Canada’s Disaster Assistance Relief Team (DART) member Major Jay Manimtim, a Canadian Armed Forces personnel of Filipino descent and a Health Care Administrator from Canadian Forces Base (Edmonton), speaks with a policeman in Jamidan, Philippines. Manimtim is one of ten Canadian Armed Forces personnel of Filipino descent who are currently deployed in the Philippines to support local disaster response management committees, residents, and international aid partners such as Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and our own DART. They are more than translators but rather serve as cultural awareness advisors and they take part in the coordination of humanitarian assistance delivery. Many of them live in the communities we are active in and they are able to provide advice on humanitarian conditions and requirements that arise. DART is deployed in the Philippines as part of Canada’s contribution to humanitarian efforts to the Philippines in response to the devastation caused by Typhoon Haiyan.

 

Photo by Cpl Ariane Montambeault