Posted on 03 July 2025
Hey, it's Emily here.
I’ve been reading and hearing of people that don't work directly in the humanitarian space, feeling overwhelmed, sad, confused by what’s happening in the world, a general sense of reeling and needing to talk to a therapist. Is that you too? Because I thought it was just me.
I’ve been travelling a lot. From Nairobi to Geneva to London to Vanuatu. Recently, on a flight from Dubai to Geneva, I sat across from a man reading a book in Hebrew. I looked at him and thought, 'I don’t know that I have the bandwidth for a heated debate.' I tried to not make eye contact and it was only when the flight attendant offered me water that he jumped in, “what brings you to Geneva?”
I paused and said something vague about periods and a conference. Hoping that the word “period” was enough to quiet a male stranger (because honestly, it often does). But it piqued his curiosity and he went straight there, “are you doing anything in Gaza?” And I pause again thinking, we’re only one hour into a seven-hour flight..
I was nervous because we get angry emails and angry comments about how we’re spreading misinformation (mostly online) and that our work supporting women with their periods is antisemetic (because some of our work is supporting Palestinian women) and yes, we’ve had people tell us that we’re supporting Hamas (I mean, period underwear.. Come on….).
But I say “yes” to this Jewish man on the flight, because we are working in Gaza, and honestly, I am so proud of the team we have worked with. We have heard the bombs in the background of our Teams calls and marvelled at how the team in Gaza just carries on “..sorry about the background noise, we’re being bombarded. So as I was saying..”
And the man on the flight responds by saying, “thank you.” And goes to tell me that he was so angry when October 7th happened that he fundraised for tactical gear for the IDF, which he has served in before. But now he has gone through the full suite of emotions and has come to the conclusion that “we can grieve two things at once. I am angry at Hamas for October 7th and I am angry about what our government is doing to the people in Gaza.”
“Of course," I think. We are mostly all human beings who feel grieved at any kind of violence. We then had such a human and grounding conversation about grief and care for people.
Right now, we’re in such weird times of misdirected anger and not being able to hold the tension of all the violence. We have powerful men causing destruction as they throw bombs and insults at each other. And who suffers? So often it’s the women. The women who bear the burden of figuring out how to feed their hungry children and where to sleep at night. The women who experience exponentially increased levels of gender based violence and sexual violence, during conflict and in some cases, disproportionately killed.
It is quite simply, why we do what we do. Can we offer a glimpse of hospitality, of manaakitanga, of dignity to women, who are already deeply suffering, so that they do not have to experience shame and stress to manage their periods - on top of everything else?
So we hope, we pray, and we call on our leaders to stand up for human rights, international law and to enable food, water, medicine, soap, period products to all get to the places they need - whether that is in Gaza or in Sudan. Because to block aid is a war crime, and millions of people are suffering horrendously - to die of starvation or thirst, is unbelievable cruelty. I am waking up every morning hoping it was all a nightmare. Checking the news to see if it’s stopped. Obsessively refreshing The Guardian, Aljazeera or The New York Times - surely, someone has figured this out?
While in Geneva, I popped into the International Museum of the Red Cross & Red Crescent Museum. There was a very moving exhibit showcasing all of the failures of the Red Cross during the Holocaust and all the ways that the IRC downplayed the genocide happening to Jews. Surely, when we said, “never again,” we meant it?
We never discriminate against who we help, we just want to help those in need and we’ll keep going regardless of the angry messages of misdirected grief because it’s nothing compared with the suffering of those we serve. We too, can grieve two things at once. We want to listen, we want to empathise and we want to engage.
We also just badly want to help.
- Emily
Executive Director, REEMI