Every year on World Humanitarian Day, it is my honour to recognise our humanitarian workers around the world who are working in some of the world’s most challenging humanitarian crises.

By definition, a humanitarian crisis is generally defined as an event or series of events that threaten the health, safety and well-being of a community. Natural disasters, war, pandemics and conflict are all factors that can contribute to such a crisis.

In my work as a senior program officer at World Relief, I support our teams in Ukraine, Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where we are actively providing psychosocial support to people traumatized by war, distributing food to those displaced from their homes by conflict, welcoming refugees from neighboring countries, helping communities rebuild after natural disasters, and more.

WHAT DOES “DO NO HARM” MEAN?

As humanitarian workers, we are guided by the principle of “do no harm” – an approach to humanitarian work that, according to UNHCR, helps to identify “unintended positive or negative impacts of humanitarian and development interventions” in these complex situations.

We ‘do no harm’ by understanding the context in which we work, by working in partnership with the community, and by implementing community-led actions rather than just helping with our own ideas and interventions. This principle is a core value of our work at World Relief, and while I understand this guiding doctrine of ‘do no harm’, after 10 years of working in the humanitarian world I still wrestle with a key question: What if my team and I are doing everything in our power to help in the right way, and we still don’t see the change we’ve worked so hard for? Or worse – the situation gets worse?

What should I do when relatively peaceful Sudan falls apart in less than a year, descending into chaos not seen since the 1980s? What should I say about my efforts when Ukraine, after more than 30 years of independence, is once again struggling to preserve its national identity, and both sides are describing the war zone as a “meat grinder”?

It is disheartening to see hard-won changes quickly crumble before our eyes. And yet, despite knowing these depressing and compelling realities, As humanists and followers of Christ, we remain committed to helping.

FOUR-YEAR-OLD IN HAITI

While in South Sudan, my colleague Karen told me a story about her time as a frontline nurse working in complex humanitarian situations. She had spent years providing medical care in some of the world’s worst places, yet she was aware of the dual nature of her work as a frontline health worker.

After the earthquake in Haiti in 2010, she visited the country regularly to help families in its aftermath. She and her team distributed vitamin A supplements and nutrient-rich foods to children to prevent signs of malnutrition, as well as deworming tablets to prevent disease and malnutrition.

Once, after Karen made sure a group of talkative four-year-olds with half-bloated bellies got their dewormer, she watched them do what comes naturally to four-year-olds everywhere – playfully run off together and jump into a slow-moving stream full of garbage and animal feces, all the while splashing and drinking the dirty water filled with the very parasites that had infected them in the first place. In her innocent fun, Karen said, she knew the children would only get better for about a week before becoming reinfected. As of 2022, 1 in 27 children will die before reaching age five, mostly from a preventable or treatable disease, and those children would not fare better. Still, Karen continued to hand out dewormers in the hopes that some would make it.

WHAT DO I DO IF I DON’T SEE THE CHANGE I’M LOOKING FOR?

The Bible is full of heroes and heroines like Karen who sought great change but had little success in their lifetimes – people like Moses who did the impossible. After growing up in the splendor of royal Egypt, he led the Hebrew people out of bondage, from the very people and place he called home. He followed God’s vision to lead the people into a promised fertile land where they would grow and prosper.

But for 40 years, that vision was put on hold, and Moses struggled to keep the Israelite community on track despite their penchant for idolatry, their whining, and their rampant lack of God. Along the way, he buried his sister, brother, and probably his wife and children in nondescript graves in the barren desert. Ultimately, he met the same fate and never lived to see God’s promise fulfilled by living in the Promised Land.

And then there is Mary, a young Jewish teenager living in Roman-occupied Judea. She was promised a miraculous birth that would change the course of history. She faced the stigma of an illegitimate pregnancy, the genocidal King Herod who wanted to kill her son and drive away her young family so they could flee to Egypt as refugees. And yet, when things seemed to get worse, Mary and Joseph continued to obey, trusting God with their family’s future despite all the uncertainty.

Mary heard God’s promise of a great change and believed it. But I wonder if she ever imagined that change in the form of a gruesome crucifixion of her eldest child and the stoning of another. So that brings me back to my original question: What if, despite my hard work to help the vulnerable people of the world, I still don’t see the change or the fruits I expected?

I TRUST GOD’S PROMISE

I can only conclude that while God promises change, he does not promise that I will ever experience it in my lifetime. And here is where the beautiful fruit blossoms: I can only know that change will come if I trust that God’s visions, dreams and plans are much bigger than my own.

Trusting in God’s greater plan, Moses’ followers entered the Promised Land and established the homeland of Israel, over which Jesus will one day rule. And trusting in God’s greater plan, the death of Mary’s son continues to bring life to countless people Mary never saw.

Although we may not be able to reap the full fruits of our labors here on earth, I still believe that God gives us glimpses of His plan and His promise of healing and redemption during our years here on earth.

For example, when I was living and working in South Sudan, I met Gloria, a young South Sudanese woman who worked as a cook and cleaner in the complex where I lived. I got to know Gloria and learned that she had big dreams and ambitions. Others in the complex also noticed her big dreams and eventually pooled their resources to help her study at university in a neighboring country.

As a result, Gloria is now living her dream and running a business selling wedding dresses. I am confident that one day she will pass on the life-changing generosity she has experienced to another young girl.

Matthew also worked as a security guard on the same site. He too received financial support for higher education from a friend and co-worker on the site. This enabled him to buy a house in a safer neighboring country where his young children could grow up outside the direct effects of the war.

Helping Gloria and Matthew didn’t solve the humanitarian crisis in South Sudan immediately. But sometimes the biggest change we can make is responding to the needs of those in our immediate community. Gloria and Matthew were two colleagues we knew, and we could see a change happening in their lives. Some humanitarian workers from near and far were able to advance the work God was doing in their lives in very profound ways simply by responding lovingly to what was right in front of them. I’m sure this kind of change will have ripple effects for years to come.

You too can be a humanitarian on World Humanitarian Day.

As humanitarians and Christians alike, we are called to “actively engage in human welfare and social reform” for those in need. While some of the most pressing needs and crises we respond to will not be resolved in our lifetimes, we can all create profound change simply by acting in love and responding to the needs that are right in front of us—as these humanitarians did for Gloria and Matthew, and as I believe they will do for others in their community.

Every day that we, as followers of Christ, share love, compassion, kindness and friendship with those around us, we open the door to healing and growth in others and in ourselves.

I see this in action every day with my World Relief colleagues around the world, many of whom are suffering from the trauma of war and conflict themselves. As I try to encourage and empower these people, they are doing the same in their own communities. And in doing so, we are realizing that change is not so invisible after all. It is the simple act of loving our neighbor as ourselves that will have the greatest impact on the world at the end of the day!

This World Humanitarian Day, show your support for humanitarian workers by donating today. Your support enables them to do the work God has called them to do.

Amanda Patterson is a Senior Program Officer at World Relief, focusing on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. Most recently, she worked in conflict relief in Ukraine, Chad, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Before joining World Relief, Amanda lived abroad for ten years, working with a Christian organization as a refugee and conflict emergency responder in Niger, South Sudan, Greece, and Ethiopia. She has a passion for creative expression through visual and textile arts, and is inspired by the beauty of the forests in her hometown of Bucks County, Pennsylvania.