Anne-Marie Shardlow
Humanitarian Memorial
Fundraising for Disasters Emergency Committee
Story
Humanitarians put themselves at the service of people in need and crisis, driven by concern for others, essential humanity, and injustice in the world.
Being on the front line can be dangerous, and in extreme crisis situations, humanitarians put their lives on the line every day.
Over the years many hundred of humanitarians have lost their lives in the service of others. Almost everyone who has worked in the humanitarian field has known someone killed in the course of their vocation to help others.
Their sacrifice deserves recognition: to remember them and to celebrate the spirit and value of humanitarianism and of selfless service to others that they gave their lives for. And to inspire future generations with that same spirit, and their example.
That is why a Memorial for Humanitarian Aid Workers is so necessary.
A committee in collaboration with the DEC, has set themselves the task of commissioning a permanent memorial on London's South Bank, which will be designed by a renowned international artist. The project has the support of humanitarian aid charities, who are funding a third of the costs, Westminster Abbey, The London South Bank, the Contemporary Arts Society, and the Department for International Development.
The memorial will cost £300,000, to design, construct and install it, and guarantee its maintenance.
The Steering Committee will gratefully receive contributions from all committed friends of the humanitarian aid community equally passionate about the values and service of humanitarianism, who believe in the importance of this Memorial, and feel moved and able to help make it happen.
Thank you!
Dame Barbara Stocking, Chair of the Humanitarian Memorial Steering Committee, former Chief Executive of Oxfam GB
"This wonderful memorial will be particularly special for families like mine who have lost a dearly loved member. My brother David Haines was a humanitarian worker murdered in Syria. He is a hero not for how he died, but for what he did. He went into areas of danger to help people regardless of creed, colour, race, religion or politics. He and humanitarian workers like him are our Modern Day Heroes. This memorial will give us, the families left behind, a chance to come together, to remember with a tear and laughter those we have loved and lost. I hope David’s life can be an inspiration to others." - Mike Haines.