Every day, there are heroes doing amazing work to change lives and make the world a better place. Whether they're vaccinating kids, driving a truckload of vital supplies, teaching literacy, helping to stop Ebola, campaigning for justice, or any number of things, they're an inspiration! On August 19th, World Humanitarian Day recognises the spirit of these people who are facing danger and adversity in order to help others, and celebrates their achievements.

For most people, this sort of stuff can seem pretty distant. Our everyday lives don't involve getting in a helicopter to rescue a flood victim in Zambia, or finding a way to get medical equipment into a remote mountain village in Nepal, or searching a collapsed building in Haiti for earthquake survivors. If you're anything like me, your normal day involves going to work, seeing some friends, pretending that I'm going to go to the gym, and seeing what my friends and family are posting on Facebook and Twitter.

But on World Humanitarian Day, a normal day just like that can be really important. And you don't even have to deliver on your promise to get to the gym.

This August 19, you can head to the World Humanitarian Day website, and, with a few clicks, you can get your Facebook or Twitter account to tell an inspiring story of a humanitarian. I just signed up to do it, and it was easy! After those clicks, I was told that tomorrow, my friends would be seeing a series of posts from me that come from the perspective of an Ebola survivor who found her purpose in life by helping other families in her community to safely and compassionately bury Ebola victims who hadn't been fortunate enough to survive. The series of posts will happen automatically during the day, and I got to select which ones I wanted to include.

I was pretty darn happy with how interesting and inspiring the posts were looking, and I'm looking forward to giving my friends a 24 hour break from my thoughts about football, cat photos, and bad puns. Instead, they'll get something of real value.

If you like the sound of that, I'd encourage you to sign up and do the same - your power to share stories can bring them to life. The more people who hear about the inspiring work of humanitarians, the better. That's how we can build a movement of people committed to ending extreme poverty, and hold our leaders to account!


Editorial

Demand Equity

It's World Humanitarian Day, want to share some stories that matter?

By Michael Wilson