DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Participants in the three-week Health Emergencies in Large Populations course, including Jiwnath Ghimire of Nepal, foreground, built a tent yesterday similar to those given to families displaced by the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia, next to Jefferson Hall on the University of Hawaii-Manoa campus.
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Course teaches disaster response
Catastrophe veterans show others the ways to help in a calamity
Kenyan Donald Odondi saw firsthand the devastation left by the 2004 Indonesian tsunami when he and the Adventist Development and Relief Agency distributed tarp tents to displaced families.
Yesterday, Odondi assisted others in building a similar tent on the lawn across from Kennedy Theatre at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, marking the end of a three-week program to teach relief organizations how to help others in a disaster.
"I feel there is need to help those who are in need," said Odondi, an emergency coordinator. "If we can change just one life at a time, that's it, you're done."
Odondi was one of 26 people from 12 countries who participated in the annual Health Emergencies in Large Populations, or HELP, course held at UH-Manoa.
Created in 1986 by the International Committee of the Red Cross, HELP classes enable participants to deliver aid following man-made conflicts and natural disasters. Attendees also study ethics and human rights laws, among other things.
"I've been, more or less, in all big disasters," said Yves Etienne, HELP course coordinator with the Red Cross committee. "You always find people who have followed the HELP course.
"It gives a common language to all humanitarian actors."
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Participants Surasak Tanudsintum, left, and Yves Etienne smiled yesterday after they took a picture with each other following a news conference.
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This year, for the first time, UH-Manoa was a full partner in organizing the course. The Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance and the Red Cross also were partners.
Two international students in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning are the first UH-Manoa graduates students to earn school credit for taking the program. They will receive a graduate certificate in disaster management and humanitarian assistance.
"There's a value in this training," said Douglas Wallace, deputy director of the disaster management center, a Department of Defense organization.
About 2,170 people have been trained worldwide in HELP.
"This was a very good experience that personally I will share when I go to Indonesia," said Odondi. After returning to Indonesia for a couple of days, Odondi will head off to Myanmar to help those affected by Tropical Cyclone Nargis.
"It's a job to be a humanitarian actor," Etienne added. "When you are in a region with a complex emergency, the misbehavior of any actor will comprise all the actors.
"This is why it's so important to be prepared."
