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Humanitarian Heroes 2
Humanitarian Heroes 2
This group of individuals are the REAL superheroes making the world a better place.
21st December 2017 - Design for Need , Humanitarian Heroes, #HHotW
By Finn Brownbill
The Justice League? The Avengers? No much better. This group of individuals are the REAL superheroes making the world a better place today. Here at Design for Need we recognise the importance of these Humanitarian Heroes whose work often goes under the radar of the selective media. We want to bring attention to those who deserve it in the world of international development.
Shigeru Ban
This award winning architect giant has well and truly earned himself a place in this Humanitarian Heroes article. Although his portfolio is vast and varied, from the beautifully stylish to the wonderfully effective, I wanted to bring your attention to his work in disaster relief. For the last 20 years, the Japanese designer has wowed the world with his Paper Log Houses and prefabricated temporary housing in Japan, and recently his dedication to building thousands of refugee shelters in the Kalobeyei refugee camp. Shigeru is an inspiration to all designers, from the next generation to the experienced veterans, he stresses the importance of using innovation where it is needed most, in social design.
Karima Rhanem
What brought our attention to Karima was her incredible work as an international development and communication expert, specialising managing civil society most notably with young people across Africa. Her style of governance simply stands for peace! This stance of pure democracy and integrity cannot be understated. She believes that it is the inspiring young leaders of Africa that have the biggest say in their sustainable future. Thereby, through innovative solutions promoted by herself, youth inclusion and participation is paramount.
Selline Korir
Just like, Karima, to achieve Peace is one of the most important part of Selline’s life, as well as for those she helps. Spearheading the Kenya Tuna Uwezo progam for ‘Global Communities’, Selline’s objective is to reduce deadly conflict within Kenya by strengthening social networks amongst the population and promoting collaboration and directly dealing with the clashes. This program largely helps young people to break out of the entrapment of aggression and violence by instead taking the road of understanding and change. Selline also founded the Rural Women Peace link which helps women living in war-torn areas, offering support for trauma, as well as economic empowerment and reintegration of ex-militia into their communities.
Website: http://peacetalks.net/
José Andrés
José Andrés originally gained his reputation not as an aid worker, nor was he a innovative humanitarian architect, instead he was a world famous chef. But the step from international restaurant owner to international development is what makes his incredible selfless work relevant to this article. José Andrés set up his non-profit, World Central Kitchen, in response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake to provide food to those who have had the lives transformed by the disaster. Not only does it directly feed those he need to be fed, the World Central Kitchen’s hollistic approach “improves health, increases education rates, provides career skills, and creates food businesses”. To this day his non-profit continues to help those in need, recently the non-profit served approximately 3 million meals in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria’s devastating effects, and is currently feeding those who have been displaced by the Southern California wildfires.
Website: https://www.worldcentralkitchen.org/
Finn Brownbill
A co-founder of a sustainable design company without any design experience. Sounds ideal right? Hey ho, that’s not why I’m here. I’m the chief editor of the blog and I do plenty more (non-design related) jobs too.