In 2004, as the horrifying reality of the Dafur crisis became the topic for the world media, Adriatic College graduate Harriet Crowley joined CAFOD's (the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development) emergency response team in Dafur, Sudan as a Project Administrator.

 “It’s one of the areas of aid work that people don’t often hear about,” says Harriet, “but it’s very important. As with administration everywhere, it’s what we do – ensuring that personnel, skills and equipment are being supplied to the area – that allows everyone else to get on with their jobs.” 

CAFOD provides medical supplies, shelter, water, food and basic cooking equipment to half a million displaced people, along with health, nutrition and sanitation education. “The team is made up of about 30 people, and it organises recruitment and support infrastructure for the rest of the staff – both local and international – involved in the program.“

 

“One of the things that I realised during my work in Sudan is that to support the implementation of an aid project as big as this one, you need a huge team – which in itself presents specific difficulties. In a country with little infrastructure the logistical difficulties are immense, and it calls for constant adjustment to new challenges.”

 

With a long-standing interest in working in an international environment, UWC was a natural step for Harriet.  “My experience at UWC was incredibly positive, teaching me independence and self reliance,” she says. “I’m sure that it contributed to giving me the confidence to go into international aid work.“  

 

Holding a master’s degree in development from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and with experience in programme administration for the London office of CAFOD, Harriet’s work had been almost entirely office- and UK-based until a stint in Harare, Zimbabwe in 2004. 

 

“Working in Harare was excellent experience, and I knew then that I wanted to do more work overseas,” she says. “So when CAFOD started to put together the emergency response team for Dafur it just seemed like the right thing for me to do – both personally and professionally.  

 

“Apart from being completely different from anything that I had experienced before, the environment in which I lived and worked changed constantly. I had to be very adaptable – and although it was sometimes demoralising to overcome one problem just to be faced with another, it was also wholly engrossing. In fact, for me the constant challenges were probably both the hardest and the most exciting aspects of the experience.”