Sharing Humanity: Momoh’s Story

To mark World Humanitarian Day on 19 August, eight team members from the World Food Programme share their stories about working in their own countries to help end hunger. This is Momoh’s story from Sierra Leone.

My name is Momoh. I’m the son of a schoolteacher and a small trader. I grew up in humble circumstances — but education was always important. I started and finished school early, and went to university in 2002.

I was hired by the World Food Programme in early 2015, just when the scourge of Ebola had gathered momentum. I was assigned to the hottest Ebola spot at the time — the Port Loko district. Transmission was fast and intense. We were working with more than 30 partners, local and international, to contain this raging disease with no cure. The only way to bring the disease under control was to break the chain of transmission — and this required quarantine for anyone who came into even suspected contact with infected people. Early on, the entire Port Loko district was put under quarantine — and the World Food Programme was ordered to feed every household in the district to help keep this fragile system in place.

Ensuring people stayed in quarantine was a tough job. Many people, viewing quarantine as a virtual death sentence, wanted to escape at all costs. Usually, when they wanted to evade these restrictions, they would say they didn’t have enough food. All the partners would turn to the World Food Programme to respond promptly. The pressure was immense to meet those demands. And when there was food, they would ask for things that the World Food Programme couldn’t provide — like liquor and cigarettes. I can say that every moment of my time was challenging throughout the Ebola response.

I tried to picture myself in the same, desperate situation as the people we were serving. For instance, what would it be like under quarantine, cut off from all daily activities and contact with people outside, with food and other necessities like clean water running out? The answers, given by my conscience, made me hold up under pressure and keep pushing to get food delivered to every quarantined home. It was also what made me go the extra mile for our partners, for example giving them logistical support to enable them to respond quickly.

My family was initially frightened for me. But as the months rolled by, and they observed that I was still going strong, their fear gradually subsided. I continuously reassured them that I was taking all the necessary precautions.

To me, being a humanitarian worker means your own satisfaction actually flows from the situation of those you serve. If they are happy, you are happy — and vice versa. Being a humanitarian worker also means you must be ready to leave your family and friends at any time to go anywhere. This requires a careful balance between your work and family life. #ShareHumanity