Liz is the former Chief Communications Officer at CIVIC. She focuses on humanitarian emergencies in Central and East Africa including frequent deployments to Sudan, DRC, Ethiopia, Haiti and other crisis areas.

Phan Thi Kim Phuc running down a road near Trảng Bàng, Vietnam, after a napalm bomb was dropped on the village of Trảng Bàng by a plane of the Vietnam Air Force. The village was suspected by United States Army forces of being a Viet Cong stronghold. Kim Phúc survived by tearing off her burning clothes. Kim Phúc (aged 9; middle left) runs naked in the street. Also pictured is her older brother Phan Thanh Tam (aged 12; far left), younger brother Phan Thanh Phuoc (aged 5; background left, looking back) and younger cousins Ho Van Bo and Ho Thi Ting (boy and girl, respectively; middle right). The image above is an Associated Press photograph that won the Pulitzer Prize for spot news. It was taken by Nick Ut on June 8, 1972.

War/Photography: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath

CIVIC’s executive director Sarah Holewinski recently contributed civilian harm experiences for the exhibit War/Photography: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath,  currently on display at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Caroline Kavit, the author of this post, is a photographer and writer who has recently joined CIVIC as the communications intern.  Photography shapes the way we…

The Mali Crisis through Civilian Eyes: Hamidou’s Story

Michael Shaikh, director of country operations for Center for Civilians in Conflict, and Sam Hendricks, a consultant for the CIVIC, were in Mali this month speaking with civilians about the current conflict and the challenges they face. In this post we hear from Hamidou, a schoolteacher in Mali’s Mopti region, who shared his experience of…

Two years after the first refugees fleeing armed conflict in northern Mali stranded in this desert location near the Mauritanian town of Bassikounou , 60 000 of them continue to be rely on aid. Water, food, shelter, health care, all of these essential services in Mbera camp are being provided by humanitarian organisations, some of them funded by ECHO, the European Commission humanitarian aid and civil protection service. With conditions for a safe return home not met, according to the refugees, most of them are not planning to pack their bags anytime soon.

Ahmed’s Story: Revenge Will Tip Us Into Hell

Michael Shaikh, director of country operations for Center for Civilians in Conflict, and Sam Hendricks, a consultant for CIVIC, are currently in Mali speaking with civilians about the current conflict and the challenges they face. “Before the rebels came, life was good,” said Ahmed, a schoolteacher in Mali who sat down with Center for Civilians…

LIBYA: Voices from Misrata [Part 1]

Part 1 of 3 Driving into Misrata, my colleague Kristele remarked that it reminded her of Beirut, where she spent much of her childhood. The skeletons of shops, hotels, and apartments line Tripoli Street and old men drink tea next to bullet-ridden structures that can scarcely be called buildings. Misrata looks like the city it…