10. The Eagles Nest | Oxfam

In July 2011, senior figures at Oxfam GB, received an email alerting them to expect a visit from a whistle blower. An investigation was soon conducted, but the charity decided it was best to bury its findings. Then, #metoo happened. 

Sources:

1. Haiti 2010

2. Haiti Earthquake History 

3. Haiti Death Stats 

4. Oxfam 

5. Oxfam 2010 Response 

6. Joe Mitty 

7. Harold Sumption 

8. The Times Haiti Article 

9. Oxfam 2011 Press Release

10. Lesley Agams 

11. The Eagles Nest 

12. Ex Haiti Director Response 

13. Mark Goldring Interview  

14. 2011 Haiti Report  

15. Mark Goldring Resigns  

16. Haiti Bans Oxfam GB 

17. Sean 'O Neil Interview
 
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Transcript

natioOdeya: [00:00:00] A fairer world is one where we should see anyone and everyone as us and not them. For some reason right now I can't remember where I've heard this from, but it's pretty powerful, don't you think?

Project it into your world, your surroundings, your community, and that's a pretty healthy approach to living, because It's easy enough to pretend we are separate from anyone else's hardships but our own.

Heck, most days, in our heads, we have it harder than anyone else until we turn the TV on. 

But your glass is fuller than you think, when you literally have the water to fill it. 

Around 75 percent fuller, compared to the rest of the world, apparently. 

Not that I intend to deflect you from those very real problems you have.

They are just as valid, of course. 

I'm just stating a documented fact.

Still, most of us will never experience true poverty, civil war, natural disasters, terrorism, or famine. And when such events occur, there are rather remarkable people on the ground to help. Most risk their [00:01:00] lives to bring a helping hand, and I have nothing but respect for these guys.

Despite it not always being the outcome they envision, they still make an impact. 

But there are others who take advantage of the situation, others who opt to take from those who have nothing to give. 

To them a person's vulnerability, dignity and innocence will do. I mean, who really has the time to investigate these people when there are lives at stake and aid to distribute?

I'm Host Odeya this is Uncharitable. 

This episode will include distressing details of injury, death, and sexual assault, including that of minors, so listener discretion is advised.

Not so fun fact. 

On January 12, 2010 at 4. 53pm local time, the country of Haiti would become subjected to a catastrophic earthquake that measured 7. 0 on the Richter scale, approximately 60 miles west of the country's capital, Port au Prince. [00:02:00]

Haiti was no stranger to natural disasters, especially earthquakes, due to its location on a fault line and sitting right between the North American and Caribbean tectonic plates, with the Caribbean constantly being pushed and squeezed at an average rate of three quarters of an inch per year.

However, the plates don't simply glide past one another. Strain builds along faults and at the plate boundaries until eventually, a burst of energy is released. This time, however, the energy released amounted to the equivalent of 36 little boy atomic bombs exploding simultaneously, deeming the quake the most destructive event any country has experienced in modern times.

Throughout the 30 second duration, more than 3 million Haitian civilians were thrown to the mercy of the tremor. The country's limited recent history of large quakes left it unprepared to predict future ones. Factor in the lack of seismologists and no seismic network in the country, apart from one outdated seismic hazard map, [00:03:00] and it's a guaranteed devastating aftermath.

As the quake rippled, those inside threw themselves towards any exit they could find. 

Aside from the obvious to find open space, it was well known that buildings are not constructed with natural disasters in mind due to the country's non existent building codes. 

In poorer areas, houses are raised wherever they can fit, with some built on slopes that lack sufficient foundations or steel supports, rendering them unlikely to survive any kind of disaster.

Unfortunately for those with a delayed reaction, the quake was less than merciful. 

As infrastructure buckled, pillars began to crack and the floors began to crumble beneath the feet of anyone left inside. 

The stress would eventually topple and reduce entire structures to nothing more than dust and debris.

Injuring over 300, 000 people and ending the lives of more than 220, 000. 

Once the earthquake settled down, thousands of civilians poured into the streets. Able bodied [00:04:00] survivors immediately directed themselves towards the cries for help and began digging at the rubble with their bare hands or used pieces of rebar in early attempts to squeeze their loved ones out.

Injuries ranged from small cuts to the head to entire limbs being either crushed or ripped off. 

Those immobile would be transported to an open space on broken doors or blood stained bedsheets, which would then be ripped and reused as temporary bandages on open wounds. And as the country already limited on medical supplies and 8 out of the 11 hospitals in the capital destroyed, people were forced to improvise treatment, such as using makeshift cardboard splints on fractures and performing life saving surgeries in the middle of neighborhoods.

