Salta Province, Argentina, February 2021

The fires in Gran Chaco on the areas between Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia have intensified recently. It is however both Paraguay and Argentina that seem to be affected the most.

In an attempt to find out a humanitarian impact of these on lives of the affected communities, I am setting off to the two countries on a humanitarian mission. On Monday, I am leaving Panama for Buenos Aires. After a few days in Argentina's north, I will then proceed to Asuncion and then southern parts of Paraguay. While in the field, I will be shown around by colleagues from our partner organisations. I will be meeting the communities, and also the authorities to see what has been done so far, and how we can be of help, if at all.

In the meanwhile, I keep receiving substantial amount of emails from various humanitarian colleagues that appear to be heading to Poland and Romania to establish their presence there to help in dealing with the influx of Ukrainian refugees. While I am unable to give advice on Romania, I do have quite a lot of information on the civil society organisations in Poland (including organisations working with migrants and refugees in particular). Should you, or your organisation need some guidance, please do not hesitate contacting me, I will be happy to help out the way I can. On a personal note, I feel so strange to see that the international humanitarian agencies are setting up potentially large scale operations in my own country. The world is certainly full of surprises.