War Child Canada founder Dr. Samantha Nutt reveals the first-hand experiences that inspired her entpreneurial cause

There’s no shortage of conflict in this world.  War Child Canada founder Dr. Samantha Nutt never tires of challenging ordinary Canadians to help.

By Michelle Singerman, Photography by Kourosh Keshiri

Many women dream of working internationally, fulfilling the desire to help others through hands-on work with the impoverished. For many more, the administrative work of running complex organizations by funneling donations or developing programming into concrete aid can be their way to get involved and make a difference. It’s rare, however, that one woman combines both passions with the gusto of an entrepreneur. Such is the case with founder and executive director of War Child Canada, Dr. Samantha Nutt.

It was while studying public health in developing countries in the 1990s that Nutt says she initially discovered her affinity for international humanitarian work. Her first stop was Somalia, as she worked to research her doctoral thesis amid a wave of political turmoil that threatened to engulf the eastern African country. Simultaneously, she volunteered with UNICEF. Time spent on the ground there and in countries such as Burundi and Iraq strengthened her determination to better the lives of those affected by war. Her hunger for the vocation increased over the next half decade until War Child was born.

“It’s incumbent upon all of us, no matter where we find ourselves, whatever stage we are at in life, no matter how busy we are, no matter what kind of employment we have, to pay attention and to act…” she says.

In fact, Nutt’s path to humanitarian aid started long before she landed overseas. Her early career was shaped by years of laying the groundwork with medical school and field training. Long interested in the relationship between health and human rights, she recalls how as a young student her curiosity lay not just in the diagnosis and treatment of patients, but in how socio-economic factors play into the health of a community. It was to become War Child Canada’s focus.

“I really did feel that there were a number of organizations that were focusing on the short-term emergency needs, but not thinking about the longer term impact of war on kids and how do you actually break that cycle, that cycle of violence and poverty and despair, and move away from the usual food, water, shelter, blankets, vaccinations…” she explains.

Working hands-on in conflict zones has allowed Nutt to evaluate the successes and failures of humanitarian aid. The noticeable gaps in programming led her to launch the organization, which has since blossomed into an essential advocate in nine countries, dedicated to bettering the lives of children in war-torn regions.

Through that work she began to understand that by strengthening local communities and providing them with opportunities for children to rise above conflict, the generational cycle of violence could be broken.

“We wanted to create something that would focus on those local capacities and would foster sustainability by investing in those local community groups, local youth, leadership and local grassroots organizations,” she says of War Child Canada’s mission.

Eliminating gender inequality is also actively emphasized. “…When you strengthen the opportunities for women … you really are promoting a generation of change and you are breaking that cycle,” she says. Through programs dedicated to women, the organization has seen hundreds of female adults achieve high literacy rates and establish access to independent income.

And on the ground, Nutt says her gender is an advantage that allows her to get inside a story in ways a man never could. “I’ve had the most bizarre conversations,” she says laughing. “You know anywhere in the world that you go, the one phenomenal thing is that women talk, right? And they talk about the most intimate details of their lives.”

In her upcoming book, Damned Nations, Nutt examines the experiences cultivated during her 15 years in conflict regions. She came to recognize that many stories centred on women and the common thread that exists between them. “The women that I knew,” she says, “the women that I met, the women that taught me things, the conversations that we had, the tears that we shared, the laughter that we shared, and that is the gift, I think, of sisterhood anywhere in the world.”

The narrative also examines complacency in foreign wars, “about how we are connected to conflict and how we fuel misery in other parts in the world by the things that we do and often by the things that we don’t do,” she says.

Nutt recalls being in a Somali feeding clinic, talking to a mother and in the midst of their conversation realizing the baby had died in the mother’s arms. “The fact that in many instances it’s so atrocious and yet so preventable is for me… what I find the most heartbreaking,” she says.

Yet there have been times when she says she has felt almost too overwhelmed to continue. In 2004, her close friend and mentor was kidnapped and killed in Iraq. The death represented a sea change in humanitarian work in conflict zones and also represented a personal challenge for Nutt.

“And in those moments, those kinds of horribly dark moments of, I don’t know, self-pity I guess, you are reminded of how lucky you are,” she admits. “And you can’t sort of sit around and say, ‘well poor me I’m having a bad day,’ because it’s nothing at all compared to what other people are prepared to sacrifice in order to protect human rights.”

War Child Canada relies on funding, which can make it difficult to plan into the future, knowing that one day resources might not be available for the work to continue. But Nutt remains determined to fulfill the role she created when launching her organization 10 years ago.

Much of that commitment is dedicated to encouraging citizens and media to become more active in the fight for human and children’s rights. She admits that raising awareness of this type of atrocity is the first step to changing the generational cycle.

“All of it is achievable and sometimes it’s just the incremental changes that we make that can be significant when they are added together.”