#ActForHumanity: Honouring Those Who Serve on the Frontlines
Brussels, August 2025.
Every day in our work, we think about the people we’ve met in the hardest places — places where conflict, disaster, or loss have stripped life down to survival. We also think about the humanitarians, our very own colleagues and from partner organizations, who walk into those same places, not because it’s safe or comfortable, but because someone has to be there. Because it’s our calling.
In Ukraine, our ADRA colleagues and volunteers are among them. They drive damaged roads under the sound of shelling to bring food, water, and medicine to people who can’t leave their homes. They help anyone who needs it — without asking where they’re from, what they believe, or whose side they’re on — because every person matters and is precious.
This year, ADRA Ukraine produced a documentary called HOME. It follows volunteers as they step into frontline communities, listen to stories of fear, loss, hope and resilience, and show — simply by being there — that they’re not forgotten.
World Humanitarian Day, August 19th, is a day to remember the aid workers who never came home — like the 22 who were killed in Baghdad in 2003 — and to honour those who are out there today.
The UN’s theme for this year’s World Humanitarian Day is #ActForHumanity. Together with other humanitarian organizations, we are calling on the EU and its Member States to take these commitments seriously:
– Protect aid workers and civilians, wherever they are.
– Respect international humanitarian law and ensure that those who violate it are held accountable.
– Defend humanitarian space — not just the physical places where humanitarians work or people receive help, but the values that make that work possible: humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence.
– And invest in humanitarian response, especially at the local level, because those closest to the crisis are often the first to respond and the last to leave.
For us as faith-based organization, “Act For Humanity” also means something deeply personal and spiritual: to choose compassion over indifference every day, and daring to believe in peace, to act and pray for peace and to call for it, even when it feels far away.
Until then, we will keep being there — Compassionate. Neutral. Wherever we’re needed, for whoever needs us.
In a country like Lebanon, for example, ADRA has been there, supporting people in need – all through the past challenging years. See the feedback of families that received help – thanks to your support!
Join us in praying today for all people suffering from acute humanitarian crises. Pray with us for our colleagues in Ukraine, Lebanon, and for every humanitarian in every corner of the world: We acknowledge your passion and presence. We’re grateful for your service, praying for you and your loved ones. And we stand with you, supporting you where it is possible.