acquaintances by starting to use Facebook, Twitter and write a blog. How can an “analogue” man start believing in high tech?

My children became concerned by my daily Facebook updates. They told me “It’s only for youngsters”. My answer was simple: I know it’s used by youngsters. I find it is a great way to expose the next generation to humanitarianism, so that the youngsters of today turn into the great humanitarian workers of tomorrow.

Let us join hands and tune our message in order to meet in the middle: the ones who have already started on the path of humanitarianism and the next generation.

From Heathrow to Atlanta, with love...

I was discussing recently the issue of air traffic with my colleagues in the office. One of them found some very interesting facts, like the busiest international airport in the world is London Heathrow and the busiest national airport hub is in Atlanta, USA. In Heathrow, an average of more than 7700 passengers pass by every hour, which means that during the 17 hours a day the airport is in operation, 131,000 people pass through. Atlanta could have even higher figures.

I’m trying to get with these facts and figures to the issue of time spent on security checks in an airport.  If we calculate that the 131,000 people will spend on average 10 minutes each being checked, it comes out at approx. 21,806 hours (909 days!!!!) from one single airport. Paying somebody £10 an hour for this service can cost the tax payers up to £79,628,400 per year, and this is only from one single airport.

The security issue is not something to be undervalued or taken lightly; on the contrary, security puts our minds at rest so we can travel safely. However, when this is pitted against cutting back on social welfare, it brings home the truth that we need to create dialogue to address the needs of society and of every citizen in our country.

...in the time of the cholera

It’s happening in two of the most vulnerable communities in this world: Haiti and Pakistan. The people didn’t just lose their livelihood; they now risk losing their lives. After the earthquake and floods, cholera is spreading.

Now is not the right time to politicise our humanitarian activities and damage fund appeals, when people are most needy. What should be our response in the face of such a tragedy? Should we dither, make hypotheses, wait and see? Or should we act swiftly to respond to the needs of the affected people?

In my view, the victim should be the focal point; aid must be delivered rapidly and efficiently and we must create partnerships based on dialogue and trust.

Wake up call

I was awakened at 5am by a title: “Socio-Political-Global-Geo-Strategic Development”. I tried to fight it, managed to get back to sleep, then it came back stronger than ever. Tired of fighting this title, I allowed myself to think about its meaning.

It came to me that this could be the title of a debate on humanitarian aid, held in a boardroom on the 25th floor of a building in Manhattan, Mayfair, Champs Elysee, Dubai etc. I thought a lot about the value of consultants, experts and professionals lecturing on humanitarian grounds.

The message coming across to humanitarian workers should be simple as it details on a crucial issue. Social development has three components: citizen, development and policy. The focal point should be to serve citizens, society and nations. Let us simplify boardroom discussions for the sake of beneficiaries.

Royalty and Charity

 

I had a very interesting meeting with Prince Charles, who opened  the doors of Clarence House to charities that helped during the floods in Pakistan. The spirit of the meeting was unique due to the equal exchange between Royalty and civil society. We all agreed more work needs to be done to save the integrity of the people of Pakistan and the credibility of the people in the UK. I would like to take the opportunity to congratulate the Mosaic and Seeing is Believing teams for their work in Pakistan, as I know Prince Charles values their work highly.

The elephant in the room...

As humanitarian workers we need to think globally, but act locally. I feel there are many issues the international community has been turning a blind eye on.  These Elephants in the room have been ignored long enough.

Issues such as the problem of DRC, which I believe strongly is one of the ugliest scars on the face of humanity, aren’t being stressed upon. This leads to families losing their dignity and human feeling. Chechenya (where cases of TB have soared) and Burma are only two other deliberately overlooked issues. I could also list Kashmir, Sierra Leone, Liberia and the famine in Niger, which happens every other year.

There are too many elephants locked up inside a little shed because we choose to focus solely on security and the industry surrounding it.  We need to maintain a balance between the value of the lives of the forgotten millions of people and the security industry.

What is more valuable to the world: empowered citizens or an empowered security industry?

