Civil Protection, Usulutan - El Salvador 
“Thank you very much for your help. Now we have all the office connected to the internet. We are now able to send information directly from the field; before we had to wait until we returned to the office. It is very important, since the headquarters need the data by 6:00 pm and we return to the office very late in the evening”

 

Civil Protection, Ahuachapan - El Salvador 
“We are very grateful to be able to count on your support on the ground, since we knew that wherever we are deployed, we need to be able to communicate with other emergency responders. During previous interventions we went to places where we were completely isolated, which would have made it impossible to communicate had something unforeseen occurred”

 

Medical Coordinator at the hospital in Jadu - Libya
"We spent 6 months without internet connection. Thanks to TSF, the internet connection at the hospital in Jadu allows us to contact Tripoli to get supplies and ask advice from other doctors in England. It really is a relief for all the doctors here to be connected and able to ask for help if needed. I would like to thank you so much for the great donation you have made to Jadu hospital. You cannot imagine how it helps us. Communication is a critical point during a crisis. TSF was the only organisation present to solve our communication issues at Jadu hospital.”

 

Doctor, Jadu Hospital - Libya 
"TSF helps doctors to work and treat patients. With TSF services, we are able to send medical pictures and reports on our patients to other hospitals and other doctors in the country and abroad. TSF reinforces management and coordination. No other organisation or company has provided this service. I’m very grateful, thank you.”

 

IMC, Jadu - Libya 
"TSF has helped us very much. They have enabled us to use the internet and communicate with the outside world. They have facilitated our work a lot. The strongest point of TSF is their ability to be everywhere in the world and to arrive very quickly to ease our daily workload."

 

CESVI - Libya
"TSF connection facilitates the coordination as it enabled me to send emails to my teams and contacts within Libya. Also, I can communicate with CESVI’s HQ easily and send them my reports."

 

A volunteer at Yefren’s media centre - Libya
"Before the revolution we were not allowed to speak Tamazight. Now, thanks to TSF we can promote our culture again. We are now working on the first global meeting for Tamazight's culture in Libya's history."

 

Doctor - Libya 
“Before its opening, the nearest Internet connection was located in Tripoli. I can now send emails or use skype to discuss patients with other cities in Libya. As well as this, I’m using the connection to send medical samples and pictures to other countries, such as England and Italy, and thus have the opinion of world specialists.”

 

IMC, Zintan - Libya  
“In an hour you fixed our internet connection in the office. Thanks TSF for your help; it will save us a lot of time in helping people."

 

Mercy Corps, Misrata - Libya 
"The TSF connection is extremely important for me because I am sure that it is free from security issues and I can thus use it to send sensitive information such as internal contracts or have skype conversations with HQ."

 

JMACT, Misrata - Libya
"TSF, thanks for your support! The Internet is up and running 24/7".

 

Save The Children - Libya 
"The HUB in Misrata is very good, good Internet access, good services. No complaints".

 

Doctor - Libya
“I'm currently using a Facebook group that I've created. With internet at the hospital, it makes my work faster: I can order supplies by email which is more reliable and easier to follow than GSM international calls."

 

Bangladeshi migrant worker - Libya 
“Right now, we can’t be in Bangladesh,” said Nienn. “But talking to my parents by phone eases the wait.” When violence broke out in the western Libyan town of Zawiyah, Bangladeshi migrant worker Mohammed Nienn, 28, was doing a shift as a steelworker. Keen to leave as quickly as possible, he jumped into a taxi with four other Bangladeshis and headed for the Tunisian border, where a bus eventually took him to Chucha transit camp, 6km from the frontier town of Ras Ejdir. Ten days later, he was still there, waiting for a flight to Dhaka. “My family tells me to get home as quickly as possible,” he told IRIN. “But it’s not as simple as that. There are so many Bangladeshis here. The wait to go to the airport is quite long.” Source of this last testimony: www.irinnews.org

 

OCHA - Haiti 

"TSF's work is very important in terms of coordination, when there are so many people arriving in a very short period of time, it is very important for us to have a functioning system, so we can share the information, disseminate information (reports, assessments, maps, meeting schedules...) by Internet, and help people stay connected with their Head Quarters and with all the other players here in the country."

“TSF is the first one to get to the scene to provide telecommunications. Communication is vital to anything.“

“TSF guys worked so hard to keep our Internet up and running, trying to make it run faster and facilitating IT support. I really do respect the work they are doing and the way they are doing it.“

“TSF arrived very quickly and provided appropriate services, which means that the connectivity was very good in the first few hours of the response. Despite lots of obstacles and technical difficulties, TSF stayed around to assist the humanitarian community. There was an incredible gap which was covered by TSF."

“You have the confidence that you will have Internet access whatever happens and in any situation. Information management and sharing is key for an effective humanitarian response. TSF facilitates that.”

“I would like to emphasise TSF’s agility to identify critical routes and the field team’s great experience on emergency situations. In Salvador, the intervention of TSF was necessary to install an internal network with the crisis centre emergency team. TSF’s work promoted timely information exchange to the decision makers at several levels: local, national and UNS.”

“TSF voluntarily offered their support and expertise, which is invaluable, and their team worked day and night. No need to mention how important TSF's contribution was in the first few days of the emergency.“

“The past 5 years of working directly with your teams in emergencies has played a signicant part in the success of ETC roll-outs."

"Telecoms is vital for all responders in their coordination efforts. In a large scale emergency coordination collapses without it. Other factors become secondary if you can't communicate. Thanks to TSF, the first days of the Ketsana response became effective. TSF teams are quick, competent and hard working. Its staff seems to all be trained the same way, able to quickly assess needs and prioritise.”

"TSF’s reliability in terms of responsiveness and expertises is an important attribute for a successful mission."

“They left Dungu 3 months ago, and the Internet continues to work really well; they are doing everything well.”

"When you're in an emergency the last thing you want to do is start stressing about why ICTs are not working properly.  TSF is speedy and efficient.  […]  Well trained and very familiar with the UNDAC team. “

“TSF services are very complementary to UN agencies telecommunication efforts, especially during the first weeks of a crisis. All emergency responders really appreciated TSF's work. The staff proved very efficient in deploying telecom equipment in all conditions and locations and in organising the handover of the Telecom Centre management to WFP permanent teams, notably with an inventory of available communications means in the zone.”

“TSF services allowed UNHCR to concentrate its telecoms resources in other urgent areas. The team was very professional, kind and attentive and we are fully satisfied with their work. Even after their return to France, they stayed in contact and helped us establish a permanent internet connection. “

UNDAC - Bolivia and Panama 
“Thanks to TSF, information was sent in real-time and decisions were made fast.
TSF’s work is fundamental: when a system collapses in a country, there is strong need for a guiding force to coordinate efforts made by emergency responders.”

“The telecom centre provides a space where different actors can communicate, which is very important for the success of each operation and the coordination between different forces. If we didn't have the means of communication we wouldn’t have been able to do certain tasks that are necessary to the action, such as a rapid assessment in order to call for reinforcement of staff or materials. Humanitarian Calling Operations are a very simple idea, but they have a very positive impact.”