Humanitarian Aid

By Hannah Bohn In the wake of recent, devastating natural disasters, it is crucial to reflect on neo-colonial power dynamics and resource dependencies that disempower Americans living outside the United States. Colonialism is alive in the twenty-first century and has relegated those in Puerto Rico to second class citizenship, as demonstrated in the U.S. federal response to Hurricane Maria.

South Sudan's transit centers in Renk are grappling with overcrowding as over 15,000 individuals surpass the designed capacity by three times, exacerbating the risk of disease outbreaks.

The surging crisis is a combination of complex causes: intensifying conflict which has brought on an economic collapse, including dramatic food price increases in Yemen’s south, and a fuel import embargo hitting families in northern areas. The COVID-19 pandemic has compounded suffering as remittances have fallen, earning opportunities have dried up, health services been stretched to the limits and travel restrictions have compromised access to markets. On top of that, a locust plague and flash floods have battered local food production in some areas.

By Nikola Jovanovic I asked myself so many times: Isn`t it already too much? Do we really need to go to wars after all these natural disasters? Haven’t floods, earthquakes and Tsunamis taken enough lives and added enough human suffering?