Stories and Humanitarian Action

Maisarah Faisal is the Special Assistant to the Executive Director at Sunway Center for Planetary Health, Sunway University in Malaysia. She's a graduate of International Relations with Mandarin from the University of Nottingham, Malaysia. She has experience in research and analysis, new media communications and youth engagement, in both the public and private sector. She's also a youth activist. She says: If we're only stuck in our bubble, in our comfortable lives then we won't be able to empathise.

Danuta Hinc is a Polish American novelist, short story writer and essayist. She holds an MA in Philology from the University of Gdańsk where she won the Polish National Competition for best dissertation is the Humanities. She received an M.F.A. in Writing and Literature from Bennington College, where she was awarded the Barry Hannah Merit Scholarship in Fiction. She teaches writing at the University of Maryland. She is the author of We Were Twins which we’re going to discuss today. She is a Principal Lecturer in the Department of English at University of Maryland where she teaches writing.

Hawa Sabriye works for UNICEF Somalia as an Education Specialist. She has over 7 years of experience in education/teaching, humanitarian aid and international development. She holds a BA in English Literature and Human Geography, a BA and MA in Education, and Graduate Diplomas in Refugee and Migration Studies and Post-Secondary Education: Community, Culture, and Policy. Hawa is also a doctorate candidate at the University of Toronto in the International Education Leadership & Policy program. Her research focuses on trauma-informed teaching and learning in Somalia. Hawa’s interests include Afrocentric education, reading, and water painting. She says: Fiction can offer a great escape, introduce us to new ideas and knowledge, and allows us to practice empathy. Often, the contexts we work in are foreign to us, and stories, through characters can help to better understand these contexts.

Doug Mercado has worked in the field of international humanitarian assistance and post-disaster recovery over the past 32 years on assignments with the United Nations, USAID, OAS & NGOs. He currently holds the position of visiting lecturer at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs. He says, “Works of fiction have their part in helping the world to understand what’s going in a land far away. They bring the reality of a humanitarian crisis to others who may not experience that situation. Fiction is a personal account of the characters.”