One survivor was in his family's three story house when it collapsed, burying himself and his brother alive inside. After three days, the boys were pulled from the wreckage, but the four year old's arm was mangled from the elbow down, so doctors used a hacksaw [00:05:00] purchased from a local hardware store, sterilized it with vodka, substituted a numbing agent for anesthesia, and began to amputate.

Still, he was one of the lucky ones. 

Almost immediately, Pordu Prince's morgues were overwhelmed. Many of the deceased were brought in wheelbarrows or carried by their weeping loved ones, who were quickly redirected to the parking lot. 

When that reached full capacity, many just circled back and placed the bodies in the street upon the advice of authorities.

The stench is overwhelming, reported BBC correspondent Matthew Price. 

There are a hundred bodies here, perhaps even more adults. And at my feet, a baby. Government crews eventually collected those adults, and the baby, piling them onto a dump truck, along with thousands more. Port au Prince's mayor, Gene Jason, said that officials argued for hours about what to do with the bodies.

The putrid smell of the deceased hanging in the air and poor sanitation supposedly forced their hand to act less [00:06:00] ethically by dumping the majority in mass graves, while some above ground tombs were also forced open to stuff the remaining space on offer with as many cadavers as possible.

Many objected the strategy, not only because it was obviously a rather degrading and insensitive act, but others were concerned the abrupt decision had failed to properly identify each of the bodies collected, leaving many families unaware of their loved one's final resting place. 

Back in the capital, homeless survivors were forced to share the streets with those waiting to be collected.

The threat of aftershocks had put a widespread fear on former residents, so many began to sleep in their cars, or pitch up in one of the makeshift shantytowns made with materials salvaged from the rubble. 

Across the street from the wrecked National Palace, a refugee camp began to grow. Families began repurposing a playground into makeshift dwellings by tying blankets over slides and monkey bars.

And in a matter of days, [00:07:00] it became a city, but quickly turned into a danger zone, when the slow distribution of food from first responders resulted in looting and sporadic violence throughout. So neighborhoods began taking matters into their own hands by constructing roadblock barricades and coordinated security rounds in large groups, killing anyone on sight.

Until international help arrived, they were on their own, and even then that was hampered. The blocked streets, lack of electricity, telecommunications, air traffic control facilities, and a damaged seaport made sure of that. 

 But determination would see it through, and finally, trucks displaying a distinctive green and white semicircle logo would begin to distribute throughout Haiti's neighborhoods.

The people would finally be well taken care of. 

In 1942, entrepreneur Cecil Jackson Cole, alongside Quaker Henry Gillett and social activist Theodore [00:08:00] Milford, Alan Pym, Gilbert Murray, and his wife Mary, came together in an old church library in Oxford to form a committee that would provide famine relief to starving citizens in Axis occupied Greece.

The group worked alongside other local agencies to persuade the British government to send aid through an Allied naval blockade, which would then be distributed among starving women and children throughout the remainder of the Second World War. 

When the war ended, the committee's future was questioned when Europe began to show signs of recovery, but a unanimous vote against its disband allowed Jackson Cole, known by this point as the business brain and dynamic driving force behind the relief, To spearhead its expansion, and for the next five years, virtually went on to run it by himself.

Quote. Despite the improvements in European conditions, there was throughout the world great suffering and need, and as long as this was so, and surely it would indefinitely be so, the work must go on. 

[00:09:00] By 1947,

Jackson Cole opened the charity's first shop on Broad Street in Oxford and hired its first paid employee, a salesman named Joe Mitty who began to oversee the distribution of donated clothing to Europeans. But soon changed his role when he saw the financial potential in selling the donated clothing instead.

The Daily Telegraph would describe it as, quote, The shop that sold everything, but bought nothing. If you donate it, we can sell it, said Middy. And by George, the man could sell.

Who purchases second hand dentures? 

Anyway, 

As time went on, Oxfam continued to draw in notice, especially when Quaker Harold Sumpton joined the charity as an unpaid advertising advisor, who right up until the 1980s became the father of modern day fundraising by [00:10:00] testing innovative marketing campaigns.

Which comprised of charity trading catalogs, cinema commercials, Oxfam radio shows, and the computerized mailing list. 

Today, their achievements paved the way for Oxfam to become a confederation of 21 independent organizations, consisting of a 50, 000 strong volunteer army that works alongside 10, 000 staff in 85 countries.

