When I was a teenager, the first organization I started working hard to support was the incredible Doctors Without Borders (or if you’re cool and French, Medecins Sans Frontieres.) I have fantasized about becoming a doctor so I could travel with them to the world’s most dangerous places, caring for those with no access to desperately needed health care. They are an international coalition of medical professionals who work independently from any government so they can speak out against atrocities they witness from the ground. I’ve seen their work in Haiti, and I have met their doctors, and based on everything I know about their outstanding commitment to humanitarianism, I award them my own personal BAD ASS Award.
From their website:
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international medical humanitarian organization created by doctors and journalists in France in 1971. Today, MSF provides aid in nearly 60 countries to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe, primarily due to armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from health care, or natural disasters. MSF provides independent, impartial assistance to those most in need. MSF reserves the right to speak out to bring attention to neglected crises, to challenge inadequacies or abuse of the aid system, and to advocate for improved medical treatments and protocols. MSF’s work is based on the humanitarian principles of medical ethics and impartiality. The organization is committed to bringing quality medical care to people caught in crisis regardless of race, religion, or political affiliation.
If you can, see the new documentary about them, Living In Emergency.
