July news - moving on...

By Lindsay

Hello! Greetings from Nottingham - it has been over 1 month since returning home from South Sudan, and we are thoroughly enjoying being back. There is a lot to be grateful for from our time in Juba - although not an easy year in lots of ways, a very valuable experience and I've gained a lot personally from that time. Our send off by the team was very lovely - I even have a name sake care of our colleague, Asiki, who gave his baby daughter a middle name of Lindsay! 

Medair's Base Team on our last day

We had 2 weeks at home when we got back to Nottingham at the end of May, and then went to Switzerland to join the Medair ROC (Relief and Recovery Orientation Course) team. Applicants to Medair come for this training week as part of their application, and Steve and I were part of the team delivering scenarios - it was great fun! We then travelled to Zermatt for a few days to enjoy the Swiss mountains, which were incredibly beautiful.

The Matterhorn AKA the Toblerone mountain in the background!

Before leaving South Sudan, we were open to further placements with Medair, and 2 roles came up with the team in Aleppo, Syria, delivering earthquake response relief. So we are heading back out for another year, where Steve will be working as the Project Coordinator (overseeing the whole Aleppo team, especially the hands-on project work) and I will be the Project Support Manager (working with HR, Finance and Logistics). If, like me, you don't know much about Syria, then here's a map:


There are borders with Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Israel and Lebanon, and you may have heard a lot about Syria in the news over recent years. Civil war broke out in 2011 between the government and various opposition groups, which resulted in a lot of damage and instability as over 12 million people left their homes, moving either within Syria, or to neighbouring countries and beyond. The peak of the war was 2012-2017 and a ceasefire commenced in 2020. Aleppo (along with much of the country) is now under government control, and remains relatively stable... but then the earthquakes hit in February this year causing a lot more movement of people and (further) destruction in the city. Please see Medair's Syria page for some more info: www.medair.org/what-we-do/syria/ 

As we prepare to go on 17th July, we are very aware that we don't know too much yet about the place, the team and the exact work we will be doing. The Medair team in Aleppo has grown considerably following February, and a lot of staff are new (us included), and the vast majority are Syrian. From discussions with colleagues already there, one of our first priorities will be to build relationships with our new team, and hear their stories from the past years. 

As ever, please do stay in touch - it is a real highlight to hear from friends at home when you are living away, so drop us a WhatsApp or email. 

With love - Lindsay & Steve

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