Meet CARE’s Evarest Ochola
Evarest Ochola has worked with CARE since 2016, he is a member of CARE’s Rapid Response Team with a specialization in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).
“My family and I were very scared at first after learning that I would be deployed in an active war situation in Yemen. But when I reached the country office, I immediately fell in love with the field staff and what they go through on a daily basis to deliver humanitarian support in such hard-to-reach locations. I traveled on harsh and scary terrains with the fears of the unknown (airstrikes). These would be quite disheartening at times. Then I realized that my calling is to help CARE deliver its life-saving services to the most vulnerable people around the globe in some of the most remote and worst humanitarian situations on earth. This kept me going. I am still grateful and glad that I was able to support the country office to continue to deliver quality humanitarian programming in such a difficult context.”
Evarest is part of CARE’s Rapid Response Team (RRT), which is a team of trained specialists that are on-call when an emergency strikes. He has been working in the humanitarian sector for over ten years and is passionate about helping people and ensuring they receive basic needs in emergency situations. His focus on public health comes with a strong background. He has a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering and a Master’s degree in Water and Waste Engineering. He has worked in multiple countries some of these were in difficult contexts: war in Yemen, Darfur, Sudan, during the Ebola outbreaks in Sierra Leone and in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Through both in-country and remote support, Evarest has supported more then 15 local CARE offices in crisis situations.
Evarest is married with two children. He enjoys being able to work remotely from home with CARE since when he is not out on deployment—it gives him time to spend with his family.
“Being an RRT member, I’ve traveled to some of the most difficult humanitarian crisis contexts. But when I think about the importance of the support I give to the country offices when deployed, my fears become overshadowed knowing that I am contributing my small bit in saving peoples’ lives and building a better world.”
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