What It's Like To Be... A Humanitarian Worker
Dec 2, 2025
In this enlightening conversation, Grace Jackson, a humanitarian worker and country director for GiveDirectly in Malawi, shares her experiences managing Ebola responses in Sierra Leone and discusses the transformative power of cash aid. She reveals how low-income families often buy essentials like chickens with cash transfers, equating the first payment to a Christmas gift. Grace emphasizes the importance of local aid workers and their role amid crises, while also navigating the skeptical landscape of government and donor concerns about cash aid efficacy.
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When Ministers Complain About Mud
- Grace recounts a minister calling about “too much mud” in a refugee camp and the team spending days investigating.
- They ultimately reported that mud is endemic and no action would be taken, illustrating political coordination hassles.
The Funeral That Sparked A Cluster
- Grace describes a funeral-linked Ebola cluster where one infected man's death led to 60 new cases.
- She felt anger, guilt, and hopelessness as the outbreak resurged from traditional burial practices.
The Chicken In The Red Zone
- A patient smuggled a live chicken into an Ebola treatment center and it became a biohazard in the red zone.
- Staff in full PPE chased the chicken and ultimately incinerated it, a darkly comic crisis moment.