From Aden to Sana’a (Yemen Part 2)

 
Tareq woke me up at 5:30 am to visit the fish market in Aden and we managed to be there at 6am in time to see the first two boats with fishermen coming back. I can’t help but think about the hard work put in by these fishermen who could lose their lives to put food on tables around the world.

In Sana’a, we attended an altogether different meeting. The Orphan Development Organisation held a seminar which was followed by a mass wedding ceremony to celebrate the marriage of 3000 adult orphans.
The seminar participants had very diverse backgrounds and came from different countries and organisations. The key issue on the agenda was the future of orphan care development.  In that respect, local organisations are planning to train orphans to gain skills for life, thereby turning them into useful citizens of their country.

The event after the seminar, the mass wedding, was supported by Prince Sultan Bin Abdelaziz, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. 3000 adult orphans were married and the Prince sponsored the start in their new life together.

You might wonder why I was so happy for the 3000 orphans. My answer is simple: in my opinion, FAMILY makes up the most important unit in society's infrastructure as it can build nations and produce civilisations.

From Istanbul to Aden (Yemen Part 1)

I had a very uplifting experience in Yemen. We went there in order to implement in a practical way our new theme of partnership called “HOPE” (humanitarian operational partnership engagement). We started our adventure with an 8 hour mountainous car journey from Sana’a to Aden, which made some of us drowsy. This was the first step of building operational partnerships. This state made everybody cross the barriers put up by everyone else. It was wonderful to hear everybody talk freely about the strengths, dreams and activities of their organisation.

The second milestone was our field visit to the local organisations and we worked together as a group to identify a local problem and design a local programme.

The third milestone happened when there wasn’t a consultant from a boardroom to lecture the local CBOs/CSOs, but every group was deeply engaged in discussing the project frame design, life cycle, funding and outcomes.

I felt very uplifted because of the spirit of discussions, the depth of knowledge and the diversity of opinions presented by the participants. As an example, from the 18 women present, half were wearing the niqab (head and face cover) and had strong and educated views. This teaches us not to judge people on what they look, but listen to them instead and engage them in a pertinent discussion.

I can see that within the next years we will have new international humanitarian leadership emerging from Yemen. Let us give them our FAT (funding, advocacy, training) to achieve not just HOPE for Yemen, but hope for us all.

All inclusive ARCH

Extremism is shunned by everyone and we all try to keep away from this practice. What is extremism? It happens when we try to force everyone to accept or follow our ideas. It creates separation and isolation, which in turn lead to suspicion and hatred.

Europe is enjoying a great diversity of ARCH (art, religion, culture and history), and other different cultures should be added to the European mosaic.

Financial and economical crises should not point us in the direction of thinking irrationally towards people who were and are still serving our society and participating in the greater development of our civilisation.

The “r” in ARCH doesn’t reflect just religions, but also recognition, respect and reward. We should respect everybody’s personal beliefs and recognise their individual input in the development of the humanity in general, and Europe in particular.

We are at the beginning of the 21st century and the highly technological Western civilisation should celebrate our universal ARCH to bring humanity together on the basis of inclusivity, not division by extremism.

Militarising humanitarianism or humanising the military?

Sometimes, the military is used for humanitarian activities. I would like to assess the impact and outcome of such partnership on humanitarian field workers and beneficiaries.

The operations in certain countries are hindered by local susceptibility and bad press for the military and security firms. When soldiers or people hired by security firms walk amongst the beneficiaries in civilian clothes, they can draw negative attention to other humanitarian workers. This in turn leads to narrowing the space in which relief workers can operate and undermines impartiality.

We have to be honest with ourselves when it comes to serving the people in need: are we impartial in our attitude and transparent in our activities? If the answer is yes, then we will reap what we sow. If the answer is no, we must work harder towards transparency in humanitarian work.

The Traffic Light Theory

What is the relationship between traffic lights and humanitarianism? The common traffic light which has been developed in the last century has only three light colours: green for permission, orange for caution and red for danger.

However, I have similar ideas that are relevant to the humanitarian work: “The Traffic Light Theory”. My traffic light has five components: white, green, orange, red and black.  You will ask “why the need for five, instead of three?” My answer would be that the diversity and the flow of humanitarian needs and activities in different parts of the world make it impossible to just stick to three.

