UN Heralds Palo Alto Woman’s Humanitarian Relief Work: Report

PALO ALTO, CA — A Palo Alto woman’s work helping refugees in East Africa is being featured in a documentary series produced by the United Nations, KRON 4 reports.

“A major part of my job has been to oversee our assistance programs for refugees from Burundi,” Wiesner told KRON.

A Palo Alto woman is being highlighted by the United Nations for her extraordinary dedication to helping refugees in East Africa. Catherine Wiesner is stationed in Nairobi, Kenya, where she works for The UN Refugee Agency.https://t.co/350CJ8LOBs pic.twitter.com/39eOKyEMNL
— Amy Larson (@AmyLarson25) August 11, 2020

Catherine Wiesner works for The UN Refugee Agency helping families who fled Burundi after a disputed election sent the war-torn country into chaos.

Hundreds of thousands of people fled that county to refugee camps in bordering Rwanda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Wiesner, who is stationed in Nairobi, Kenya, visits refugee camps in these developing countries, the report said.

“Refugees actually flee for their lives,” Wiesner says in a trailer for the documentary series.

“They leave their homes, and they leave their countries to save their own lives and to save the lives of their children. And they find safety, and then their lives get put on hold. And I think that’s very painful, to be able to survive but not necessarily to be able to thrive.”

Read more at KRON 4