TEDx Talks | Finding Humanity in Humanitarian Work | Tim Budge | TEDxMaldon @TEDx | Uploaded 3 weeks ago | Updated 4 days ago
Thirty years of humanitarian work has only taught me how little I know. I don’t have the certainty and focused motivation with which I started, back when I thought I could make a difference to people living in poorer parts of the world. However, what has grown in me is a deepening need to hold onto a sense of shared humanity and to look for that humanity in its unpolished yet hopeful reality in all contexts. In the words of Ernest Hemingway, I am trying to become a better BS detector, to sieve through meaning and layers of information presented by politicians, well-meaning marketing folk, including those in NGOs, and my own crusted-on prejudices that blur the realities of other people’s humanities. What is often under the layers is a heartbreaking jumble of suffering and determination, loss and hope, bitterness and faith, seemingly ever-present in all refugee camps and other emergency contexts. Yet, in all my work, even before October 2023, it is Gaza that breaks my heart beyond any other place. It’s where post-traumatic stress took root in my life, and where I still have a sense of survivor guilt and vicarious suffering. As I see it, this is not about taking sides, it’s about listening to stories and challenging ourselves about the meaning we superimpose on other cultures, religions, people and histories. It’s about being unequivocal in holding on to shared humanity and letting hope guide us all to something better than what we have. Tim Budge has worked in humanitarian contexts around the world for over thirty years, including years in Timor-Leste, Zambia, Palestine and Tanzania. He has also worked on refugee programs in Mozambique, Cambodia, Lebanon and Jordan. Tim has held director level postings in Zambia and Timor-Leste, senior roles in Australian NGOs and leadership roles in local advocacy and community development agencies. He is recently retired and lives on Taungurung land in central Victoria. Tim has been active in development and emergency response work in Palestine for twenty years. He was last in Gaza in 2018, for two visits, working with the Al-Ahli Hospital, now the only hospital still operating in the North of the Strip. He also visited Al-Shifa and other hospitals while there. He tries to stay in contact with friends and colleagues still surviving in what-seems-to-be endless devastation in Gaza. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
Thirty years of humanitarian work has only taught me how little I know. I don’t have the certainty and focused motivation with which I started, back when I thought I could make a difference to people living in poorer parts of the world. However, what has grown in me is a deepening need to hold onto a sense of shared humanity and to look for that humanity in its unpolished yet hopeful reality in all contexts. In the words of Ernest Hemingway, I am trying to become a better BS detector, to sieve through meaning and layers of information presented by politicians, well-meaning marketing folk, including those in NGOs, and my own crusted-on prejudices that blur the realities of other people’s humanities. What is often under the layers is a heartbreaking jumble of suffering and determination, loss and hope, bitterness and faith, seemingly ever-present in all refugee camps and other emergency contexts. Yet, in all my work, even before October 2023, it is Gaza that breaks my heart beyond any other place. It’s where post-traumatic stress took root in my life, and where I still have a sense of survivor guilt and vicarious suffering. As I see it, this is not about taking sides, it’s about listening to stories and challenging ourselves about the meaning we superimpose on other cultures, religions, people and histories. It’s about being unequivocal in holding on to shared humanity and letting hope guide us all to something better than what we have. Tim Budge has worked in humanitarian contexts around the world for over thirty years, including years in Timor-Leste, Zambia, Palestine and Tanzania. He has also worked on refugee programs in Mozambique, Cambodia, Lebanon and Jordan. Tim has held director level postings in Zambia and Timor-Leste, senior roles in Australian NGOs and leadership roles in local advocacy and community development agencies. He is recently retired and lives on Taungurung land in central Victoria. Tim has been active in development and emergency response work in Palestine for twenty years. He was last in Gaza in 2018, for two visits, working with the Al-Ahli Hospital, now the only hospital still operating in the North of the Strip. He also visited Al-Shifa and other hospitals while there. He tries to stay in contact with friends and colleagues still surviving in what-seems-to-be endless devastation in Gaza. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