The white will reflect our success in achieving a strong direct relationship with the beneficiaries through our programmes.

The green light enables us to promote capacity building and advocacy training for local organisations to turn them into international humanitarian actors.

When we have an orange light, we only relate to international NGOs and communities. The danger of being in the orange box is that, even though it can take you to the green box, it can also direct an organisation to operate in the red box, because it might lose focus on the individual needs of the community.

The red light consists of exclusively fund driven and government directed work. In this box, the organisations are only looking for funding for their operations and losing their impartiality when it comes to the local community.

The black light happens when humanitarian actors overuse the military in our relief work. In my opinion, the black box is a no-go area as it can challenge the humanitarian principle of impartiality and neutrality never the less transparency in our humanitarian work particularly in conflict struck areas.

We all must aim to operate when the white and green lights are on and empower local organisations at grass root level, in order to reach the ones we truly serve: the neediest.

The rights of the right/ The rights of the wrong Part 2

We always talk about right and wrong, allow and disallow, yes and no. Our life is full of antonyms. Let us reflect on the value of other people’s existence who share our society. Are we able to judge others only according to our approach or can we judge them by their approach as well?

When humanitarian workers try to design a project or programme in different areas, they might face the local communities rights, which workers might see as wrong and vice-versa. The right and wrong must be reached via agreement between different partners, communities, cultures and faiths.

We can’t change wrong by wrong, we can change what’s wrong by listening to the needs of the local community then, via dialogue, show them what we think is right for them.

The Top-Bottom approach is not a solution; on the contrary, it can start problems. People have to understand others’ psychologies, cultures, values and faiths in order to pass objective judgement. There are many alternative ways to reach a solution, while restricting the path to that solution can only cause trouble in the long run.

The right can be reached by many ways; there is only one way for the wrong.

Human rights or Being right/ Part 1

The Human Rights are part of a universal agreement between governments and the basic principles declare that human beings have a right to exist on this planet. Human rights are God given. We ought to be more inclusive when it comes to giving rights to others.

Human rights change from one country to the next, from one century to another, affecting the universally declared basic principles. In my opinion, the only one who can keep the balance of being right is the source of justice in this world, God.

The difference between Beings’ right and Being right is that the latter happens when you don’t do wrong, whereas the former happens when you don’t wrong other beings and allow them to exist.

Let us be frank in admitting our shortcomings, as we don’t as yet understand the reality of the right to live of other beings, from different cultures and faiths.

Values, cultures and faiths

Can we live without them? Human nature leads us to believe strongly that we are able to draw our values which can shape our culture and, in turn, form part of our faith. Human nature can also lead us to follow a faith, to belong to a culture or believe in a God. We can believe in a God or become gods ourselves.

When we get involved in humanitarian work, we face some problems, hindering our progress to develop local communities. Even if we don’t believe in God, we should realise that other communities have different beliefs in God, different culture and values that we ought to respect.

Life is about values, cultures and faiths. We can’t live without them, even if we claim it.

The Extinction and Extension theories/ Part 2

When people abuse their authority, they get removed democratically and we accept it. When they don’t follow the law, we call them outlaws. When they kill other human beings, we imprison them. However, when individuals kill millions of other creatures from greed or ignorance, we do nothing.

We have started to believe that:

a.    Human is the leader of all creatures
b.    Human is the ultimate, absolute and only focal point on the planet
c.    Human is the reference for other creatures, not God.

This way of thinking has led to the extinction of other species. If we use the new term, creaturitarianism, we find that the human will become:

a.    The leader of all creatures
b.    The focal point, but not absolute
c.    God is the reference, not the human.

The first one is the Extinction Theory and the second one can be called the Extension Theory.

When we apply this theory, we agree that the role of humans is to preserve humanity, to help other creatures of God and to live on the planet according to the interdependent system created harmoniously to keep life going forever.

Is creaturitarianism the answer? Part I

Creaturitarianism is a new concept which first appeared in a talk I was giving at one of the universities in Minnesota in 2008. Why creaturitarianism and not humanitarianism? Is humanitarianism out of date? Or is it a notion abused by people who don’t relate its functionality to peace?