Together, they provide emergency response, advocacy, and women's rights to a country that cannot provide this for themselves. 

Just like the majority of those in the impact zone, Oxfam did not escape from the earthquake unaffected. 

When aid workers recuperated the day after the quake, they found that the charity's office and key warehouse, which was full of water and sanitation equipment, had been destroyed.

Like thousands of others, the staff had also suffered personal loss, including two of the charity's own workers. [00:11:00]

I told my staff there was no other option but to work and to work harder, since we have the privilege of being here, said Director Yolette Etteneti. 

We can help people to overcome their desperation, and overcome they certainly did.

Despite the grind of broken communication channels, Oxfam deployed a team of 100 people, including 15 emergency specialists, into the center of the disaster. On hand to provide clean water, shelter, and basic sanitation.

Within the first three months, the agency reached 300, 000 people and provided paid employment to victims who assisted with the neighborhood cleanup. 

A proud moment indeed.

So it must have been a surprise for senior figures when an email dropped in July 2011, alerting them to expect a visit from a whistleblower wishing to report allegations about the misconduct of several of those aid workers. 

[00:12:00] Bypassing senior Oxfam officials, the informant went directly to the then Chief Executive Dame Barbara Stocking and shared details of alleged bullying, harassment, intimidation and serious sexual misconduct.

Immediately, the charity launched an investigation by flying out human resource representatives and a Haitian based counsellor who connected the claims to six members of the Oxfam GB team, who were found to have breached the charity's codes of conduct, threatening to drag the Good Oxford name through the mud.

All six left the organization, including its Haiti country director, Roland Van Huuwermeiren over his failings whilst heading the program.

In a press release published on September 5th, 2011, Oxfam vented that it does not tolerate breaches of its code of conduct, and whenever instances of staff misconduct are discovered, they will take robust action against those involved.

They signed off by ensuring that the [00:13:00] 98 million raised in the earthquake appeal was not affected. Thank god, could you imagine? 

But I'm gonna let you in on a little secret about that press release. 

Well actually, about the whole investigation in general. It was the equivalent to placing a band aid over a bullet hole, a smoke screen, to disguise the real events that went on.

Because rather than share the actual findings with the correct authorities and regulators, the charity buried them. 

Their curveball led the public to be pacified with the relief that vital donations had not been affected. And for a while, it remained that way. 

But the era of a certain global movement opened the gates for voices to be heard even in the smallest corners of the world.

 Hashtag Me too. Remember that? It drew worldwide attention to the magnitude of a truly evil problem. 

Odeya: Though the phrase was originally used by assault survivor and activist Tarana Burke on [00:14:00] MySpace in 2006, it was reborn as a hashtag spreading virally from October 2017, following the exposure of numerous sexual abuse allegations against the repulsive slimeball Harvey Weinstein.

The movement pushed through the walls and screens of victims, who forced a pressure on the protective barriers surrounding their violators. 

 It was what Leslie Aghams, a former Nigerian director for Oxfam, decided to do too. 

Leslie contacted The Times reporter Sean O'Neill and recounted her details about her visit to Oxfam's HQ in the UK in 2010.

Leslie was there for a gathering of the charity's international staff. 

Excited for her first trip to the UK, she was looking forward to rubbing shoulders with dozens of other directors and officials. 

By the end of the third day, she was in her hotel's lounge when a senior official invited her to see a document that was in his room.

Sure, she thought about the dangers, but she reassured herself that these were professional colleagues. 

If I were a man, I [00:15:00] would go without hesitation, she told herself. When she headed towards the door to leave, the man grabbed Leslie, pushing his tongue in her mouth and pulled her back into the room. 

He then pushed her onto the bed where he grabbed and fiddled with her belt buckle.

To diffuse the pursuit, Leslie stopped struggling, which allowed the man to relax, before she summoned all her strength to push him away. 

The next morning she asked to see one of Oxfam's counsellors, who called a senior HR manager to the room. 

To her surprise, she was advised to speak to the man rather than issue a police report.

And weeks later, Leslie did as suggested over the phone, and followed up with an email requesting an apology. 

But instead, a few months later, the man arrived at her office and handed her a letter terminating her employment over, quote, performance issues. 

By the time she returned to Britain to report the assault the following year, the police could offer little support given the amount of time that had passed.

When the Times contacted Oxfam for a comment, a spokeswoman [00:16:00] assured them they had since appointed a safeguarding team and strengthened provision for whistleblowers. 

