August 5, 2025 • 31 mins
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.”
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
This is Inside Geneva .
I'm your host, imogen Fowkes,and this is a production from
Swissinfo, the internationalpublic media company of
Switzerland.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
In today's programme, they unloaded the few trucks
that reached Khan Yunus undercover of darkness, armed guards
defending the precious cargo.
Speaker 4 (00:31):
Nothing came in for months and since mid-May the UN
have been able to bring in atrickle of humanitarian supplies
.
But in this context you havepeople who are being starved and
on the brink of famine.
So people are absolutelydesperate, driving them to jump
on the trucks and pull off thehumanitarian supplies, and you
(00:53):
know, I know, I would do thatmyself.
Speaker 5 (00:55):
Nine-year-old Jude is disabled and, like tens of
thousands of other children inGaza, starving.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
We are driven by humanity to others and
alleviating the suffering ofchildren wherever that is to
give children hope, because theyare living through their worst
lives.
They're living through the mostdesperate of times and of they
are innocent throughout it.
(01:24):
They are children who have theright to a childhood.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Hello and welcome again to Inside Geneva.
I'm Imogen Fowkes and today webring you the third in our
series of summer profiles.
Listeners will know that insome conflict zones, gaza is the
most prominent.
Right now.
International journalists havedifficulty getting access or, in
Gaza's case, are simply refusedentry.
(01:53):
But international aid agenciesare still present and that means
their experiences, theireyewitness accounts of what the
situation in a particular crisisor conflict actually is is very
important.
So today I'm delighted towelcome a humanitarian worker
(02:13):
with long experience in some ofthe world's most challenging
regions.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
My name is Rachel Cummings.
I'm the Gaza HumanitarianDirector for Save the Children.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
That is a very big, very challenging, very risky,
very exacting on you in allsorts of ways job.
I imagine Our listeners will becurious what did you want to be
when you were little?
What was your dream job?
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Well, I think I found my dream job so I became a
nurse.
I went into nursing afterschool and my mom was a nurse,
so I grew up around sort ofnursing.
She was a health sister andfrom about the age of 13, 14, I
thought, oh, that could besomething quite interesting.
I hadn't quite understood why,but I thought that would be
(02:59):
something interesting to do.
But also, I just enjoy beingwith people and in nursing it's
a complete cross-section ofsociety.
Everyone in society gets sick,so you get to understand
people's vulnerabilities.
People in hospitals are veryvulnerable.
Communication, obviously,collaboration.
So yeah, it was a greatfoundation, I think, for me to
(03:21):
pursue this career.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
And you moved from nursing, I guess, in the
National Health Service inBritain, into the humanitarian
field.
How was that?
Speaker 4 (03:31):
switch?
Yeah, it wasn't.
I've never had a sort of careerpathway, particular ambition
really.
But when I went into nursing Ialso wanted to travel, so
nursing gave me that opportunity.
That was a sort of 18 sort of18 year old thinking, okay, I
can use this to travel with.
But I did two years in Cambodiawith VSO as a nurse tutor,
(03:56):
having done a diploma intropical nursing at the London
school, and that was really agateway.
And there was a person I met inCambodia working for a small
American NGO who opened my eyesto the world of NGOs.
I didn't know what an NGO waswhen I went to Cambodia and my
first humanitarian deployment,if you like, was following the
(04:17):
Indonesian tsunami.
I went to Banda Aceh withMerlin as a nurse.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
On.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
December 26, 2004,.
A tsunami of unprecedentedproportions hit the Indian Ocean
coastline with waves over 35metres high.
Speaker 6 (04:32):
The damage wrought not just by the speed, but also
by the volume of water, exertingthe power of an entire ocean.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
I stayed for over a year and a half in Aceh working
with Merlin, which was a massive, massive learning curve but
also instrumental, really, insetting me on this path for
humanitarian work.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
So you've been trained in modern Western
medicine and you went to thebiggest disaster in hundreds of
years, banda Aceh.
I'm sure that you went into thehumanitarian work and as a
health professional with youreyes relatively wide open.
But how was it, having workedin British hospitals, to then
(05:17):
try and provide healthcare in adisaster zone?
Speaker 4 (05:21):
You're right, I went in with eyes wide open but
looking back I was completelynaive.
No-transcript.
(05:52):
Your role is not to be a handson nurse.
That isn't the added value.
There's many, many very goodnurses in all around the world,
but the skills that I have interms of the coordination, the
communication, learning veryquickly, the humanitarian system
and how that operates and howwe can sort of fit within it,
that became my added value.
(06:12):
I think not my hands-onclinical nursing or proper
nursing, as I like to refer toit as.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
You've been in many places conflict zones since then
.
Tell me about a few of them.
What are your standoutexperiences?
Speaker 4 (06:28):
Yes, I've been in many conflict zones, but I've
also worked in infectiousdisease outbreaks and I think
one of the things I'm most proudof maybe was Save the
Children's Role in the SierraLeone Ebola outbreak in 2014,
2015.
And you know, I was a part ofthat extremely heavy lift for
(06:53):
the organisation where we wereto build and operate an Ebola
treatment centre.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
It is hot, tiring work and it carries a
considerable risk, but for theNHS staff who've come here to
Sierra Leone, it's a callingthese Ebola orphans deprived of
one, or often both of theirparents.
They are cared for by survivorsof the disease as the infection
rate continues to rise in theircountry.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
This was so outside of the children's comfort zone.
We had not been providingfrontline clinical care in an
infectious disease outbreak everbefore.
Yet many, many factors drovethat decision.
But, yeah, we were able toestablish, build, literally
build with the Sierra Leonecolleagues an 80-bed Ebola
(07:38):
hospital and all that wentaround that, including a
partnership with the NHS, wherewe received and worked with NHS
clinicians.
I mean, that was takingcoordination and collaboration
to a whole new level working onthe front line with a disease
that kills obviously veryquickly and very nastily, many
(08:01):
people.
So that's one of the things I'mmost proud of, I think.
And then during, I think,another moment again not a
conflict zone, but there's oddly, some similarities, I find,
between the Rohingya crisis in2017, when a million Rohingya
people were displaced into Cox'sBazar in Bangladesh in the
(08:26):
space of weeks.
It was biblical what we saw,and I think I was very lucky to
be part of that team to respondto that crisis.
Speaker 6 (08:35):
Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh is the world's
largest refugee camp and home tomore than a million Rohingya.
Half are children aged between3 to 17, growing up with little
access to formal education, careor support.
In this classroom, rohingyarefugee students hope to learn
how to build a happier future,but they also know how tough it
(08:57):
can be to escape a past andpresent full of sadness.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
And actually you know , the Rohingya population are
still there in Cox's Bazaar andSave the Children, the
foundations that we build, thehealth centres that we build,
the learning, education etc.
Are still functioning.
So yes, we have emergencyresponses to act in the
immediacy of humanitarian needs.
(09:23):
But you know, we like to thinkand actually there are some good
examples of where there is alonger term legacy and where
those foundations do impact forlonger those children.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
I think that is a point that our listeners will
really welcome hearing, becausethe world is such an unstable
place now and we hear a lotabout governments cutting
foreign aid and suggesting thatit's not worth the money or it's
throwing good money after badand to hear you talk about
(09:55):
things that you a veryexperienced aid worker are proud
of and that are still workingIs that the pitch you would make
to people coming to you withdoubts about the relevance of
foreign aid?
Speaker 4 (10:08):
is so if that doesn't create change in your mind,
then, okay, we can talk aboutsort of longer term impacts for
children and the investment thatwe make as a, as a global
(10:32):
community, to alleviate thatsuffering and to give children
hope, because they are livingthrough their worst lives.
They're living through the mostdesperate of times and, of
course, they are innocentthroughout it.
They are children who have theright to a childhood and we have
the opportunity as a globalcommunity, as an organization,
(10:57):
as an individual, to makepositive impacts for change for
these children, and that has tobe the pitch.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
You're in Gaza now, perhaps the most challenging
assignment.
You seem to be there reallymost of the time, and most aid
workers go in for a few weeksand then they come out and
perhaps they go in again, butthere's not too many that I see
who are popping up on our feeds,on our screens, and they're
(11:23):
basically always in Gaza, butyou're one of them.
Did you hesitate at all abouttaking on this assignment?
Speaker 4 (11:30):
No, no, I wanted to get to Gaza from the beginning
of the war.
On October the 7th, so towardsthe end of October I went as a
deputy team leader for Save theChildren to Ramallah to work in
the West Bank with our countryoffice team supporting our team
and our partners in Gaza.
And then in late January, thefirst internationals were able
(11:54):
to come into Gaza, and I was.
I came to Gaza in February 2024.
And I've had various roles, butmainly team leader and now the
humanitarian director.
But I know what I'm good at, Iknow where I become very
energised and motivated and it'svery much working in these
(12:15):
environments and in Gaza,working in this environment with
my team who are on the frontline every day.
So I didn't hesitate at all.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
And what does Save the Children actually do in Gaza
, because this is a confusingpicture for people, maybe
outside our beltway, of the aidcommunity.
It's hard to see who's doingwhat and what it's achieving.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
For sure, and it's obviously very, very hard to
deliver here and you know we cantalk about the blockade on any
supplies that have really comein since the mid-March.
But Save the Children, you knowwe are a large, ambitious
organisation and I value thatwithin the organisation we
challenge ourselves always to domore for children.
(12:57):
So in Gaza we're running one ofthe largest humanitarian
responses across the whole ofSave the Children.
We're now running two primaryhealthcare centres, one in Dera
Bala, one in Canunis, seeingbetween 200 and 300 people a day
.
We're running 10 nutritioncentres, again in Derebela and
(13:18):
Canunis.
We're providing educationservices across 16 communities,
child protection, we're runningchild-friendly spaces and we
have a team of social workers tomanage very complex cases of
case management.
And we're also doing watertrucking to over 20 communities
every day, latrines, handwashing, hygiene promotion and then
(13:41):
providing cash and e-vouchers,e-wallets to hundreds of
thousands of people.
So we are trying always to pushat scale what we can do.
And all of this is with qualityand accountability to children
and their families here.
So our standards do not dropjust because it's hard.
(14:01):
And I always say in Gazaanything is possible.
In Gaza it's just bloodydifficult.
So this is where our startingpoint is yes, we can, and then
we just have to navigate how wecan.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
In Nusarat, every family had sent a young man to
see if they could get bread.
During the ceasefire, 600trucks of food entered Gaza
every day.
Fewer than 100 after an 11-weekblockade is nowhere near enough
.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
How's your relationship with Israel then?
Because obviously, the UNagencies have got a very
challenging relationship withIsrael and seem to be saying
that their movements areseverely restricted.
They can't get their suppliesin and out.
Save the Children you have moreflexibility, you get more
permits to move.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
No, we have no additional permits.
We work within the UNhumanitarian system.
We are completely reliant onthe UN for the movement of our
own supplies through thelogistics cluster.
We also have received suppliesnutrition, health supplies
through WHO and UNICEF.
We call them gifts in kind.
So no, we have no bilateralexternal relationship with
(15:14):
Israel.
We work within the UN and thehumanitarian system and
mechanisms.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
So it is more restricted than it was, say,
during the ceasefire up to thebeginning of March.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
Oh, hugely.
It's incomparable actually whatwe're having to deal with now.
You know, during the January toMarch pause in hostilities, 600
trucks a day were coming intoGaza and that was meeting the
basic needs.
Through food distributions,through hygiene kit
distributions, through sheltertents, people were able to
receive humanitarian supplies ina safe and dignified manner
(15:49):
because the supplies wereavailable.
Now nothing came in for monthsand since mid-May the UN have
been able to bring in a trickleof humanitarian supplies.
But in this context, bringingin any supplies into Gaza is
extremely risky.
It's dangerous.
There is organised criminality,there is a breakdown in law and
(16:11):
order in Gaza.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
At one of the few soup kitchens still serving
meals.
The growing desperation ofGaza's population of more than
two million is clear as day.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
In Khan Yunis, children rushed to a place where
they'd heard there was hot soup.
They scrambled for thescrapings.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
And, of course, on top of that, you have people who
are being starved and on thebrink of famine.
So people are absolutelydesperate.
So there is people, many, manyexamples of people's desperation
, driving them to jump on thetrucks and pull off the
humanitarian supplies.
And you know, I know I would ofcontroversy about it, but I get
(16:55):
their press releases every dayand they say that they are
reaching out to otherhumanitarian organisations to
(17:16):
work with them.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Now they do seem to have more freedom of passage,
let's say in and out of Gaza.
Would you consider working withthe Gaza Humanitarian
Foundation?
Speaker 4 (17:29):
No, we've said very clearly there's nothing
humanitarian about the GazaHumanitarian Foundation.
Speaker 6 (17:35):
For weeks now.
Images like these grimlyfamiliar Food distribution by
GHF, the Israeli-US-sponsoredGaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Figures released today by theHamas-controlled Gaza government
say 549 people have been killedin the first month of the
foundation's work, 4,066 injured.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
They're an Israeli-American-backed
organisation working forproviding distributions of food
in the most chaotic anddangerous way within militarized
zones in Gaza, and people,again, who are desperate and
desperate to feed their children.
(18:19):
And we've spoken to peoplewho've made this decision,
knowing that they are riskingtheir lives literally to receive
some food in a chaotic anddangerous way.
There is no safe and dignifieddistributions happening at the
GHF.
It is literally the survival ofthe fittest.
(18:40):
And I've seen, you know, withmy own eyes, driving through Can
Yunus, I witnessed groups ofyoung men.
Through Canunis, I witnessedgroups of young men and it was
all groups of young men comingback from a GHF point.
Some had bags, some had boxes,some were carrying one bag of
flour, so it wasn't sort of fairand equal distribution.
(19:00):
It was very much what you couldgrab and run with.
And these young guys werecarrying this food but also
carrying knives.
Carrying knives so that theycould fend off people who were
going to attack them for thefood and also potentially attack
people for the food.
So the situation that peopleare sharing with me my women
(19:23):
team yesterday was sharing withme they are deeply concerned
about the shifts that ishappening within the population
of Gaza, driven by thedesperation.
But no, in answer to yourquestion, say the children will
not work or operate with theGaza Humanitarian Foundation.
We predicted that this wouldhappen.
We knew you know ashumanitarian organization.
(19:43):
And say the children are thepartners, the UN, we know how to
do distributions.
Say the children have beenworking in Gaza for decades and
critical to safe and dignifieddistributions is the
relationship that you have withcommunities and the conversation
and the information, theaccountability that we have to
communities to inform them ofwhat is coming, when it is
(20:04):
coming.
How will we prioritize the mostvulnerable?
Women-headed households,child-headed households, the
disabled, the elderly these arepeople that are most in need and
this is how we will coordinateand communicate with communities
.
Know that you will receive food, you will receive the
distribution, but we areprioritising based on need and
(20:26):
people understand that.
But we are prioritizing basedon need and people understand
that.
But what our added value is in avery complex environment right
now is services for children,because it's not only about
trucks, it's not only aboutstuff, it's about services.
It's about health care, it'sabout nutrition, but it's also,
you know, education, childprotection.
This is what gives children anopportunity to be children in
(20:48):
that moment and this is whatthey share with us when they're
in our boiling hot tents, wherewe're working with very little
resources, some paper and pens,exercises to get them to draw,
to share their emotions and whatthey appreciate, what they,
what they share with us is thisis the time I feel safe and this
is the time I can be a child.
(21:09):
And then, outside of the tent,they have to go and find food,
they have to go and find water,they have to care for their
younger children.
And the parents share with us.
You know they're desperate fortheir children to go back to
school.
They want their children to beeducated.
It's very much a valued part ofsociety in Gaza to be educated.
(21:30):
It's very much a valued part ofsociety in Gaza.
And we know that what we do isa drop in the ocean, but we have
to continue to do as much as wecan for as long as we can and
to give children hope for thefuture.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
International journalists are not allowed into
Gaza and we regularly I mean Ireport out of the UN in Geneva
and we report on UN reports orwhat the World Health
Organization has seen or the UNHuman Rights Office, and we're
often criticised for that.
(21:57):
You're an eyewitness to this,which makes you, in some ways,
quite important.
I'm just wondering what do youtell your closest friends, your
loved ones, about Gaza?
Speaker 4 (22:09):
To be honest, I don't really talk about Gaza too much
.
If people want to talk to meabout Gaza, then that's great
and I'm very happy to share.
And people do ask questions howdo you move around, how do you
get to communities, where do youlive, how do you eat?
You know these are questionspeople ask and that's great.
People are showing an interest.
(22:30):
But I think I'm quite good atcompartmentalizing, because my
home time is so precious and mytime with my family, my partner,
my son, my sister, my brother,you know it's such a precious
time.
You know it's such a precioustime and of course I can talk
about it, but it's not somethingI want to spend my headspace in
(22:53):
.
I'd much rather be enjoying thetime sitting in a pub, having a
cold beer, having nice food.
You know all the things thatyou think about when you're here
, that you want to do whenyou're home.
It's not particularlyintentional, it's just the way I
think I sort of separate thesesignificant parts of my life and
(23:14):
I think although Gaza is, ofcourse, an extreme example of a
breakdown in humanity, I guess,but I guess that's how I've
always managed bearing witnessto the atrocities of the world
and then separating that with mytime with my family.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
I think it's the only way to stay sane.
I would say and my much morelimited experience of that is
exactly that I think you'reabsolutely right and I think you
have to.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Yeah, that's exactly what I do and again, it's not
intentional but it's working.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
What does it mean to be a child in Gaza?
Speaker 6 (23:52):
It's become a daily sight, over 655 days of this war
, the endless march of parentsburying children.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
She stumbles through the flames Five-year-old Wad
Jalal al-Sheikh Khalil, herwhole world collapsing beneath
her.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
Well, UNICEF says that nearly all of Gaza's 1.1
million children need mentalhealth and psychosocial support.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
It occurred to me when you were talking there you
work for Save the Children, soyou work with children in Gaza
and you have a son.
I'm just wondering, because I'ma mother.
When I see the news I justthink how are these children
going to survive mentally?
Speaker 4 (24:32):
No, it completely resonates, of course, and you
can't help but think about I.
Well, I can't help think aboutmy child and how lucky he.
You know he's very lucky,privileged, but knows what I'm
doing and that's important to meand I think it's important to
him.
He, he's only 10, so nearly 10.
Yeah, the sort of immediateimpact of this war on children
(24:57):
that we see and they share theirexperience with us in our
different services, but themedium, longer-term impact and
children are very much.
I think the whole of Gaza isactually very much in survival
mode to survive this day andit's very difficult for people
and they've shared this with meto plan, to have any plans for
the future.
But I think you know we run casemanagement services, so
(25:19):
children who are the mostvulnerable that have become lost
or abandoned or unaccompanied,abused, the most difficult times
for children and I will behonest, I can barely listen to
some of the stories that theteams share with me and some of
the experiences children arehaving to go through, because
(25:44):
it's unbearable, it'sunthinkable what's happening to
children.
So I think you know we'retalking about not even a whole
generation, a whole population,2 million people who will be
deeply traumatized by whatthey've seen firsthand, the loss
that they've experiencedfirsthand, and how to rebuild, I
(26:06):
don't know.
I mean, we will obviously hopeto be part of that rebuilding
and building hope for the future, but what that looks like I
don't know.
You know, this is literally theworst it's ever been for us now
and we can't hope.
We can't pin our hopes on.
We need to manage ourexpectations because they've
been dashed so many times.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
You are very much as you say.
In the moment it's the only wayyou can be, I think, doing the
work that you do.
But I've talked to many aidworkers and some senior UN
officials who said clearly youknow the world should not be
standing by here.
So I'm just wondering what doyou think the history books will
(26:48):
say in a few years about thisconflict?
Speaker 4 (26:52):
You know, history will judge us as a global
community.
There will be shame on us as aglobal community.
I believe that the inaction ofmember states is extraordinary
to think about.
To consider the lack ofpunitive action on Israel.
They are operating withapparent impunity and they have
(27:14):
never made a secret of theirintentions.
It's all out there and yet, ashumanitarians, we continue to
navigate the complexity.
We are committed to staying andto deliver for as long as we
can.
But history will judge usharshly and it should judge us
harshly.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
And that brings us to the end of this edition of
Inside Geneva.
Huge thanks to Rachel, who tooktime out of a very busy day to
join us direct from Deir al-Balain Gaza.
We wish her and her entire teamat Save the Children all the
very best with the incrediblyimportant work they're doing.
(27:59):
Join us again next time for ourfourth profile, which is, in
fact, not a person but one ofGeneva's best-loved museums.
Speaker 5 (28:09):
In this museum we ask a central question, which is
what does humanitarian actionhave to do with me in my life
here and now?
And to establish thisconnection on a personal level,
we really bend over backwards toexplain humanitarian principles
, international humanitarian lawand to show that there are
(28:29):
embodied experiences we can allrelate to.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
It's an exhibition that was thought as an
exploration of the soundarchives, in particular the
humanitarian sound archivespreserved here in Geneva at the
ICRC and the FIRC and also atthe museum.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
That episode will be out on August 19th.
Don't miss it.
And a reminder our profilesfrom last summer are all still
available.
Hear from Chris Lockyer,secretary General of Médecins
Sans Frontières, or EstherDingemans, of the Global
Survivors Fund, which supportspeople who have suffered sexual
(29:08):
violence in conflict.
You can hear those and morewherever you get your podcasts.
I'm Imogen Fowkes.
Thanks again for listening.
A reminder you've beenlistening to Inside Geneva, a
Swiss Info production.
You can subscribe to us andreview us wherever you get your
(29:30):
podcasts.
Check out our previous episodeshow the International Red Cross
unites prisoners of war withtheir families, or why survivors
of human rights violations turnto the UN in Geneva for justice
.
I'm Imogen Folks.
Thanks again for listening.
This is Inside Geneva .
I'm your host, imogen Fowkes,and this is a production from
Swissinfo, the internationalpublic media company of
Switzerland.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
In today's programme, they unloaded the few trucks
that reached Khan Yunus undercover of darkness, armed guards
defending the precious cargo.
Speaker 4 (00:31):
Nothing came in for months and since mid-May the UN
have been able to bring in atrickle of humanitarian supplies
.
But in this context you havepeople who are being starved and
on the brink of famine.
So people are absolutelydesperate, driving them to jump
on the trucks and pull off thehumanitarian supplies, and you
(00:53):
know, I know, I would do thatmyself.
Speaker 5 (00:55):
Nine-year-old Jude is disabled and, like tens of
thousands of other children inGaza, starving.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
We are driven by humanity to others and
alleviating the suffering ofchildren wherever that is to
give children hope, because theyare living through their worst
lives.
They're living through the mostdesperate of times and of they
are innocent throughout it.
(01:24):
They are children who have theright to a childhood.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Hello and welcome again to Inside Geneva.
I'm Imogen Fowkes and today webring you the third in our
series of summer profiles.
Listeners will know that insome conflict zones, gaza is the
most prominent.
Right now.
International journalists havedifficulty getting access or, in
Gaza's case, are simply refusedentry.
(01:53):
But international aid agenciesare still present and that means
their experiences, theireyewitness accounts of what the
situation in a particular crisisor conflict actually is is very
important.
So today I'm delighted towelcome a humanitarian worker
(02:13):
with long experience in some ofthe world's most challenging
regions.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
My name is Rachel Cummings.
I'm the Gaza HumanitarianDirector for Save the Children.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
That is a very big, very challenging, very risky,
very exacting on you in allsorts of ways job.
I imagine Our listeners will becurious what did you want to be
when you were little?
What was your dream job?
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Well, I think I found my dream job so I became a
nurse.
I went into nursing afterschool and my mom was a nurse,
so I grew up around sort ofnursing.
She was a health sister andfrom about the age of 13, 14, I
thought, oh, that could besomething quite interesting.
I hadn't quite understood why,but I thought that would be
(02:59):
something interesting to do.
But also, I just enjoy beingwith people and in nursing it's
a complete cross-section ofsociety.
Everyone in society gets sick,so you get to understand
people's vulnerabilities.
People in hospitals are veryvulnerable.
Communication, obviously,collaboration.
So yeah, it was a greatfoundation, I think, for me to
(03:21):
pursue this career.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
And you moved from nursing, I guess, in the
National Health Service inBritain, into the humanitarian
field.
How was that?
Speaker 4 (03:31):
switch?
Yeah, it wasn't.
I've never had a sort of careerpathway, particular ambition
really.
But when I went into nursing Ialso wanted to travel, so
nursing gave me that opportunity.
That was a sort of 18 sort of18 year old thinking, okay, I
can use this to travel with.
But I did two years in Cambodiawith VSO as a nurse tutor,
(03:56):
having done a diploma intropical nursing at the London
school, and that was really agateway.
And there was a person I met inCambodia working for a small
American NGO who opened my eyesto the world of NGOs.
I didn't know what an NGO waswhen I went to Cambodia and my
first humanitarian deployment,if you like, was following the
(04:17):
Indonesian tsunami.
I went to Banda Aceh withMerlin as a nurse.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
On.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
December 26, 2004,.
A tsunami of unprecedentedproportions hit the Indian Ocean
coastline with waves over 35metres high.
Speaker 6 (04:32):
The damage wrought not just by the speed, but also
by the volume of water, exertingthe power of an entire ocean.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
I stayed for over a year and a half in Aceh working
with Merlin, which was a massive, massive learning curve but
also instrumental, really, insetting me on this path for
humanitarian work.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
So you've been trained in modern Western
medicine and you went to thebiggest disaster in hundreds of
years, banda Aceh.
I'm sure that you went into thehumanitarian work and as a
health professional with youreyes relatively wide open.
But how was it, having workedin British hospitals, to then
(05:17):
try and provide healthcare in adisaster zone?
Speaker 4 (05:21):
You're right, I went in with eyes wide open but
looking back I was completelynaive.
No-transcript.
(05:52):
Your role is not to be a handson nurse.
That isn't the added value.
There's many, many very goodnurses in all around the world,
but the skills that I have interms of the coordination, the
communication, learning veryquickly, the humanitarian system
and how that operates and howwe can sort of fit within it,
that became my added value.
(06:12):
I think not my hands-onclinical nursing or proper
nursing, as I like to refer toit as.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
You've been in many places conflict zones since then
.
Tell me about a few of them.
What are your standoutexperiences?
Speaker 4 (06:28):
Yes, I've been in many conflict zones, but I've
also worked in infectiousdisease outbreaks and I think
one of the things I'm most proudof maybe was Save the
Children's Role in the SierraLeone Ebola outbreak in 2014,
2015.
And you know, I was a part ofthat extremely heavy lift for
(06:53):
the organisation where we wereto build and operate an Ebola
treatment centre.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
It is hot, tiring work and it carries a
considerable risk, but for theNHS staff who've come here to
Sierra Leone, it's a callingthese Ebola orphans deprived of
one, or often both of theirparents.
They are cared for by survivorsof the disease as the infection
rate continues to rise in theircountry.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
This was so outside of the children's comfort zone.
We had not been providingfrontline clinical care in an
infectious disease outbreak everbefore.
Yet many, many factors drovethat decision.
But, yeah, we were able toestablish, build, literally
build with the Sierra Leonecolleagues an 80-bed Ebola
(07:38):
hospital and all that wentaround that, including a
partnership with the NHS, wherewe received and worked with NHS
clinicians.
I mean, that was takingcoordination and collaboration
to a whole new level working onthe front line with a disease
that kills obviously veryquickly and very nastily, many
(08:01):
people.
So that's one of the things I'mmost proud of, I think.
And then during, I think,another moment again not a
conflict zone, but there's oddly, some similarities, I find,
between the Rohingya crisis in2017, when a million Rohingya
people were displaced into Cox'sBazar in Bangladesh in the
(08:26):
space of weeks.
It was biblical what we saw,and I think I was very lucky to
be part of that team to respondto that crisis.
Speaker 6 (08:35):
Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh is the world's
largest refugee camp and home tomore than a million Rohingya.
Half are children aged between3 to 17, growing up with little
access to formal education, careor support.
In this classroom, rohingyarefugee students hope to learn
how to build a happier future,but they also know how tough it
(08:57):
can be to escape a past andpresent full of sadness.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
And actually you know , the Rohingya population are
still there in Cox's Bazaar andSave the Children, the
foundations that we build, thehealth centres that we build,
the learning, education etc.
Are still functioning.
So yes, we have emergencyresponses to act in the
immediacy of humanitarian needs.
(09:23):
But you know, we like to thinkand actually there are some good
examples of where there is alonger term legacy and where
those foundations do impact forlonger those children.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
I think that is a point that our listeners will
really welcome hearing, becausethe world is such an unstable
place now and we hear a lotabout governments cutting
foreign aid and suggesting thatit's not worth the money or it's
throwing good money after badand to hear you talk about
(09:55):
things that you a veryexperienced aid worker are proud
of and that are still workingIs that the pitch you would make
to people coming to you withdoubts about the relevance of
foreign aid?
Speaker 4 (10:08):
is so if that doesn't create change in your mind,
then, okay, we can talk aboutsort of longer term impacts for
children and the investment thatwe make as a, as a global
(10:32):
community, to alleviate thatsuffering and to give children
hope, because they are livingthrough their worst lives.
They're living through the mostdesperate of times and, of
course, they are innocentthroughout it.
They are children who have theright to a childhood and we have
the opportunity as a globalcommunity, as an organization,
(10:57):
as an individual, to makepositive impacts for change for
these children, and that has tobe the pitch.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
You're in Gaza now, perhaps the most challenging
assignment.
You seem to be there reallymost of the time, and most aid
workers go in for a few weeksand then they come out and
perhaps they go in again, butthere's not too many that I see
who are popping up on our feeds,on our screens, and they're
(11:23):
basically always in Gaza, butyou're one of them.
Did you hesitate at all abouttaking on this assignment?
Speaker 4 (11:30):
No, no, I wanted to get to Gaza from the beginning
of the war.
On October the 7th, so towardsthe end of October I went as a
deputy team leader for Save theChildren to Ramallah to work in
the West Bank with our countryoffice team supporting our team
and our partners in Gaza.
And then in late January, thefirst internationals were able
(11:54):
to come into Gaza, and I was.
I came to Gaza in February 2024.
And I've had various roles, butmainly team leader and now the
humanitarian director.
But I know what I'm good at, Iknow where I become very
energised and motivated and it'svery much working in these
(12:15):
environments and in Gaza,working in this environment with
my team who are on the frontline every day.
So I didn't hesitate at all.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
And what does Save the Children actually do in Gaza
, because this is a confusingpicture for people, maybe
outside our beltway, of the aidcommunity.
It's hard to see who's doingwhat and what it's achieving.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
For sure, and it's obviously very, very hard to
deliver here and you know we cantalk about the blockade on any
supplies that have really comein since the mid-March.
But Save the Children, you knowwe are a large, ambitious
organisation and I value thatwithin the organisation we
challenge ourselves always to domore for children.
(12:57):
So in Gaza we're running one ofthe largest humanitarian
responses across the whole ofSave the Children.
We're now running two primaryhealthcare centres, one in Dera
Bala, one in Canunis, seeingbetween 200 and 300 people a day
.
We're running 10 nutritioncentres, again in Derebela and
(13:18):
Canunis.
We're providing educationservices across 16 communities,
child protection, we're runningchild-friendly spaces and we
have a team of social workers tomanage very complex cases of
case management.
And we're also doing watertrucking to over 20 communities
every day, latrines, handwashing, hygiene promotion and then
(13:41):
providing cash and e-vouchers,e-wallets to hundreds of
thousands of people.
So we are trying always to pushat scale what we can do.
And all of this is with qualityand accountability to children
and their families here.
So our standards do not dropjust because it's hard.
(14:01):
And I always say in Gazaanything is possible.
In Gaza it's just bloodydifficult.
So this is where our startingpoint is yes, we can, and then
we just have to navigate how wecan.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
In Nusarat, every family had sent a young man to
see if they could get bread.
During the ceasefire, 600trucks of food entered Gaza
every day.
Fewer than 100 after an 11-weekblockade is nowhere near enough
.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
How's your relationship with Israel then?
Because obviously, the UNagencies have got a very
challenging relationship withIsrael and seem to be saying
that their movements areseverely restricted.
They can't get their suppliesin and out.
Save the Children you have moreflexibility, you get more
permits to move.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
No, we have no additional permits.
We work within the UNhumanitarian system.
We are completely reliant onthe UN for the movement of our
own supplies through thelogistics cluster.
We also have received suppliesnutrition, health supplies
through WHO and UNICEF.
We call them gifts in kind.
So no, we have no bilateralexternal relationship with
(15:14):
Israel.
We work within the UN and thehumanitarian system and
mechanisms.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
So it is more restricted than it was, say,
during the ceasefire up to thebeginning of March.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
Oh, hugely.
It's incomparable actually whatwe're having to deal with now.
You know, during the January toMarch pause in hostilities, 600
trucks a day were coming intoGaza and that was meeting the
basic needs.
Through food distributions,through hygiene kit
distributions, through sheltertents, people were able to
receive humanitarian supplies ina safe and dignified manner
(15:49):
because the supplies wereavailable.
Now nothing came in for monthsand since mid-May the UN have
been able to bring in a trickleof humanitarian supplies.
But in this context, bringingin any supplies into Gaza is
extremely risky.
It's dangerous.
There is organised criminality,there is a breakdown in law and
(16:11):
order in Gaza.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
At one of the few soup kitchens still serving
meals.
The growing desperation ofGaza's population of more than
two million is clear as day.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
In Khan Yunis, children rushed to a place where
they'd heard there was hot soup.
They scrambled for thescrapings.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
And, of course, on top of that, you have people who
are being starved and on thebrink of famine.
So people are absolutelydesperate.
So there is people, many, manyexamples of people's desperation
, driving them to jump on thetrucks and pull off the
humanitarian supplies.
And you know, I know I would ofcontroversy about it, but I get
(16:55):
their press releases every dayand they say that they are
reaching out to otherhumanitarian organisations to
(17:16):
work with them.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Now they do seem to have more freedom of passage,
let's say in and out of Gaza.
Would you consider working withthe Gaza Humanitarian
Foundation?
Speaker 4 (17:29):
No, we've said very clearly there's nothing
humanitarian about the GazaHumanitarian Foundation.
Speaker 6 (17:35):
For weeks now.
Images like these grimlyfamiliar Food distribution by
GHF, the Israeli-US-sponsoredGaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Figures released today by theHamas-controlled Gaza government
say 549 people have been killedin the first month of the
foundation's work, 4,066 injured.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
They're an Israeli-American-backed
organisation working forproviding distributions of food
in the most chaotic anddangerous way within militarized
zones in Gaza, and people,again, who are desperate and
desperate to feed their children.
(18:19):
And we've spoken to peoplewho've made this decision,
knowing that they are riskingtheir lives literally to receive
some food in a chaotic anddangerous way.
There is no safe and dignifieddistributions happening at the
GHF.
It is literally the survival ofthe fittest.
(18:40):
And I've seen, you know, withmy own eyes, driving through Can
Yunus, I witnessed groups ofyoung men.
Through Canunis, I witnessedgroups of young men and it was
all groups of young men comingback from a GHF point.
Some had bags, some had boxes,some were carrying one bag of
flour, so it wasn't sort of fairand equal distribution.
(19:00):
It was very much what you couldgrab and run with.
And these young guys werecarrying this food but also
carrying knives.
Carrying knives so that theycould fend off people who were
going to attack them for thefood and also potentially attack
people for the food.
So the situation that peopleare sharing with me my women
(19:23):
team yesterday was sharing withme they are deeply concerned
about the shifts that ishappening within the population
of Gaza, driven by thedesperation.
But no, in answer to yourquestion, say the children will
not work or operate with theGaza Humanitarian Foundation.
We predicted that this wouldhappen.
We knew you know ashumanitarian organization.
(19:43):
And say the children are thepartners, the UN, we know how to
do distributions.
Say the children have beenworking in Gaza for decades and
critical to safe and dignifieddistributions is the
relationship that you have withcommunities and the conversation
and the information, theaccountability that we have to
communities to inform them ofwhat is coming, when it is
(20:04):
coming.
How will we prioritize the mostvulnerable?
Women-headed households,child-headed households, the
disabled, the elderly these arepeople that are most in need and
this is how we will coordinateand communicate with communities
.
Know that you will receive food, you will receive the
distribution, but we areprioritising based on need and
(20:26):
people understand that.
But we are prioritizing basedon need and people understand
that.
But what our added value is in avery complex environment right
now is services for children,because it's not only about
trucks, it's not only aboutstuff, it's about services.
It's about health care, it'sabout nutrition, but it's also,
you know, education, childprotection.
This is what gives children anopportunity to be children in
(20:48):
that moment and this is whatthey share with us when they're
in our boiling hot tents, wherewe're working with very little
resources, some paper and pens,exercises to get them to draw,
to share their emotions and whatthey appreciate, what they,
what they share with us is thisis the time I feel safe and this
is the time I can be a child.
(21:09):
And then, outside of the tent,they have to go and find food,
they have to go and find water,they have to care for their
younger children.
And the parents share with us.
You know they're desperate fortheir children to go back to
school.
They want their children to beeducated.
It's very much a valued part ofsociety in Gaza to be educated.
(21:30):
It's very much a valued part ofsociety in Gaza.
And we know that what we do isa drop in the ocean, but we have
to continue to do as much as wecan for as long as we can and
to give children hope for thefuture.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
International journalists are not allowed into
Gaza and we regularly I mean Ireport out of the UN in Geneva
and we report on UN reports orwhat the World Health
Organization has seen or the UNHuman Rights Office, and we're
often criticised for that.
(21:57):
You're an eyewitness to this,which makes you, in some ways,
quite important.
I'm just wondering what do youtell your closest friends, your
loved ones, about Gaza?
Speaker 4 (22:09):
To be honest, I don't really talk about Gaza too much
.
If people want to talk to meabout Gaza, then that's great
and I'm very happy to share.
And people do ask questions howdo you move around, how do you
get to communities, where do youlive, how do you eat?
You know these are questionspeople ask and that's great.
People are showing an interest.
(22:30):
But I think I'm quite good atcompartmentalizing, because my
home time is so precious and mytime with my family, my partner,
my son, my sister, my brother,you know it's such a precious
time.
You know it's such a precioustime and of course I can talk
about it, but it's not somethingI want to spend my headspace in
(22:53):
.
I'd much rather be enjoying thetime sitting in a pub, having a
cold beer, having nice food.
You know all the things thatyou think about when you're here
, that you want to do whenyou're home.
It's not particularlyintentional, it's just the way I
think I sort of separate thesesignificant parts of my life and
(23:14):
I think although Gaza is, ofcourse, an extreme example of a
breakdown in humanity, I guess,but I guess that's how I've
always managed bearing witnessto the atrocities of the world
and then separating that with mytime with my family.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
I think it's the only way to stay sane.
I would say and my much morelimited experience of that is
exactly that I think you'reabsolutely right and I think you
have to.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Yeah, that's exactly what I do and again, it's not
intentional but it's working.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
What does it mean to be a child in Gaza?
Speaker 6 (23:52):
It's become a daily sight, over 655 days of this war
, the endless march of parentsburying children.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
She stumbles through the flames Five-year-old Wad
Jalal al-Sheikh Khalil, herwhole world collapsing beneath
her.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
Well, UNICEF says that nearly all of Gaza's 1.1
million children need mentalhealth and psychosocial support.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
It occurred to me when you were talking there you
work for Save the Children, soyou work with children in Gaza
and you have a son.
I'm just wondering, because I'ma mother.
When I see the news I justthink how are these children
going to survive mentally?
Speaker 4 (24:32):
No, it completely resonates, of course, and you
can't help but think about I.
Well, I can't help think aboutmy child and how lucky he.
You know he's very lucky,privileged, but knows what I'm
doing and that's important to meand I think it's important to
him.
He, he's only 10, so nearly 10.
Yeah, the sort of immediateimpact of this war on children
(24:57):
that we see and they share theirexperience with us in our
different services, but themedium, longer-term impact and
children are very much.
I think the whole of Gaza isactually very much in survival
mode to survive this day andit's very difficult for people
and they've shared this with meto plan, to have any plans for
the future.
But I think you know we run casemanagement services, so
(25:19):
children who are the mostvulnerable that have become lost
or abandoned or unaccompanied,abused, the most difficult times
for children and I will behonest, I can barely listen to
some of the stories that theteams share with me and some of
the experiences children arehaving to go through, because
(25:44):
it's unbearable, it'sunthinkable what's happening to
children.
So I think you know we'retalking about not even a whole
generation, a whole population,2 million people who will be
deeply traumatized by whatthey've seen firsthand, the loss
that they've experiencedfirsthand, and how to rebuild, I
(26:06):
don't know.
I mean, we will obviously hopeto be part of that rebuilding
and building hope for the future, but what that looks like I
don't know.
You know, this is literally theworst it's ever been for us now
and we can't hope.
We can't pin our hopes on.
We need to manage ourexpectations because they've
been dashed so many times.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
You are very much as you say.
In the moment it's the only wayyou can be, I think, doing the
work that you do.
But I've talked to many aidworkers and some senior UN
officials who said clearly youknow the world should not be
standing by here.
So I'm just wondering what doyou think the history books will
(26:48):
say in a few years about thisconflict?
Speaker 4 (26:52):
You know, history will judge us as a global
community.
There will be shame on us as aglobal community.
I believe that the inaction ofmember states is extraordinary
to think about.
To consider the lack ofpunitive action on Israel.
They are operating withapparent impunity and they have
(27:14):
never made a secret of theirintentions.
It's all out there and yet, ashumanitarians, we continue to
navigate the complexity.
We are committed to staying andto deliver for as long as we
can.
But history will judge usharshly and it should judge us
harshly.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
And that brings us to the end of this edition of
Inside Geneva.
Huge thanks to Rachel, who tooktime out of a very busy day to
join us direct from Deir al-Balain Gaza.
We wish her and her entire teamat Save the Children all the
very best with the incrediblyimportant work they're doing.
(27:59):
Join us again next time for ourfourth profile, which is, in
fact, not a person but one ofGeneva's best-loved museums.
Speaker 5 (28:09):
In this museum we ask a central question, which is
what does humanitarian actionhave to do with me in my life
here and now?
And to establish thisconnection on a personal level,
we really bend over backwards toexplain humanitarian principles
, international humanitarian lawand to show that there are
(28:29):
embodied experiences we can allrelate to.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
It's an exhibition that was thought as an
exploration of the soundarchives, in particular the
humanitarian sound archivespreserved here in Geneva at the
ICRC and the FIRC and also atthe museum.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
That episode will be out on August 19th.
Don't miss it.
And a reminder our profilesfrom last summer are all still
available.
Hear from Chris Lockyer,secretary General of Médecins
Sans Frontières, or EstherDingemans, of the Global
Survivors Fund, which supportspeople who have suffered sexual
(29:08):
violence in conflict.
You can hear those and morewherever you get your podcasts.
I'm Imogen Fowkes.
Thanks again for listening.
A reminder you've beenlistening to Inside Geneva, a
Swiss Info production.
You can subscribe to us andreview us wherever you get your
(29:30):
podcasts.
Check out our previous episodeshow the International Red Cross
unites prisoners of war withtheir families, or why survivors
of human rights violations turnto the UN in Geneva for justice
.
I'm Imogen Folks.
Thanks again for listening.
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