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S Heaphy, Accountingnet.ie, 21st March 2006
Brian Casey was financial controller for Midas Productions, a Dublin
media company until April 2000. Offered a similar post in
Australia, a travel stop-over in Asia en route became a full-time
career change. After encountering the work of the Missionaries of
Charity (founded by Mother Teresa) in Calcutta, Casey stayed on
there to work at a home for handicapped children run by the Order.
“I spent my mornings working with handicapped children,
and then worked at the Kaligat home for the terminally-ill street
people in the afternoons. We took people off the streets, gave them
a bed, and helped them survive as best we could and to die with
dignity once the time came. The ethos was all about charity in the
fullest sense – you really have to give something of yourself
to engage with people who are dying.”
Now, five years later, he is overseeing GOAL’s emergency
relief work in Darfur, which has been headline news since 2004,
with over 300,000 killed and over 2 million displaced as the Sudanese
government seeks to quash a rebellion led by the Sudan Liberation
Army /Movement (SLA/M).
A chartered management accountant, Brian’s media company
made documentaries for GOAL projects – so it was always on
his mind to try his hand with the organisation. After his stint
in India, he fulfilled his obligations in Australia before coming
home to meet GOAL at its Dún Laoghaire base.
His first posting was as Financial Controller in Angola, then slowly
coming out of an oil and diamonds fuelled conflict and ongoing humanitarian
crisis. He moved from there to Sudan, overseeing the finances for
GOAL’s largest overseas operation.
Sudan is Africa’s largest country, and has been beset by
conflict for all but 11 years of its post-independence existence.
In January 2005, a peace agreement was reached between the Government
and the southern rebels, who had been fighting since 1983. In that
war, 2 million died as food security and health infrastructures
were obliterated. Over 4 million remain displaced from their homes
– the largest group of war-displaced in the world. They will
slowly return to their homes if peace holds and security is guaranteed.
However conflict remains unsolved in Sudan’s huge western
Darfur province. An area the size of France, 2 million people are
in camps due to the fighting. Rape was been widely used as a weapon
of war, and an Arab militia known as the Janjaweed has caused chaos
among the civilian population of Darfur.
The US has called the situation in Darfur genocide. Kofi Annan
has called for a western-backed peacekeeping force to replace the
current African Union contingent. The Sudanese president warned
that ‘Darfur will be a graveyard for foreign troops.’
Meanwhile peace talks between the government and rebels stutter
inconclusively in the Nigerian capital Abuja.
And the diplomatic tensions are exceeded by the real tension,
on the ground, where Brian Casey operates.
“Tragically, one of our Sudanese staff was killed in a helicopter
crash during an evacuation in January. We have suspended operations
in one region of Darfur due to the significant deterioration in
security. This shows what the effects of conflict are – people
in need, civilians, therefore cannot get the help they need.”
Accompanied to being a chartered management accountant, Casey
is a graduate of John Moore’s University in Liverpool, obtaining
his Degree in Business and Finance based from Dublin’s Accounting
and Business College. He also has a Certificate in Marketing.
Discussing his career transition, Casey says,
“Professionals from accounting and finance are always wanted
by aid agencies – and while it is usual for accountants to
manage the purse strings in a given country, there’s plenty
of scope for movement into more programme-oriented and management
level positions – certainly with an agency like GOAL, where
initiative is rewarded and emphasis placed on a proven ability to
get things done. You are given autonomy and the chance to explore
new directions.”
GOAL continues to operate its multi-million programme in Kutum,
northern Darfur. Vital nutrition, health, sanitation and clean water
needs are provided to displaced Darfurians living in the camps around
the town.
Analysing the situation, Casey adds;
“It is a tough environment here. It is a heart-rending place
– you see people at their worst – and at their resilient
best – when you go to the camps. But I love this work. Managing
an emergency operation as extensive – and important as this
one is a challenge any professional would relish. And when you see
life improving, even slowly, for the people of Darfur, then it really
is worthwhile.”
GOAL operates in 10 bases in Sudan, north and south. GOAL works
in seventeen countries worldwide to alleviate poverty and suffering
and provide emergency humanitarian relief to the poorest of the
poor. GOAL is seeking accountants and people with a financial management
background to work at field sites around the world.
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