Quote, We have learnt a lot through these initiatives and believe that Ms. Agam's complaint would have been handled differently today. 

We are sorry for the distress that the handling had caused.

Fuck that apology. 

Because Sean O'Neill was contacted again, this time, with a request to unearth details not published from the 2011 Haiti report Oxfam was determined to keep buried, beginning with the allegations of sexual misconduct among male aid workers. 

Sean and his team began to track down the original informants in Haiti, who at first, took a long time to persuade to speak even off the record, and for good reason.

Eventually, some gave up the details about a group of male aid workers living at a guest house Oxfam rented, known as the Pink Apartments, or to the tenants, known as the Whorehouse. The gated complex, surrounded by a 12 foot fence [00:17:00] and palm screens, flexed a shielded Mediterranean style vibe, with enough space to house up to 12 aid workers at a time.

Amenities, such as a 25 foot swimming pool, sun terrace roof and entire room furnishments, allowed the staff to relax and unwind after a hard day. 

Or better yet, throw huge orgy parties with prostitutes, where girls dressed in Oxfam t shirts would run around half naked. 

Notably, the men referred to them as quote, young meat barbecues, because some of those girls were suspected to be aged between just 14 and 16 years old.

Well below the legal age of consent in Haiti, which is 18, men would use drivers hired by the charity to pick up girls with a source telling Sean, 

quote, They said, listen, if you want your contract extended by the charity, we need girls and you need to pick them up.

It was like a full on caligula orgy, all happening under the nose of the [00:18:00] country director, Roland Van Hauwermeiren , who, as it turned out, acted no differently from his colleagues. The former Belgian army officer joined the charity in 2006, where he was already masking a history of exploiting people he had been hired to help.

In 2004, Hauwermeiren left his job at a medical charity in Liberia, called Merrilyn, after a colleague named Malik Miller accused him of hosting sex parties.

Malick had met Huuwermeiren when she came on board as his assistant in the spring of 2004. When positioned at his office in Monrovia, Malick would quickly begin to notice unusual patterns in his workday. He was away a lot and often returned to work with fresh clothes or wet hair, she explained to New Humanitarian.

Along with her new boss, she noticed other colleagues acting the same way. When she was assigned to a guesthouse, Malick said she came home to find the charity's financial manager joking and fondling a young girl in the kitchen.[00:19:00]

The following week she emailed a formal complaint to head office, which led to a two person team from Merilin flying over to investigate, who found the entire management team to be engaged in hiring sex workers, hosting them on charity property. 

It was obvious, said the investigator, so many people had seen them with a succession of young local girls.

 Huuwermeiren Denied the allegations, but agreed to an immediate resignation, which allowed him to just rotate into another role with Oxfam two years later. 

Odeya: When stationed in Chad, it wasn't long before more concerns were raised that highlighted quote, gender issues, according to Oxfam. 

To her surprise, when working at a Swedish aid agency four years later, Malik was at her desk when she received an application for funding from Oxfam.

When she saw Huuwermeirens name listed on the file, she immediately alerted her country's development agency.

He just goes around the system, she remembered thinking. Someone should have checked properly. [00:20:00]

Despite all that, Huuwermeiren was allowed to move on with the organization to Congo, before being appointed as Haiti's country director shortly after the earthquake in 2010, where he was housed in a luxury hilltop villa known as the Eagle's Nest just outside of the disaster zone.

The 24 hour guarded residence shielded Huuwermeiren nocturnal activities, which according to his staff, regularly saw a parade of beautiful teenagers coming and going from his home. He would bring them here once or twice a week, said a guard. They would pull up on a motorbike and he would meet them at the bottom of the hill.

They would talk and he would take them inside. 

Other times he picked a girl up from down the hill on his way home. When hosting the girls, Huuwermeiren would send his staff home as he, quote, liked to be left alone to do his own thing. 

Sean O'Neill would claim that one of the sources told his colleague that the director traded baby milk, diapers and essentials with a then 16 year old girl in exchange for sex.

Another girl named [00:21:00] Micolage was 17 when Huuwermeiren pulled up next to her in her neighborhood. 

He asked her where she lived before telling her he thought she was, quote, very sexy, and asked if he could help in any way. Roland loved orgies, and he loves lesbians, she said. The then 17 year old quickly found herself becoming dependent on his support, which became short lived when Roland left soon after in 2011.

When Sean published his story in February 2018, it immediately sparked a viral outburst towards the foreign aid sector. 

