Dear John,

How has 2023 been for you?

I have to admit, I’ve found it hard to keep my spirits up. My job revolves around crises, so dealing with nothing but that – day in, day out – can be quite hard to bear. On many occasions this year, I felt like all our hard work was just a drop in the ocean. But it is precisely in those moments of doubt that I remind myself that every life we can save, every helping hand we can hold out, does make a real difference.

My name is Sylvie, and I am in charge of donor relations for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Everyone at the ICRC, and in particular my colleagues in the field, aim to protect and assist those who are being affected by armed conflicts around the world – whether in Ukraine, Sudan, Israel, Gaza or Afghanistan, to name just a few places where we work. We are there for those who are most in need. We also work to promote and ensure compliance with international humanitarian law, that is, the law of armed conflict.

In moments of despair, I think about one of the ICRC’s most emblematic and heart-lifting activities: reuniting family members who have been separated by war. When I was working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, I was struck by the suffering of parents who were looking desperately for their children and had no idea whether they were well, or even alive. It’s a terrible ordeal. At the ICRC, we do everything in our power to help these families: around the world, we work with our Red Cross and Red Crescent partners to trace missing people and reunite them with their loved ones.

And we succeed – every day we bring separated families back together. I can tell you, there are few more rewarding activities than reuniting a family: the excitement, the joy and the relief felt by the parents and children are so vivid that I can’t think about taking part in a reunion without tears springing to my eyes.

Check out this video to see how ICRC teams swing into action to reunite families.

Every day, my colleagues and I renew our commitment to finding the resources needed to relieve the suffering of people affected by armed conflict.

I hope you will continue to accompany us on this journey.

Warm regards,

Sylvie Pellet

In charge of donor relations in Switzerland
Former delegate in Asia and Africa
International Committee of the Red Cross