Koons is a Silver Spring resident is the director of relief at humanitarian aid and emergency response organization International Relief and Development. When crisis strikes somewhere in the world, Koons — currently in Ethiopia — leaves immediately to lend a helping hand. What are you doing in Ethiopia?
I’m leading a team that’s responding to the Horn of Africa drought and famine. Our team is working in the Somali region of Ethiopia, which sits on the border between Ethiopia and Somalia. For several months [we have been] providing water to 30,000 people in 25 communities — anywhere between 5,000 and 10,000 liters per day. For some communities, it’s 30 miles to a river or water source. Some of our trucks are filling up at a huge well in one of the towns. Other trucks are filling up with river water, but because river water is not completely sanitary, we’re also providing water treatment chemicals.
What comes next?
The problem this year was that the rains were very little, and people’s capacity to save water was insufficient. We’re building a series of community-size reservoirs so that when the reservoirs fill up with water during the rainy season, they’ll be big enough to last an entire village through every dry season.
Where have you worked before?
I spent 20 years living overseas, mostly in Africa. I’ve worked in about 40 countries. Every global disaster that you see on CNN I am leading teams for IRD in emergency response — the Haiti quake, the Pakistan floods, the Libyan conflicts.
How often do you return? The standard joke in my family is that every time there’s a global disaster, I tell my wife I’m leaving for three weeks. It’s never been three weeks. Generally I am away for five to 10 weeks. The moment the Haiti earthquake hit, I knew the next day I would be leaving for Haiti.
— Rachel Baye