Haiti responded by demanding that Oxfam provided the identity of the aid workers involved and insisted on handling their prosecution before threatening to take legal action against the organization.

In the UK, government officials threatened to withdraw their contributions, which from 2016 had injected 31. 7 million towards the charity's annual income. So unless the charity showed, quote, moral leadership and handed over all the [00:22:00] information regarding its workers, they would not be seeing any more of that money in the future.

For International Development Secretary Perry Mordant recalled the charity initially telling her department in 2011 that they were, quote, investigating misconduct. 

When asked if any aid beneficiaries had been involved or affected by the misconduct, they responded by saying, quote, categorically, no. What a Porkie Pie that was.

Though the charity unearthed findings of sexual misconduct, they failed to notify local authorities in Haiti because they thought the police wouldn't do anything about it, and that was a crime senior officials could no longer shake off. 

The charity's deputy chief, Penny Lawrence, soon resigned after admitting the organization failed to act on the allegations under her watch.

Quote, I take full responsibility for the behavior of staff in Chad and Haiti that we fail to act adequately upon. I am deeply sorry for the harm and distress that this has caused Oxfam supporters, the wider development [00:23:00] sector, and most of all the vulnerable people who trusted us. Notably, Oxfam's chief executive, Mark Goldring, insisted the charity did anything but cover up the incident.

But admitted the 2011 report did not give details of the revelations and only refer to them as quote, serious misconduct. 

The sector's response? 

On February 13th, the UK Charity Commission saw it differently and opened an inquiry over concerns Oxfam failed to fully disclose the full details of their 2011 findings to the regulator, which didn't help their already shaky relationship due to Leslie Agan's claims the year before.

The Commission requested the timeline of events, information about when the charity was made aware, and the detail of the investigation's findings and conclusions, which also arose the question from other aid agencies about how transparent Oxfam had been with them when recruiting their previous staff.

Sad to say, not [00:24:00] very, when it emerged that Roland Van Huuwermeiren went on to become the head of a mission for French charity Action Against Hunger in Bangladesh, who claimed they were never informed about the allegations. 

The charity employed Huuwermeiren in 2012 after supposedly requesting references from his former employers.

Oxfam denied such communication occurred, alleging the references may have been faked or obtained improperly. Who would do such a thing?

In an ironic and particularly concerning twist, Oxfam failed with their own internal protocols when one of the six original men sacked alongside Huuwermeiren was rehired just two months later to work on another relief operation. 

Oxfam confessed that hiring the man, even in an emergency as a short term consultant, was a serious error and should never have happened.

Yeah, no shit. 

By February 14th, Oxfam confirmed that expected revenue streams had suffered, with more than 

1, 000 people cancelling their regular [00:25:00] donations on the weekend that the story broke, far above the average cancellation rate of 600 per month. 

When their ambassadors began to follow suit, the charity appeared to be cornered, with little option but to shift their strategy on a relationship repair.

Huuwermeiren , on the other hand, was determined to clear his reputation, and issued an open letter to Belgian TV channel VTM. 

He denied any contact with prostitutes, or the inappropriate use of aid funds during his time at the charities, but did admit he had made some mistakes. 

Quote, I failed to control rumors about sex scandals involving Oxfam in Haiti, and for feeding rumors through my own relationship with a Haitian woman.

I am not a saint. I am a man of flesh and blood, and I have made some mistakes, which is not easy to admit to, and I'm deeply ashamed. I admitted to the investigators that three times I had intimate contact in my house, I felt it was a grown, honourable lady, not a victim of the earthquake, and not a prostitute.[00:26:00]

I have never given her money. 

A grown, honourable lady. That's a weird way of describing someone, but okay. 

Still, Sean O'Neill would disagree. 

Meanwhile, Chief Executive Mark Goldring was sitting down with The Guardian to lay out an accusation that his charity was deliberately being set up to fail in its efforts to make things right.

I hope you're ready for this. 

Goldring was confident that the media was manipulating his words, saying, quote, Every explanation I have tried to offer has been branded as an excuse and has failed in the court of public opinion. We have been savaged. Even apologies only make things worse. The ferocity of the attack makes you wonder, what did we do?

We murdered babies in their cots? Certainly the scale and the intensity of the attacks feels out of proportion to the level of culpability. I struggle to understand it.

Don't worry, he's going to try that again.

Much better. [00:27:00]

Mark Goldring quickly ducked under the radar after saying those comments, or was placed in timeout, while the media went to town circulating his lack of accountability.

