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A Sudanese man hanging washing on the barrel of a wrecked Russian tank in Juba, Republic of South Sudan
Travel aid agency
Bob Papworth finds out how charity Save the Children UK and TMC Key Travel work together to look after their travellers in some of the world’s most dangerous places
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WITH THE BEST WILL in the world, no-one would describe Juba, the temporary capital of the newly- independent Republic of South Sudan, as a sought-after destination. Terrorism is an ever-present threat, violent crime is on the increase, corruption is endemic and disease is rife. The city’s badly-damaged airport remains unfinished, the war-ravaged streets have still to be repaired (and many are mined), air and public transport tends to grind to a halt in the rainy season, and only a scant few of its handful of hotels can be described as better than ‘acceptable’. And it is into this hell-hole that
Kay Burgess regularly sends her organisation’s travellers – in fact, she
is justifiably proud of the fact that in the first ten months of 2012, she booked no fewer than 130 trips to the fledgling republic’s capital. ‘Justifiably proud’ because Burgess’s title is contracts manager, facilities, with Save the Children UK. “The work we do underpins our belief that every child has the right to basic education, has a right to survive and grow healthy, has a right to adequate food and is free from hunger, and is protected from abuse, neglect, violence and exploitation,” she says. It is that mantra, and the
philosophy behind it, that drives her – with the help of travel management company (TMC) Key Travel – to book her willing travellers into some of the
least desirable and most dangerous parts of the world. To say that Save the Children’s
travel patterns are extraordinary is a big understatement. As her Key Travel account manager Samantha Whittle points out: “Quite often, Save the Children people are flying in [to situations] just when others are desperately trying to leave.” And when Ethiopia, Rwanda, Bangladesh and Afghanistan feature high on your list of most-visited destinations, your travel policy has to be extraordinary too. How many travel managers can say, like Burgess: “Before travel, we need to ensure the traveller receives a risk analysis for the country they are visiting, and that