Fred Bemak and Rita Chung have traveled to almost every continent. Since 1982, they have worked in over 55 countries.
Eight years ago, the two worked with survivors of Hurricane Katrina in the southeastern United States. After that, they established a non-profit group called Counselors Without Borders. It works with people living in post-disaster and emergency situations.
Mr. Bemak usually works with a translator. But he says language has never been a barrier because understanding someone's pain goes beyond words.
“When someone is talking and their voice gets low, when someone looks sad, when someone uses inappropriate language, I am always asking the translator, 'Please clarify for me why they just folded their arms and became very tense. Why they raised their voice. Why they seemed to become defensive.”
Mr. Bemak says he is always surprised at how hungry people are for mental and emotional help. After the major earthquake in Haiti three years ago, for example, he visited a camp where 30 displaced victims were living. There he met a woman who seemed extremely sad.
“She had lost part of her leg. She had refused to get out of bed for the past three months. And she hadn’t changed her clothes. And we sat with her and talked with her about her life, about her feelings about what was happening. At first, she was very resistant, but then she began to talk. At the end of this encounter she was smiling. She sat up, changed her shirt and held her newborn grandchild for the first time and started to come alive.”
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25