A Nova Scotia woman is heading to Turkey to provide aid after a powerful earthquake devastated the region last week.
Mandeep Dhunna says she couldn’t sit back and watch relief efforts from the comfort of her home. She’s one of two volunteers leaving Canada on Thursday to provide assistance through Khalsa Aid International.
“My parents are worried and my kids are worried about me and I said, ‘Don’t worry, I’m strong’,” she recalls about sharing the news of her departure.
Dhunna says as she watched the tragedy unfold in Turkey and Syria, she immediately asked her husband what they could do to help.
They’ve volunteered with Khalsa Aid in Nova Scotia since 2016, providing meals at shelters, masks to front-line workers during the pandemic and helping supply international students with warm coats for the winter.
Dhunna knew she could help in Turkey after learning the non-profit humanitarian organization had teams on the ground.
“I’m not worried about it, I just wanted to go,” she says. “I pray to God to give me more strength, whatever I have there I can do for people.”
When Dhunna arrives she’ll join volunteers in handing out meals, blankets and medication to those in need.
She says many have lost so much and are now living on the streets and in shelters as well as tents trying to stay safe amid freezing temperatures.
Dhunna will be there for one week and is prepared for the worst.
“I told my husband if I come back, I’m happy. If I don’t come back, something happened, which is fine, don’t be sad,” she says. “I have no regrets or anything.”
She expects long days, working up to 17-hour shifts with the humanitarian organization, which is inspired by the Sikh principle to “recognise the whole human race as one.”
“That’s our motto — ‘to do’ — that’s why I wanted to go there,” She says. “Not to sit home and say … I wish there was something I could do.”
Dhunna will bring along a first aid kit, warm clothes, and a power bank to help with her journey.
She says it’s important to remember just one person can make a big difference.
“If somebody can do something,” she says. “We should do that. Because your little bit of help maybe saves somebody’s life.