Jodie Clark has quite possibly the toughest job in the world. As head of the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza, she is responsible for delivering food, medicine, fuel and other supplies to more than 2 million Palestinians. Source: The Southern Cross.
The South Australian woman and Sacred Heart College old scholar spent 21 years in the Australian Army before working for humanitarian agencies around the world, including Iraq and Afghanistan.
But she says the situation in Gaza is “by far” the worst she’s seen and “beyond imaginable”.
“There is no conflict in the modern age that reflects what’s happened in Gaza,” Ms Clark said while back in Adelaide on a short break.
“Every school has been flattened, every infrastructure has been flattened, every mosque has been flattened, there are only two hospitals left and they’re severely damaged … when all this is over the kids won’t be able to get back to school because there are no schools, people won’t be able to follow their faith because there are no mosques, there’s no sewerage, there’s no electricity, there’s no water, so even when Israel pulls out, what have they got?”
Working out of temporary warehouses, Ms Clark is in charge of all UN and non-government organisation supplies coming in and out of Rafah, which was the only entry point into Gaza until Israel re-opened the Erez crossing recently.
She has at her disposal 150 semi-trailers, 20 forklifts, about 50 Palestinian labourers and “lots of other people who do different things”. Under her care are nearly 1000 Palestinians detained by Israel on suspicion of terrorism and allowed to return to Gaza after being interrogated.
Ms Clark said the biggest challenge was the constant looting and violence against truck drivers bringing aid into Gaza.
Asked how she stays positive, Ms Clark said, “You just concentrate on what you need to do”.
“I’m not there in a political position, I’m there to do logistics, I work with whoever I need to work with in a respectful manner, I respect what they have to do on their side, whether it be Egypt, Israel or Jordan,” she said.
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SA woman runs lifeline to Gaza (By Jenny Brinkworth, The Southern Cross)
