This is a book that tells people’s stories from the ground at moments of crises: stories told by some of the poorest and most disadvantaged that often go unheard and unreported. Their testimonies and struggles remind us of our global inter-connectedness as well as how aid really can make a difference to peoples’ lives.

My name is Caroline Gluck. I’m a former BBC correspondent and when I wrote this book I was working for the international aid agency, Oxfam. I’m currently based in Iraq as senior public relations officer for the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR.

My work has taken me to countries at moments when they are facing some of the most challenging and difficult times in their history.

I began this book after a deployment to Haiti, just days after the country was struck by a devastating earthquake in 2010. It was the most intense deployment I’ve ever had - and writing my thoughts down was a way, after I left the country, of trying to make sense of what I went through, what I saw and hearing the stories of people whose lives had been turned upside down.

My friends urged me to carry on and to write a book. My job with Oxfam, as an emergency press officer, took me around the world. I wanted to tell the stories of some of the people I’d me - who were often the poorest and most disadvantaged; whose views, stories and experience often go unheard and unreported. Yet their testimonies were powerful, reminding us of our humanity and often tell us a unique side of a broader story.

At a time when government aid budgets are being cut, yet crises and disasters continue to proliferate, and the number of refugees and displaced around the world has reached record highs, the book is a timely reminder that aid does make a difference.