Volunteers, military, police, and city rescue workers dig through the rubble of a fallen textile factory in the Obrera neighborhood of Mexico City on Wednesday Sept. 20, 2017 a day after an earthquake collapsed many buildings in the city.
By
Bryn Blanks
2017 saw more large-scale emergencies in sequence than ever before in Direct Relief’s history. It also gave reasons for hope, revealed in countless instances of human resilience and generosity. The photos below of Direct Relief’s work in 2017 represent that sentiment – that humanity often shines brightest in the dimmest of circumstances.
A girl can miss as many as two months of school each year due to a lack of feminine hygiene products during her period. More than 200 Day For Girls kits, filled with items like pads and washcloths, were assembled in January for distribution to an existing network of partners supporting efforts to equip and empower women worldwide. (Bryn Blanks/Direct Relief)Handmade fishing boats were staged in Port-au-Prince, Haiti at the Foundation St. Luc warehouse. The boats, built for local fishermen to generate income and employment, contribute to the foundation’s mission to serve and employ the least served populations of Haiti. (Bryn Blanks/Direct Relief)Doctors cared for patients as part of a medical volunteer campaign supported by Vida Peru, Direct Relief and other organizations, to help villagers affected by floods, in Cura Mori, Piura on April 8, 2017. (Photos by Enrique Castro-Mendivil for Direct Relief)To protect frontline health workers from deadly gas attacks in Syria, personal protective equipment was sent to the Syrian American Medical Society and other organizations treating patients in the region. (Photo courtesy of Syrian American Medical Society)Volunteers, military, police, and city rescue workers dig through the rubble of a fallen textile factory in the Obrera neighborhood of Mexico City on Wednesday Sept. 20, 2017 a day after an earthquake collapsed many buildings in the city. (Photo by Dominic Bracco II for Direct Relief)An Emergency Health Kit arrives in Yemen in August 2017. Direct Relief shipped two Cholera Treatment Kits and an Emergency Health Kit to hospitals in Hodeidah, Sana’a and Hajjah with the coordination of Save the Children Yemen. (Photo courtesy of Save the Children Yemen)Much-needed medicines and supplies were unloaded at a medical outreach camp in Nepal, where severe flooding in August affected 35 out of the country’s 75 districts. (Photo courtesy of Mountain Heart Nepal)Medicines and supplies arrived at Bidi Bidi Camp in Northern Uganda in October, 2017. The medicines are equipping doctors from the Real Medicine Foundation as they care for refugees living in the camp, many of whom have fled their homes in South Sudan. (Photo courtesy of Real Medicine Foundation)Janice Shea stands in the dispensary of the Goleta Neighborhood Clinic. Shea was once a frequent user of heroin, but has been clean for 33 years. She now works as a behavioral healthcare counselor at the clinic, working with substance abuse patients. The clinic where Shea works has received a critical donation of naloxone, an opioid overdose-reversing drug. (Lara Cooper/Direct Relief)Medicines and supplies arrived at Bidi Bidi Camp in Northern Uganda in October, 2017. The medicines are equipping doctors from the Real Medicine Foundation as they care for refugees living in the camp, many of whom have fled their homes in South Sudan. (Photo courtesy of Real Medicine Foundation)Emergency Health Kits were loaded into vehicles outside of the San Juan Convention Center in Puerto Rico. The kits were dispersed across the island the next day. (Lara Cooper/Direct Relief)Medical needs abound for Rohingya women and children living in Bangladesh. Critical medications and supplies were sent to clinics serving Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh to equip their lifesaving work. (Photo courtesy of Dr. Ravikant Singh/Doctors for You)
