Guest entry by Gwen Eamer, National Office Media Advisor
Red Crossers from across the country have gathered outside Toronto this week to train as Emergency Response Unit (ERU) delegates. Trainees have been put through a variety of high-stress simulations to prepare them for running a field hospital in disasters around the world, but for ERU administrator Sukhrob Kurbanov, no amount of simulation could prepare him for what's waiting at home.
Sukhrob Kurbanov at ERU trainingThe newest member of the ERU administration team is now on-scene, though you may be excused for not noticing him around the field hospital. He's very tiny, and here only in spirit. Baby Mateen Kurbanov was born Wednesday in Montreal to Sukhrob and his beyond-supportive wife Zarina. Mateen, which means 'strong' in Farsi, joins two sisters, aged 12 and six, and a three-and-a-half-year-old brother. "My wife says he has black hair and a face like me," said Sukhrob. "I'm so excited to go home on Friday to meet him and figure out what a baby version of me looks like."
As for how he came to be in ERU training with a very pregnant wife, Sukhrob had expected to train in the fall; "but when the call came, we had a family conference, and since the Red Cross is my dream, we decided I would participate," he said. "We weren't expecting the baby to come so quickly." Sukhrob hopes he can teach his four children the value of humanitarian work, and pass on his love of the Red Cross Red Crescent family through the generations.