Ballynahinch man travelled the world helping those in need

Ballynahinch man travelled the world helping those in need

19 February 2014

TOM Dobbin has a straightforward approach to the human suffering he encounters on a daily basis. He leaves the hand-wringing and campaigning to others; to him there is simply a job that needs to be done.

Twenty years ago the Ballynahinch man — a civil engineer and former Down County Council employee — said goodbye to life has he knew it and now considers Africa his home.

Tom initially joined the charity Concern as a volunteer in 1993 to carry out logistics during the Burundi crisis and went on to assist in the 1994 Rwandan crisis. He never left, and has worked throughout Africa, making South Africa and Lesotho his permanent base.

Since 2010, he has been part of Concern’s Emergency Response team — helping to co-ordinate the distribution of essential food and non-food items and providing relief shelter. He’s currently Emergency Programme Manager in Juba, South Sudan.

“A lot of things happened in my life and I decided to do something to make a difference,” said Tom.

Concern is not a faith based charity, but for Tom personally it was finding God in his forties that prompted him to make the move. No-one led him to this decision he says, but he went from going to church a couple of times a year to feeling everything he had learnt back in Sunday School made sense.

“Jesus came into my life,” he said. “It totally transformed my life. I made a decision then I was going to change my life completely.

“It was just something that happened. I made a decision and that was that.”

A practical, active man, it’s not something he is particularly comfortable discussing but he says the role he found in Concern was the one he was looking for.

“There is an ethos which I can really identify with,” he said. “A job needs done, let’s get on with it. Though there is not always the funding there, and that is still there today.

“In 1993 certainly it was a shock. I was not used to the heat, the smells, the mosquitos. It is something you come to terms with very quickly.”

Dealing with crises in Rwanda, Afghanistan, Haiti, and more recently in Lebanon as part of the Syrian refugee crisis, he has seen many horrors in his time but chooses not to dwell.

“With Rwanda, I saw a lot of things, I would not want to resurrect the memories,” he said. “In Kosovo in 1999 there was blood flowing in the streets. Mentally you make an adjustment.”

The current humanitarian crisis in Syria is particularly difficult he says, with many people who lived in first world conditions suddenly finding themselves thrust into the third world.

“In Lebanon (where many of the refugees have sought shelter) the snow lies at over 500 metres, it is bitterly cold,” he said. “There are 70,000 in Lebanon, in the one area, and we are trying to provide water and sanitation.

“We are drilling bore holes, for example. The sewerage systems in the villages just do not have the infrastructure.

“Imagine Belfast was hit with a natural disaster and 50 per cent were left without homes and having to adjust; trying to register the shock with their families, it would be so dramatic for them.”

Tom is now part of Concern’s team in South Sudan closely monitoring the humanitarian situation after recent violence between government and opposition forces in many parts of the country.

In Juba they have set up feeding centres in two UN compounds housing up to 35,000 refugees, to ensure malnourished people get the treatment they need.

“We have got to feed 15,000 next week,” he said. “We are busy. We have set up a complete food distribution centre.

“Most of the food has been held in Juba, now the roads are opening we need to get it into the rest of the country.

“Part of my work is influencing design and planning and leading teams.”

And while it can be hard to see people “really suffering, really struggling”, Tom says he tries to remember they are “here for the masses, we are not here for the individuals”.

He also admits that it puts many of the problems experienced in our privileged world into perspective.

“A woman I was working with in South Africa went home on holiday to be with her family. The first thing she said when she came back was ‘you wouldn’t believe what people are moaning about — the Tube being a couple of minutes late’.

He continued: “Africa is home after 20 years, but I go home at least once a year to see mum.

“It is quite amazing the way God has directed my life. I have no regrets, it is fantastic.”

And to those wondering whether they should part with some of their hard earned cash in recessionary times to charities such as Concern, Tom has quiet words of persuasion.

“I leave the advocacy to Concern,” he said. “I am really there just to get the job done.

“But you can make a difference. What I would say is that with Concern we have the infrastructure to make things happen and to meet the needs of the suffering. It is a very good choice.”

For more information on the charity and to find out how to make a donation visit https://www.concern.net/