Why Médecins Sans Frontières?

Médecins Sans Frontières treating cases of Cholera in Zimbabwe.

When I left the school where I had worked for eight years, having been a Science and Languages teacher, my colleagues asked me whether I would prefer a cheque, a voucher for Marks and Spencer or a book token as my leaving gift. I told them I wanted the money to go to charity.

On being asked to choose a specific charity I had to think. It wasn’t an easy choice. During my years' working in schools I had been involved in fundraising for so many worthwhile UK and global organisations - even running marathons for Mountain Rescue, Air Ambulance and the Hospice of St Francis in Berkhamsted, and getting my students to ride around in wheelbarrows for Barnardos, Save the Whales and the RNIB, to name a few. I already donate to Save the Children, Unicef and the NSPCC. I had done some research before setting up this website into the work of many charities working in Africa, where I have always had a strong and secret longing to work.

Then a leaflet came through the door. It was calling for donations to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and I had a feeling even before I began to look more closely that this would be the one. One of the recent donations made by my last school was to this organisation, and I was happy to add to that by forwarding my leaving gift. 

Whether its treating a 27-day-old baby injured in an explosion in Syria, highlighting HIV drug shortages in South Africa, or providing psychological first aid to a mother and her four children after they had witnessed children being shot down in Columbia, I have always admired MSF's work. It is the global and somehow fearless nature of its activities that I am drawn to.

MSF, which has been operating for over 40 years, has a great website. It explains how the charity gives medical aid and support to over 60 countries, providing diagnoses, medication, vaccination, disease control and research, hospitals and clinics, surgeries, feeding facilities and mental healthcare in remote and often inaccessible or dangerous places. MSF works with victims of war, poverty, natural disasters such as earthquakes, as well as refugees, migrants and those neglected by governments.

The UK office is based in Furnival Street, London, but there are offices throughout Europe and the rest of the world, managing and coordinating the staggering number of projects, recruiting volunteers, fundraising and working with the media to raise awareness of this humanitarian work. It even organises educational resources for schools, and the two-day Scientific Day conference. One of the breathtaking things about MSF is that for it to function globally in this way there much be truly excellent communication; both within the organisation itself and with the wider community. Few charities are so far-reaching. Communication and openness have always been a part of my value system, and vital to my work.

It is with this in mind that I commit 2% of all the money I earn from MXR Translation to Médecins Sans Frontières.