The term “Humanitarianism” was coined in the early 19th century and was an attempt to secularise society by emphasising the importance of the human as opposed to the divine. I feel that in the 21st century we need to reassess this term, understanding the impact our treatment of the environment and other creatures has on the world, and ultimately on humanity.

All the problems we are currently facing have been caused by one sole creature, not by all. This creature, the human being, is letting the rest who form God’s creation suffer. This is in spite of the fact that God has given it the authority to be their custodian and leader. When such a creature abuses its authority and forgets the partners helping it to live in peace, problems, such as natural disasters brought on by climate change, tend to happen.

The world works according to a complex and perfect plan and whether we believe that this plan was drawn up by a creator, by nature itself or some other method, there is no doubt that healthy, successful and continuous life for us all depends on our adherence to this plan. By breaking the rules, it is us who will ultimately pay the price.

This is why I will be putting forward the case of creaturitarianism as a holistic alternative to humanitarianism in a 2 part series.

Who has to pay for...?

We’ve been witnessing the global problems faced by humanity. We’ve also been witnessing the symptoms of such problems and quite often we fail to get to the root of the matter or don’t want to discuss it at all.

Let me list the problems we are facing: climate change, global warming, pollution, food crisis, oil crisis, financial crisis, wars, poverty, ignorance, HIV, malaria and TB. Who is causing these problems and who will pay for them?

Recently, I’ve been listening to speeches full of promises by politicians from all over the world. In their alluring speeches, they were trying to cover the fact they intend to axe different social benefits (health, education, financial support to elderly). It seems to me that the needy will be the ones to pay for all the problems.

My message is: let us be honest in finding a solution, admit when we’re wrong, win over the hearts of the needy and join the humanitarian cause.

PACKAGE and Water moral value

 There are many reasons behind the world’s severe water shortage nowadays, among them climate change, pollution, human abuse (swimming pools, soft drinks) etc.  We need a way out not only to save our planet, but to make it habitable for generations to come.

Water is the most valuable commodity and humanity cannot afford to live without it. We must create a new value, called “Water moral value”- the ethics of using water resources. The sacredness of water needs to be engrained from childhood onward, both by religious and social leaders.

The masses need to be converted into becoming Water moral value advocates. We need to have PACKAGE on our side:

• People’s belief; 
• Academia; 
• CSOs; 
• K - capital, therefore business and economy; 
• Astronauts, as the damage on Earth can be felt in the Universe; We need people who are visionaries, who can take much more than a bird's eye view.
• Governments; 
• Environmentalists. 

The PACKAGE components are most likely stakeholders to shape the Water moral value for generations to come.

The WOT Syndrome, the DIP Factor and the MDG goals

The UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDG) for 2015 are: end poverty and hunger, universal primary education, gender equality, child health, maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, environmental sustainability, global partnership. I believe they are basic God given rights to everyone. Ten years after the declaration of MDG, the world is still searching for an answer as to why we are failing to achieve them.

Are we willing to achieve these goals or are we just willing to discuss them? Believers should deliver their belief in action. If governments and institutions believe in MDG, we should have seen the fruits of success by now. Why aren’t they achieved?

Part of the answer to this question is, in my opinion, the current focus on the security mentality which in recent years has exhausted our financial, logistical and intellectual resources. This could undermine the achievement of MDG by 2015. This is why we are still suffering at the cause of the DIP Factor (Disease, Ignorance, Poverty) and the WOT Syndrome (War On Terror).

It is time to set aside political indecisiveness and, instead, concentrate our efforts on saving the planet.

Stop the bleeding...

Migration can happen in times of conflict, famine, economic struggles, natural disasters etc. What of the fate of the Internally Displaced Persons, people lost inside their own countries? In flood-ravaged Pakistan, around 20 million people were affected and most of them were left homeless, losing their livelihoods and hope to restart a normal life in the near future.

The floods could potentially be an effect of climate change, having started 20 years back. Who should be paying for climate change? How can the humanity escape its effects?

