Send us a text

On World Humanitarian Day, Inside Geneva spoke to a man who has dedicated his life to humanitarian work. He grew up in a quiet Swiss village – so what inspired him to take this path?

“When I was young, I quickly realised that many people didn’t have the same opportunities, they didn’t have equal chances. And to me, that felt fundamentally wrong,” says humanitarian worker Stéphane Jaquemet.

His first posting was to Gaza in the 1980s.

“Gaza was already in a bad state at the time. I think there were nightly curfews and raids by the Israeli army. They would break into homes and mainly arrest young people,” he says.

Then came the 1990s and the conflict in Yugoslavia.

“A conflict in the middle of Europe: I don’t think we were ready for that, or for witnessing the same kinds of violations. It was a truly horrific conflict; we saw real ethnic cleansing.”

Aid workers today face big challenges and serious personal risks. Yet Jaquemet remains committed. “I would encourage young people to remain interested in humanitarian work, ” he says.

Would he do it all again? “Yes, I would. I’m still motivated.”

Join host Imogen Foulkes on our Inside Geneva podcast.

Get in touch!

• Email us at insidegeneva@swissinfo.ch
• Twitter: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_en

Thank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter.

For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/

Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Send us a text

Inside Geneva’s fourth summer profile – not a person, but a much-loved museum.

“In this museum, we ask an essential question: what does humanitarian action have to do with me, in my life, here and now?” says Pascal Hufschmid, director of the Red Cross Museum.

This month there’s a special exhibition, “Tuning in” … to the sound of humanity.

“It’s an exhibition conceived as an exploration of sound archives – particularly humanitarian sound archives – preserved here in Geneva at the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) and at the museum,” says curator Elisa Rusca.

“It’s also a way of saying that, no matter who we are or where we come from, the way we feel is the same and our internal voice is just as important as the one that comes out,” Rusca says.

The museum reminds us of our shared humanity.

“We really bend over backwards to explain humanitarian principles, international human rights and humanitarian law, and to show that these are lived experiences we can all relate to.”

Listen to the full episode on our Inside Geneva podcast hosted by Imogen Foulkes.

Get in touch!

• Email us at insidegeneva@swissinfo.ch
• Twitter: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_en

Thank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter.

For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/

Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Send us a text

Rachael Cummings of Save the Children is Inside Geneva’s summer profile this week.

“When I went into nursing, I also wanted to travel, so nursing gave me that opportunity. That was sort of an 18-year-old thinking, ‘Okay, I can use this to travel with’,” says Cummings.

Since taking her nursing skills to humanitarian work, she’s been all over the world.

“I think one of the things I’m most proud of is Save the Children’s role in the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone in 2014 and 2015. We were able to establish – literally build, together with our Sierra Leonean colleagues – an 80-bed Ebola hospital and everything that went with it.”

Now, she’s in Gaza, grappling with desperate shortages of aid.

“Nothing came in for months, and since mid-May the UN has only managed to bring in a trickle of humanitarian supplies. But in this context, people are being starved and are on the brink of famine. They’re absolutely desperate – some are jumping onto the trucks and pulling off the aid supplies. And I know I’d do the same,” she says.

Wherever she is, Cummings’s priority is always the children.

“We’re driven by humanity and the desire to alleviate the suffering of children, wherever they may be. It’s about giving them hope, because they’re living through the worst experiences imaginable, the most desperate of times, and of course, they’re entirely innocent. They’re children who have the right to a childhood.”

Join host Imogen Foulkes on Inside Geneva.

Get in touch!

• Email us at insidegeneva@swissinfo.ch
• Twitter: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_en

Thank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter.

For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/

Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang