{"id":4122,"date":"2020-06-11T11:11:48","date_gmt":"2020-06-11T15:11:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.porticomagazine.ca\/?p=4122"},"modified":"2020-10-28T14:40:04","modified_gmt":"2020-10-28T18:40:04","slug":"front-line-humanitarian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/porticomagazine.ca\/2020\/06\/front-line-humanitarian\/","title":{"rendered":"Front-Line Humanitarian"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a child, Sheilagh Henry envisioned herself in distant lands, doing exceptional things. As an adult, she saw her vision materialize.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was about 11 years old, our teacher asked us to draw a picture of our future,\u201d says Henry, who completed an M.Sc. in international rural planning and development at U of G in 1998.<\/p>\n

\u201cI drew a picture of myself on the edge of the Nile River, in an adobe hut with a cat and a dog, helping people. I knew from the time I was young that I wanted to travel the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her career as a senior humanitarian affairs officer with the United Nations took her around the world, including to Sudan in 2015. To take the edge off her extremely demanding work there, she took up sailing lessons on the Nile.<\/p>\n

\"Sheilagh
Grad coordinates life-saving measures in disaster zones<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Henry was eight years old when her mother, a single parent, packed up Sheilagh and her sister and moved to a village in England. From there, they travelled throughout Europe and into the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n

Henry went on to work in many troubled countries, including Ethiopia, Angola, Indonesia and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

In the immediate aftermath of a disaster situation \u2013 tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes \u2013 numerous international agencies and NGOs descend to administer aid, she says. Henry typically worked in coordination roles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen there\u2019s a disaster, we\u2019re the ones that make sure there\u2019s coverage for all of those affected,\u201d she says. \u201cWe do needs assessment, information analysis and mapping, and then provide that information to all of the actors out there, so that they know what areas and which beneficiaries are being covered and which ones are not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like her mother, Henry is a courageous world traveller. After her seven-year posting in Afghanistan, and accompanied by her then husband, she drove 11,000 kilometres from Afghanistan to Cork, Ireland, in a 1969 VW Bug. The trip took four months.<\/p>\n

Humanitarian aid workers are generally type A personalities possessing a sense of invincibility, she says. For her, a devastating attack in Sudan in 2016 changed that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was coming home from the office. We were not far from a refugee camp. Two South Sudanese refugees on a motorcycle were coming behind me. I had a backpack on, strapped to both shoulders.\u201d<\/p>\n

The motorcycle passenger grabbed the backpack, pulling Henry to the ground and dragging her along the gravel road. She reached for the man\u2019s shoulder and tried to pull herself up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew from the time I was young that I wanted to travel the world.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIn a few seconds, everything changed for me. He was off balance and being pulled off the motorcycle. He bit down on my thumb and let go of the backpack.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her thumb and tendons were torn off, and she suffered badly damaged muscle and bone. But the ordeal didn\u2019t end there. Once off the motorcycle, the man began to beat her.<\/p>\n

Extensive reconstructive surgery reattached the thumb, but it no longer functions properly. She needed months of therapy to heal from post-traumatic stress disorder. She hasn\u2019t been overseas since.<\/p>\n

Asked what drove her to do the work she did, Henry sounds more like a realist than an idealist.<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly believe that there is nothing that any human does in the world that isn\u2019t selfish,\u201d she says. \u201cEven if you think you are doing a selfless act, you do it because you feel good about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henry believes it is crucial to question one\u2019s place and work in the world. Are you doing what you need to be doing? Finding herself questioning and envisioning again, she is planning another epic road trip.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to drive from Alaska to Argentina in a classic VW Kombi van. That will prepare me to go back overseas. I\u2019m getting ready to dive back in.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Drawn toward disaster relief<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":4126,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":null,"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":null},"categories":[558],"tags":[681,683,684,682],"yoast_head":"\nFront-Line Humanitarian -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"From majoring in literature at U of G to video game design at Humber College. 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