Good morning, Mr Obama

Good morning, Mr Obama

“My name is Rola Hallam. I am a Syrian doctor and humanitarian”

That was my opening line when meeting Mr Obama at The Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in Delhi last week.

What would you say to the ex-president of the United States? And not just any ex-president, but Barack Obama himself.

You might be surprised to hear that I had very mixed feelings about meeting him.

Let’s rewind to January 2009. I was amongst hundreds of millions of people who were frankly jubilant when he became the 44th President of the United States. We had witnessed a truly momentous and historic occasion. I, like many others, was ecstatic about the hope and positivity that his appointment signalled. Not just for America, but for seemingly for the whole world.

Now fast forward to August 2013. The war on civilians in Syria had been raging for more than 18 months. I was in North Syria working as the Medical Director for Hand in Hand for Syria on a medical mission when the monstrous chemical weapons attack on rural Damascus happened. Nearly 1,500 civilians choked to death, including over 400 children.

President Obama declared that the Syrian regime had crossed a red line with this barbaric attack and mobilised his forces and allies to take military action. My dad called from the UK to say he was worried and we should leave immediately before airstrikes started and borders were closed. Only the day before we had treated dozens of severely burnt children in our hospital in the Aleppo area, after an incendiary weapon, a great big ball of fire, was dropped out of a war plane onto a schoolyard full of children. Clearly, I was going nowhere!

And the rest is history.

The red line turned into a green light.

The Assad regime, its allies and other armed forces were emboldened. They could evidently commit large scale and grotesque war crimes, in full view of the whole world, and with impunity. No one would take action to protect innocent civilians.

As we’re all too aware the war continues on to this day, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and a staggering 11 million people, and counting, have been displaced.  

On the other hand, as a doctor who absolutely believes healthcare is a fundamental human right of all of us regardless of our colour, creed, religion, political ideologies, class or geography, I love ‘Obamacare’. Though it remains to be seen whether the Republicans will destroy it, it was a landmark step forward for America in providing essential healthcare to those who otherwise aren’t able to afford it.

My meeting with Obama was brief, but listening to his keynote speech completed the picture. He was smart, funny, personable, engaged and clearly had an internal moral compass that was helping to channel his power in a largely positive way. He spoke of the necessity of collaboration and multi-lateral problem solving, something CanDo fundamentally agrees with and practices.

I liked him. A lot.

Meeting him reminded me of a couple of important lessons. When we make an assessment of a person, it is important to take in the whole person, both their character and actions and not just subjectively look at their action (or inaction) on issues we care about. And if we have made an assessment, it's important we are willing to change our minds if new information or data goes counter to our original assessment.

As I handed President Obama my business card, I made one remark. It was not too late for him to save Syrian lives.

Will President Obama choose to help us with our mission to support the lifesavers in Syria and other war zones? To resource and enable local medics so they can do their essential work?

I sincerely hope so.

True leaders don't need to be in an official position of power to have influence. True leaders have a vision for a better world, have the mindset to work towards it and have taken a decision to work with others to achieve it.

True leaders also know it is never too late to do the right thing.

Hope to speak to you soon, Mr Obama.
 

Author: Dr Rola Hallam, Founder & CEO of CanDo
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