Marking 100 days of the Addis Ababa Humanitarian Hub
Ensuring essential medical supplies are delivered throughout Africa, and the work is far from over.
The first box containing COVID-19 medical supplies landed at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport in early March. It was labelled in Chinese: 人心齐泰山移. Thankfully, WFP’s Li Xiong from China was overseeing the shipments and was able to translate.
It means, “when people are determined, they can overcome anything”.
That phrase has become the defining mantra of the Humanitarian Hub in the past 100 days. There, a dedicated and determined teamwork nonstop, sending critically needed masks, testing kits, protective suits, face shields, and much more across Africa.
As COVID-19 surged around the world in spring, the World Food Programme’s (WFP) supply chain team in Ethiopia was ready to jump into action. The team’s long-standing emergency preparedness measures meant they were ready when the first call came from the Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation. They had donated medical equipment and supplies to Africa in what was to become an enormous logistics undertaking. With that first donation and distribution, its delicate coordination on the ground and in the air, the Addis Ababa Humanitarian Hub was born.
Officially inaugurated in April 2020, the Hub has been operational for 100 days. During that time, the Hub has handled 870 metric tons (MT) or almost 6,300 cubic metres of cargo from around the world and dispatched it to all 54 African countries. Enough cargo to fill two and half Olympic-size swimming pools! Movements took place on behalf of many of WFP’s key partners, including the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization.
Critical to its success is the close partnership between the Government of Ethiopia, Ethiopian Airlines, and WFP that has allowed for a quick response to the growing crisis. The Hub, which was the first of WFP’s global network of hubs, has expanded during those 100 days, to include critical support functions like cargo tracking, customer service and information management.
Behind the Hub’s large cargo doors are 18 WFP staff from various backgrounds and countries, undertaking numerous jobs. They are working together, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with one shared ambition: moving life-saving cargo to where it’s needed most in Africa.
Overseeing the massive operation — in addition to his pre-COVID, non-emergency WFP role — is Manuchehr from Tajikistan who hasn’t rested in 100 days. He oversees the planning and coordination, and manages the day-to-day Hub operation and ensures the efficient and timely movement of relief supplies in coordination with stakeholders in WFP and beyond. It is tough work, but what keeps Manuchehr going are the people he serves, and the lives WFP is saving by delivering essential cargo.
Sitting next to him in their airport office, Helen, from the United States of America is running the customer service and information management streams. Her motivation is similar to Manuchehr’s, “it’s all about the communities we assist — having the possibility to send life-saving cargo motivates me to give the best possible service.”
When asked about achievements during these 100 days, the Air Hub Operations Coordinator Joana from Portugal, says, “look around. Setting this operation up from scratch, developing contracts, building the team, and coordinating a global operation with dozens of partners is remarkable.”
Ethiopia’s Mahlet is overseeing the warehouse and describes it as both “demanding and rewarding.” There have been countless late nights and early mornings, but “when you see the plane take off, it’s worth the sweat.” Within the first five days of the Hub being operational, Mahlet had seen planes take off to over 50 countries, all loaded with COVID-19 supplies and equipment.
Those people behind the Hub doors and standing on the apron overseeing loading have been instrumental in the successes of the first 100 days of the Hub. But, their work is far from over. As COVID-19 gains momentum in Africa, the Addis Ababa Humanitarian Air Hub is only going to get busier. The staff working there will continue day and night, inspired by the words on that first box, “when people are determined, they can overcome anything”.
