AID MUST EMPOWER, NOT JUST PROVIDE

Why survival alone isn't enough for refugees — and how true solidarity begins with respect

- BY ALYA AL MUSAIEBI | Special to Gulf News

The essentials of a dignified life today are widely accepted to include food, shelter, education, health care, and safety. These are considered the foundation of human survival. Yet what we often overlook is that “essentials” are not fixed; they shift depending on where we are — and sometimes, who we are.

This becomes painfully clear when we compare stable societies with refugee communities. In the former, basic needs are often taken for granted. Over time, people seek higher-order needs: freedom of expression, creativity, personal growth, and fulfilment. In refugee communities, however, needs do not diminish — they multiply in proportion to the scale of loss. Refugees long not only for food or medicine, but for something harder to define and even harder to restore: a home, a memory, a sense of protection, and the dream of a future. These needs cannot be met through material aid alone. They require something deeper — genuine human solidarity that restores reassurance to the spirit.

This reality brings us back to a principle at the heart of humanitarian work: the difference between meeting basic needs and restoring the human spirit. Dignity, respect, and self-determination can — and often must — take precedence over food or shelter. The need is not just to survive, but to feel alive.

The scale of displacement is growing