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Angela Raven Roberts: Peter Salama (RIP)

Angela Raven Roberts


Greetings sisters and brothers world wide. I am still incredulous

about what has happened. I join and mourn with you all who remember

him in so many ways and from so may encounters. I am sharing with you

what I sent to EMOPS. I spent many years working with Peter and with

Annalies on developing training for emergency response, translating

his evaluations and reports, formulating them into key humanitarian

principles and actions.As a person, as a professional, he

will be missed. Best regards and love Angela


To all dear friends and colleagues at EMOPS, UNICEF and the

humanitarian sector world wide. I join you in the grieving and

questioning over the untimely passing of friend, colleague, mentor and

pioneer Peter. Many hundreds of people world wide are still reeling as

the news of his passing is reaching the field far and wide. In such a

short cut life Peter was able to build such a wide network of friends

and colleagues and his influence and contributions to deep evidence

based assessments and analysis in the field of health in crisis

situations has been seminal in transforming humanitarian action and

practice. Emergency health response and the work of UN and NGO

agencies would not be the same without his conceptual and practical

contributions to the development of methods, tools and frameworks for

action. Starting as a young relief worker himself, Peter has worked

in, assessed and written about virtually every crises in the last 40

years. His papers, evaluations, and reports are a roll call of events

in humanitarian history and using his own experiences and observations

from early days he had built a formidable body of evidence to critique

and change the way to save lives and develop much needed disaster

preparedness and prevention policies at agency and national government

level. Peter worked round the clock, he was a tireless advocate, a

sympathetic and patient trainer , a prolific writer as well as as

doing all this whilst being a great father to three amazing sons and

loving husband, friend, companion and intellectual partner to

beautiful Annalies. This partnership between those two itself

significant and wondrous, especially for UNICEF in shaping the basic

foundations of its own core responses, bringing public nutrition,

health and all the elements of 'protection' together in a significant

and meaningful way. All of us, the 'fellowship' of the humanitarian

sector, his friends and colleagues from Concern, CDC, Tufts UNICEF

UNHCR WHO who worked with him and knew him will never forget him.

Dynamic Peter, his wry humor, his shy smile, finding time for tennis,

enjoying a good meal after a training session, mentoring the new

incoming students and interns in the emergency world , being serious

and patient in negotiations with officials and representatives. We

wrap our ams around Annalies and the boys. We hug and comfort each

other. We honor his work and commitment. We thank him for all he has

done and what he was and keep him in our hearts forever and know that

his legacy will live on - vibrant, essential and true.

Regards and love to you all.



Karin Sham Poo



Dearest Angela
Thank you so much for sharing these beautiful words. Like everybody else, I was shocked when I heard the very sad news about Peter’s passing. And like many others, my thoughts and prayers went to Annalies and the children.
Warm regards


Karin

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