Age International CEO meets The King to discuss humanitarian efforts
Published on 09 June 2023 04:55 PM
Yesterday, Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) charities including Age International met with His Majesty The King to discuss how the generosity of the British public has helped hundreds of thousands of people affected by humanitarian crises.
Alison Marshall, Age International CEO, attended and highlighted how older people are contributing to humanitarian responses both as volunteers and staff. She said:
‘It was an honour to be invited to brief The King, at Buckingham Palace, on our humanitarian work with older people, alongside the other Disasters Emergency Committee agencies. We are currently supporting older people in response to the floods and heatwave in Pakistan, the earthquake in Turkey-Syria, hunger and displacement in East Africa, the human rights crisis in Afghanistan and the conflict in Ukraine.
I told The King how older people in Ukraine are working, as humanitarian staff and volunteers, to help other older people. In Ukraine, more than a quarter of the population are over 60 years old, and older women in particular are providing inspiration and hope, by helping each other to get medical assistance and to meet basic needs, as well as providing a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on’.
Alison gave an example of one the inspirational older women involved in the humanitarian response in Ukraine - 70-year-old social worker Lyudmila, who carries out challenging work supporting older people, many of whom have lost everything and must start over due to the conflict. Despite dealing with the impact of the conflict on her own family and mass power outages at home, when Lyudmila learned there was an opportunity to help other older people in her community she didn’t hesitate.
'I love people. I enjoy interacting with them. I am happy with them and feel for them. When I heard that social workers were needed, it was an easy decision to make.'
The event was also an opportunity to highlight the impact of the £47.3 million funds raised for the DEC Pakistan Floods Appeal. His Majesty The King and Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II were among those who donated to the appeal after floods submerged vast swathes of land, killing at least 1,700 people and affecting a total of 33 million.
The DEC’s new report describes how hundreds of thousands of people have been helped in the first six months of the response to the emergency, with support including shelter, clean water, food and healthcare. Age International have so far reached over 50,000 older people and their families thanks to DEC appeal funds, through its work with partners in the region.
Photos: Andy Aitchison, Lyudmila / HelpAge International
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