{"podcast":{"title":"Awake At Night","slug":"awake-at-night-769564","podcast_index_feed_id":769564,"rss_url":"https://unhcr.libsyn.com/rss","website_url":"https://www.un.org/en/awake-at-night","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/c/1/0/7/c107611eabf3c5b6/awakeatnight-icon-1400x1400-UN-2.0-final.png","author":"Tulin Battikhi","episode_count":141,"summary":"What does it take to be a United Nations worker in some of the world's most complex and dangerous places? How are UN humanitarians, human rights advocates, prosecutors, development experts, climate leaders and peacekeepers improving our world? Stationed in all reaches of the world and witness to suffering and atrocities, how are they helping people and coping themselves? To find out, Melissa Fleming meets them. Here you will discover extraordinary personal stories from people who devote their lives to helping others.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-15T00:19:21.034376+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/awake-at-night-769564"},"episode":{"title":"Overcoming trauma in the service of peace, with Elpida Rouka - Senior political affairs officer, Office of the UN Special Envoy for Syria","slug":"overcoming-trauma-in-the-service-of-peace-with-elpida-rouka-senior-political-affairs-officer-office-of-the-un-special-envoy-for-syria","published_at":"2026-06-30T13:27:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/awake-at-night-769564/overcoming-trauma-in-the-service-of-peace-with-elpida-rouka-senior-political-affairs-officer-office-of-the-un-special-envoy-for-syria","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/awake-at-night-769564","url":"https://www.un.org/en/awake-at-night/s13-elpida-rouka-overcoming-trauma-in-the-service-of-peace","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/unhcr/AAN_S13_-_Elpida_Rouka.mp3?dest-id=719614","summary":"Elpida Rouka's first name means hope in Greek, a feeling that can sometimes be elusive when serving in the most troubled places on earth. Currently a senior political affairs officer in Geneva, she is a survivor of the 2003 Baghdad Canal Hotel bombing, the deadliest attack in UN history. \"First you feel the shake, and the light, and then the blast, the sound comes. I blacked out between exiting the building, but when I was out, there was just a scene of a massacre. The only thing I recall after that was being thrown a phone and told: 'Call your parents, now.'\" Humanitarian workers are routinely exposed to primary and secondary trauma. Yet stigma and survivor's guilt can prevent aid workers seeking timely help for post-traumatic stress. In this episode, Elpida Rouka reflects on grief, loss, and mental and physical scars, and shares why the exact wording of the preamble of the UN Charter has helped give her the strength to heal. Edited transcript, photos, multimedia and more at the AAN website: https://www.un.org/en/awake-at-night/s13-elpida-rouka-overcoming-trauma-in-the-service-of-peace Podcast full video available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/F24g2DhQUb8","meta_description":"Elpida Rouka's first name means hope in Greek, a feeling that can sometimes be elusive when serving in the most troubled places on earth. Currently a seni…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2422,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/awake-at-night-769564/episodes/overcoming-trauma-in-the-service-of-peace-with-elpida-rouka-senior-political-affairs-officer-office-of-the-un-special-envoy-for-syria/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/awake-at-night-769564/overcoming-trauma-in-the-service-of-peace-with-elpida-rouka-senior-political-affairs-officer-office-of-the-un-special-envoy-for-syria.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}