The philosophical problem in international conferences is that speakers do not stop the cause of bleeding, but instead pump more blood into the sick patient. Talking about fining high CO2 emission countries and reducing carbon consumption doesn’t stop one single bit of smoke from polluting the air. It’s time that high CO2 emission countries stayed true to their word and reduced their consumption, creating a greener environment and altering the course of climate change.

Faith and value/ Unity and diversion

In this day and age, we should develop a new value and language common to all humanitarian organisations: both faith-based and non-faith based. However, very recently I have heard words which I believed forgotten in this day and age and in the humanitarian context. Those words are converting, proselytising, etc.

In my own view, the vulnerable people need to be protected and helped, from a neutral point of view. Faith and politics need to be separated from humanitarian work. Humanitarianism is not about what we need to do. On the contrary, it’s about what people need. It’s not about our right as NGOs, but about people’s right to the service their community needs most.

Let us call all of us value-based organisations, and share a common ground for helping the ones who we work for: our beneficiaries.

Faith and value

Faith holds a special place in the hearts of many and to judge somebody on their faith alone has proven to be a wrong practice. Value, however, is an excellent criterion, as different faiths can share the same values. This is what brings me today to discuss the relationship between faith and value in humanitarian work.

I believe segregation on the basis of faith within the humanitarian field is wrong, as it could lead to misunderstanding the infrastructure of the social fabric of our global family. Instead of sliding down the slope of alienation and division, we need to correct our path and divert our humanitarian movement to a more inclusive and integrative approach.

We must change faith into value because by translating our values into a community product, we can better serve the beneficiaries: the greater community. Let us show the goodness from our faiths and nourish the needs of the community at the grass-root level!

On visas, lists and the FATWIT technology...

It seems a lot of dignitaries, scholars and community workers are denied access into certain countries, even when in possession of a visa. They are not allowed to speak in public assemblies, even if previously granted the permission. They are told they’re not welcome, and when they dare question the reasoning behind this decision, the only pertinent answer they get is that they are on “The List”. I wonder what such list is this? Is it a shopping list, like my wife has? I gather not. However, lists and visas can’t stop people from communicating.

Visas are out of date, as now we live in the era of Social Media itself. Anyone who can connect to the internet can touch the lives of others, without as much as visiting. The development of FATWIT (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, emails) has cancelled the need for a visa, in order to reach an audience of millions.

Technology knows no borders, and can be used to influence the mindset of thousands of people. Therefore we ask: why the need for visas, when Social Media can amplify humanitarian calls?

We must realise that the sooner the barriers are demolished, both online and offline, the quicker dialogue can begin between all interested parties and aid can be offered in a fast and efficient manner.

Good TREE, Bad TREE

Charity is a God given right and performing a charitable act should not be prevented. It is everyone’s duty, even the poor and disabled. Charity doesn’t just include money; it can stretch to life giving, when saving others’ lives. It does not have religious or geographical barriers. Charity should feel as natural as the air we breathe. We could also measure human value looking at people’s charitable actions, how fellow men and women dedicate their lives to working for the community and humanity.

In this case, one question arises:  why are Muslim charities always on the hot seat? Is it because they are genuinely bad? Or is it because some misguided individuals have cast a shadow on all trustworthy NGOs?

In 2005, I gave a speech at the Dead Sea World Economic Forum Meeting. I said it then and I repeat: we must ARM Muslim charities- Allow, Monitor and Regulate. By doing so, we will enable Muslim charities to plant the good TREE (Trust, Respect, Engage and Empower). If we PRESS (Prevent, Remove, Exclude, Scare and Seclude) or PREVENT (Prohibit, Remove, Exclude, Victimise, Expel, Nullify and Terrify) them, we will get a bad TREE (Terrorism, Radicalism, Extremism and Endanger).

You reap what you sow: we must ARM Muslim and non-Muslim charities in order to obtain the fruit that humanity desperately needs:  Trust, Respect, Engage and Empower.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Eid, 9/11 and burning the Quran)

Even if the title may, at first glance, present unrelated notions, let me assure you they are, in fact, quite closely connected. The good news is that Eid is approaching in a few days and Muslims worldwide will be celebrating after fasting in the month of Ramadan. I wish everyone, not just Muslims, a Happy Eid and such happiness that only peace and tranquillity can bring. I wish the celebration of Eid to be reflected in actions of care and kindness to fellow human beings.