In the coming days, the charity opted for a more compliant approach, and took advice to step back from bidding for government aid funding.

At least until ministers felt they had met the high standards required to receive it. 

The charity had finally come to realize it needed to admit to a lot more than just a few minor mistakes, so began by setting out what they failed to do seven years earlier, which was to publish the full report into the events of Haiti in 2011.

Though redacted to public access, a full report was presented to the Haitian government, which revealed the names of the seven men, and included Huuwermeirens confession of using prostitutes. Who in turn was granted a phased and dignified exit on the provision that he fully cooperated with the rest of the investigation.

In addition, other staff members were found to have used Oxfam computers to download pornography, bully witnesses and commit CV fraud. [00:28:00]

Internal critics argued that the report was futile and conducted by an investigation team not fit to do so. 

An anti fraud team who was more used to, 

quote, dealing with people with their hands in the tails in Oxfam shops than an international sex scandal.

On February 20th, Mark Goldring and two other executives were hauled in front of MPs to explain the reasoning behind Oxfam's actions in Haiti. 

In a surprisingly humbler approach, Goldring admitted that the charity was wrong for failing to notify Haitian authorities when the allegations came to light, and accepted that his colleagues may have made the wrong decision about going public with their findings.

When asked about the scandal's backwash, Goldring confirmed that some 7, 000 people had pulled their donations from the charity and 26 new allegations of sexual abuse had been made, 16 of whom were within Oxfam's international programs. 

Two hours later, MPs brought forward an opportunity for Goldring to repent his recent remarks following his interview [00:29:00] with The Guardian.

His response?

The attempt at transparency was the start of a long road ahead to re establishing trust given the 40 year history with Haiti and its citizens.

But still, the Haitian government took it upon themselves to make an example of OxamGP, and days later, suspended the affiliate from operating in the country for two months whilst it carried out its own investigation.

Notably, constant criticisms from the public, regulators and government officials soon became the downfall for Mark Goldring. 

Who went on to announce his resignation from the charity on May 16th.

In a statement, Goldring said quote, Following the very public exposure of Oxfam's past failings, we are now laying strong foundations for recovery.

I am personally committed to seeing this phase through. 

However, what is important in 2019 and beyond is that Oxfam rebuilds and renews in a way that is most relevant for the future, and so continues to help as many people as possible. 

I think that this [00:30:00] journey will be best led by someone bringing fresh vision and energy and making a long term commitment to see it through.

Sounds good. Let us root for Oxfam 2. 0. But first, following the conclusion of their inquiry, the Charity Commission found that Oxfam repeatedly fell below the standards expected, had a culture of tolerating poor behavior and failed to meet its promises made on safeguarding. The Commission took into account over 7, 000 items of evidence and concluded that the charity's shortcomings amounted to mismanagement.

Which was later met with an official warning under Section 84 of the 2011 Charity Act, along with a recommendation to take action to address the charity's oversight and management of safeguarding. 

Did not see that coming. 

Despite this, the European Commission resumed awarding grants to Oxfam after the body performed checks on their newly implemented safeguarding procedures.

And visited offices in the UK, Netherlands, [00:31:00] Lebanon, and Uganda. 

Further measures were also taken into account when the charity set up a whistleblowing helpline, appointed an independent commission, and vowed to strengthen their recruitment processes. 

But to the Haitian government, these steps were seven years out of date. And to their people, it was a serious breach of human dignity, and that was damaged beyond repair.

Haiti permanently banned Oxfam GP from returning to their country over the, quote, violation of Haitian laws. But allowed affiliates from Italy, Spain and Quebec to remain in the country to continue their work.

Understandably, Oxfam GP said it was quote, disappointed, but understood the decision. 

Eleven months on, Oxfam stuck true to their word and followed through with an aim to improve its tackle on safeguarding complaints. From 2018 through to March 2019, the charity received a total of 294 reports across its 19 affiliates.

Disciplinary action was taken [00:32:00] in 79 cases and 43 people were dismissed, which the charity used as leverage to deem themselves a quote, different organization. By which international executive Winnie Bannemina meant as determination to learn, cooperate and improve, which she believed was beginning to see tangible results.

Winnie added that Oxfam had so much more to do and that it would never be a perfect organization, but it would certainly strive to be a better one. 

Perhaps then, the irony of these truths would be a reminder to the charity of their slogan, that to achieve a fairer world, we should consider that there is no them.

Just us. 

Oh shit. That's where I heard it.

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