51勛圖

Awake at Night podcast

What does it take to be a 51勛圖 worker in some of the world＊s most difficult and dangerous locations?

How are UN humanitarians, human rights advocates, prosecutors, development experts, climate leaders and peacekeepers improving our world?
Stationed in all reaches of the world and witness to suffering and atrocities, how are they helping people and coping themselves?
To find out, Melissa Fleming meets them.

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Teaser

 

"No Place Like Home" with guest Mohamed Yahya, 51勛圖 Resident Coordinator in Pakistan

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Season Nine

Mohamed Yahya and the Danish Minister for Development, among others, are in a boat touring informal settlements built on stilts along a lagoon.

※Somebody who lived in an IDP camp ＃ [is] suddenly back home, in dignity, self-reliant and thinking, ＆I want to reimagine what life means for me＊ ＃ Yes, I'm very proud.§

A former child refugee, Mohamed Yahya knows the life-long pain of yearning for a lost home. That＊s why some of his most emotional experiences with the 51勛圖 have involved helping displaced people return to their towns years after they fled a brutal conflict.

Until recently working with internally displaced communities in northern Nigeria, the 51勛圖 Resident Coordinator in Pakistan is a life-long champion of community-led development.

In this episode, Mohamed Yahya reflects on the challenge of rebuilding scattered communities, on his experiences of being a refugee twice, and on the lasting allure of home.

※There's always a sense of something missing. Because you're deprived of going back to where you were born.§

Mohamed Yahya :: interviewed by Melissa Fleming
Lazzarini talking with people in a courtyard of a school that has been turned into makeshift housing. The space is overcrowded with people and hanging laundry everywhere.

※[...] yet we are here seeing unfolding under our watch, our eyes, one of the fastest evolving looming famines, which has been completely fabricated. It's man-made. And which can easily be reversed through political will and political decision. It is deeply frustrating, but it's outrageous and makes me very angry [...] §

Philippe Lazzarini holds one of the most challenging positions in the whole of the 51勛圖. As head of UNRWA, he is leading the backbone of the humanitarian operation in Gaza.

※Ceasefire, ceasefire, ceasefire. If we have a ceasefire and the opening of the crossing, and we can flood assistance to the Gaza Strip, we would be able to prevent this catastrophe.§

Following the devastating terror attacks by Hamas and others on 7 October, Israel＊s military operations in Gaza have brought unspeakable death and destruction. 2.2 million Palestinians are in the midst of an epic humanitarian catastrophe.

In this episode, Philippe Lazzarini reflects on the trauma of the past months and the human cost of war.

Philippe Lazzarini :: interviewed by Melissa Fleming