The bad incident of 9/11 which shocked humanity 9 years ago still brings agony and painful feeling to the families who lost loved ones. We should remember victims in our prayers and work hard together to prevent such tragedies from happening again. We need to join our hands together to prevent such a bad act from taking lives of innocents.

The ugly will happen soon, when some people are considering burning the Quran in public. I fear that this might lead to a reaction similar to the one caused by the cartoons depicting the Prophet, may peace be upon Him. Such ugly scenes will distract people’s attention away from the real humanitarian causes: Haiti, Pakistan, Somalia etc.

My advice to Muslim colleagues is not to react emotionally and impulsively to such a challenge. Be to them like a fruitful tree: when they stone it, it will bear its fruit to them. Two wrongs don’t make one thing right; evil shouldn’t be answered with the same measure.

Let us celebrate Eid, remember our beloved ones from 9/11 and advise our brothers and sisters that humanitarian thinking is the path to peace, partnership and a better world.

The good, the bad and the ugly, only a couple of days apart this month.

The Humanitarian Army

I’ve returned from Pakistan, the land of a biblical flood, where I’ve witnessed firsthand the destruction left behind. All humanitarian workers and organisations are stretched their full capacity, though it’s not enough. What has been achieved so far is nothing more than a drop of water in the ocean for the 20 million of people who are suffering.

We don’t need just humanitarian workers, I feel a humanitarian army is necessary to enable the people in Pakistan to rebuild their lives and wake up from the nightmare. The Humanitarian Army should not be money driven; on the contrary, it should be needs driven.

I believe the pillars supporting the Humanitarian Army concept can be expressed as VIP MENT:

V – Value-based, instead of Faith-based. We all share common values, beyond the narrow area of faith values.
I – The aim is to be impartial, while pursuing honesty.
P – We need to believe in real partnerships between people and organisations.
M – Stands for multi-national, across geographical locations or even faiths.
E – Empower. We need to build the capacity of the local community in order to empower and enable it on the road to productivity.
N – Neutral.  The key is represented by the understanding of different cultures and sensitivities, politics and its restricting barriers.
T – Transparency. There is nothing to hide: the Humanitarian Army is developed by the people, for the people.

However, the main quality of the Humanitarian Army is the understanding of who the real force driving and motivating the mission is:  the child, the woman and the elderly.

We need a universal humanitarian army in order to hold back unforeseen future biblical floods. Everybody, step right up and join our Humanitarian Army, and the people of Pakistan shall be able to dream again, with our help.

Call to action for Pakistan

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I attended an Emergency meeting of OIC Humanitarian partners on the Pakistan floods disaster co-chaired by OIC Secretary General, Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, Shah Mahmood Qureshi. The meeting gathered together at short notice several Muslim NGOs (Islamic Relief, Mercy Corps, Oxfam, British Red Cross) and officials from both arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Libya and western countries such as the UK, US, Germany and others.

Even if the pledges were small to begin with, by the end of the day, the sum reached just under a total of 1 billion USD, 700 million of those being given by the Islamic Development Bank, 100 million by the King of Saudi Arabia and the rest from other organisations, charities and officials.

The floods are Pakistan's worst-ever natural disaster in terms of the amount of damage and the number of people affected, as more than six million people have been made to flee their homes, around a million of them in the recent days as the water flows southwards. The existent infrastructure has been destroyed and agriculture has suffered a setback of at least 5 years, according to experts.

Even 1 billion USD is not up to the challenge of standing in the way of the aftermath of such disaster. Muslims observe Ramadan, which is the month of giving. Yet, the funds pledged have not risen to the great needs of the beneficiaries.

The time has come to offer help and stand united, by doing our humanitarian duty to others in need. Give generously this Ramadan and the people of Pakistan will be able to rebuild their livelihoods.

To see more pictures from the Pakistan visit, click here.