Today, on Humanitarian Day, we honor those who dedicate their lives to helping others in times of need.
Meet our courageous humanitarian worker who has been on the frontlines during emergencies.
Rasem AlGhoul
Lead of the Regional Humanitarian Operation in the MENA region
Rasem has been working in the humanitarian sector since 2007, partnering with affected communities across the Middle East. He began with voluntary and community-based projects, and by 2013, he was deeply involved in supporting refugee camps, informal tented settlements, and vulnerable urban populations with life-saving aid and protection services.
1. What inspired you to become a humanitarian worker?
Growing up in the region, I saw firsthand how conflict and disaster can strip away safety, dignity, and hope, especially for children, whose emotional scars often outlast the crisis itself. I witnessed how the absence of a safe space or supportive environment can affect a child’s ability to learn, play, and trust again. That’s why I chose this path: to help restore those essentials through approaches that protect and nurture psychosocial well-being.
In my work with Good Neighbors, I’ve seen how structured psychosocial support, community engagement, and safe environments can transform not only the lives of children but also the resilience of entire communities. When children regain their sense of stability and hope, they become catalysts for healing, helping families and neighborhoods rebuild from within, even in the most difficult circumstances.
2. Can you share one moment when you felt your work made a real difference?
In Gaza this year, Good Neighbors’ structured psychosocial support program reached 400 children living through one of the most difficult periods of their young lives.
We measured clear improvements in emotional well-being, less anxiety, better social interaction, and renewed confidence, but the most powerful evidence wasn’t on paper. It was in that way that children who had been silent and withdrawn began to laugh again, their smiles carrying happiness and lightness that had been absent for months and re-engaged with their peers.
Beyond Gaza, experiences in other contexts have shown a similar truth. The trust and hope regained by communities, whether in poverty pockets like Ruwaished in Jordan or crisis-affected areas like Derna in Libya, has proven that when people believe in the process, interventions can become more sustainable, with longer-term impact.
This renewed trust also fosters solidarity and opens the door for community-led programs, where the people themselves take the lead in shaping and sustaining the solutions that work best for them.
3. What is the biggest challenge you face in the field?
Safe, principled access remains the greatest challenge. In places like Gaza, the need is overwhelming, but delivering aid is often hindered by movement restrictions, insecurity, and disrupted supply chains. Every intervention requires careful planning, not only to reach people quickly, but to do so in a way that protects their dignity, safety, and rights. This means navigating volatile security situations, coordinating with multiple actors, and making difficult decisions about routes, timing, and delivery methods.
In line with Good Neighbors’ approach, I overcome these challenges by working through trusted implementing partners who have deep roots in the communities we serve, and by applying well-established plans and processes that ensure both speed and safety. Leveraging these relationships and systems allows me to adapt quickly, find creative access solutions, and ensure that humanitarian aid reaches the most vulnerable without compromising our principles or the well-being of those we aim to help.
In some cases, like during the Libyan floods, I had to adapt rapidly, using local networks and community leaders to ensure aid reached those most in need without exposing them to unnecessary risks. Acting fast is critical, but doing so responsibly, while upholding Good Neighbors’ humanitarian principles and accountability to the communities we serve, is what defines the quality and integrity of our response.
4. Can you share a story of someone whose life was changed thanks to Humanitarian support?
There are many stories, but one of the most impactful has been seeing how voluntary engagement creates space to build the capacity and confidence of people from the communities we serve.
Through humanitarian programs, I’ve watched local volunteers gain the knowledge and skills to implement activities professionally and with quality, transforming not only their work but also their personal lives. Many have adopted positive attitudes that influence their homes, families, and wider circles, while gaining the confidence to take on leadership roles.
One story that stays with me is of a young girl with hearing and speech difficulties who had lost confidence and stopped going to school after facing bullying from her peers. By engaging her in a psychosocial program and providing inclusion support, she began to trust and love the child-friendly, safe space. Over time, she improved her communication skills, learned to build relationships with her peers, returned to school, and made new friends.
At another level, humanitarian support has also protected girls and women from the risk of gender-based violence, safeguarding their safety and dignity through targeted protection programs and relief interventions.
These moments remind me that humanitarian action is not only about meeting immediate needs but also about creating lasting, positive changes in people’s lives.
5. What would you like donors and supporters to know about the reality of humanitarian work?
Humanitarian work is more than helping or moving supplies; it’s about protecting dignity, ensuring safety, ending hunger, nurturing a generation of children who can lead the world toward a better future, and enabling choice. Every parcel, water delivery, or safe space is made possible by the trust and generosity of donors and the determination of local teams working under challenging conditions.
Continued support and consistent fundraising are essential because the needs of children, women, the elderly, people with disabilities, and those with special needs do not end when the headlines fade.
In many ways, my role is to bridge those who have a deep sense of humanity and compassion with the communities who need it most, ensuring that this connection leads to lasting, positive change.
6. Why is humanitarian work important now, in today's world?
Today’s crises are not only more frequent but also more complex and prolonged, often overlapping in ways that deepen vulnerability. Without coordinated humanitarian action, children risk losing not just their homes or education, but the very foundations of their futures, safety, stability, and hope.
Humanitarian work is what keeps those pathways open; it delivers life-saving assistance, protects dignity, and creates safe spaces where healing and learning can continue.
In a world facing conflict, displacement, climate shocks, and economic instability, this work is essential to preventing generational loss and ensuring that communities have the chance to recover, rebuild, and thrive.
7. What's your hope for the communities you serve?
I hope that the communities I serve can move beyond survival into lasting stability, where peace and solidarity are not exceptions but everyday realities. I want to see children growing up without fear, surrounded by safe environments that nurture their dreams and potential.
I hope families can plan for their futures with confidence, knowing their basic needs are met and their rights protected.
I imagine communities leading their recovery, driving local solutions, and creating opportunities for every person, children, women, the elderly, and those with disabilities, to live in peace, thrive together, and shape a better, more inclusive future.
