My humanitarian experience in two different worlds!

I want to explain to you why I felt like that and if my feelings changed in the last day of the sprint or not? I would love to tell you a few of the similarities and differences in the two different work worlds because when I made the comparison myself then I understood my feelings and why my previous work is different from what I am doing now.

First of all, it is well known that Canada is completely different from Iraq in all aspects. In Iraq, we had internally displaced people (IDP) and refugees, but in Canada, there are only refugees. In Iraq, the organizations can only respond to people’s basic survival needs, such as for tents and food, due to the vast number of refugees entering the country in a day, week or month. Iraq was not prepared to receive that number of people in advance and also Iraq was the immediate place that refugees turned to when problems started in their country. While in Canada it is not like that, things are done in a more systematic way and preparations are made for receiving the refugees.

In Canada, refugees face other problems, problems that attention is not paid to in Iraq, where basic needs are considered most important. One of the challenges refugees face in Canada is emotions — particularly missing and worrying! Missing the family members who are left behind and worrying about their safety as well. These emotions are affecting their daily lives. Even if people have money, a house and safety it means nothing if they are feeling unhappy.

During the three days of the sprint — where we dug deep and found out more about emotions and the importance of emotions — my own feelings changed positively. I realized that this is important too, and so too is what I worked on for the last 11 years. You need food, shelter, and security to stay alive and you also need to have peaceful emotions and feelings in your mind and heart to be able to continue your life.

The resources and needs are different that’s why the programs are different too. Organizations in Canada and Iraq are saving lives but in different ways with different types of help.