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Time for a Change

The last week has been momentous in our lives, especially for Mr. Jingles. I arrived at home from Chad to be welcomed by Laura, MJ and several dear friends from Guelph. We had a great time showing them some of the sites, enjoying our favourite dinners together, and catching up. We were woken early on the 27th by the packers arriving 1/2 hour early to put our house in boxes. We frantically cycled through five quick showers and dressing in an unused room while they packed around us. The next day the movers arrived to take all the boxes away, and Mr. Jingles was once again locked up all day.

So, we are now in limbo, trying to set up our new home while working from cafes and restaurants. Laura is adapting to work online, learning the joys of remote access. Mr. Jingles wins the "Most Adaptable Cat" award as he learns that his home is wherever he sleeps. Hopefully we will have full access to the US, and I can tell you all about my new job soon.

In other news, I will be merging this blog with my other one (Disaster Traveller) and hope you will check there for future updates!

So, I wrote this and then forgot to post it...a Northwest update

I'm flying over the English Channel, some twenty hours into my flight to Chad, which puts me just past the half way mark, and definitely in a reflective frame of mind. As I'm not sure when I'll next have an internet connection, I may not be posting for a while, but at least I can play catch up! More on Haiti in the next post, but for now some thoughts on Pacific Northwest holidays, as Laura and I enjoyed some time off between trips.

Do: see theatre productions whenever, wherever. They are pretty much always worth the price. We recommend The Bard on the Beach if you're in Vancouver in the summer, well worth it. Secret tip – bring your own picnic to the afternoon shows. Vanier Park is a great place to watch sailboats, kites, clouds, and pretty much anything else propelled by wind, and it really is just a short walk from Granville Island Public Market . You can pick up ready made sandwiches, or buy the meats, cheeses, breads and pastries and fix your own.

Don't: go whale watching in the rain. Despite the fact that the whales don't mind, you will. Open ocean whale watching honestly isn't about the whales, they're more impressive at the Aquarium or on Discovery Channel anyway. It's really about being outdoors, on the water, in the beautiful Georgia Strait, and that is more impressive when the sun is shining, you're not huddled inside the cabin over a hot chocolate, and your fingers aren't too numb to take pictures. Then again, this is the “Wet” Coast, so one can't always wait for a sunny day. And remember, the whales really don't mind. 

P.S. Thanks so much LCK, for the whale trip and discovering Spinnaker's with us - it was a great experience!

Do: go down to the fisherman's wharf at Steveston, even if you don't want to bring home a fresh salmon (and I mean fresh, some are still alive) for $10-15. Just the experience is fascinating. Also, if you don't want the whole fish, go to the shops just a couple blocks north, where the price is lower per pound than the shops on the water. The shellfish are also incredible!

Don't: be conned into paying too much for something because it's “neat”. NO bread is worth $10 a loaf – although we did make some great “artisanal” croutons when it became rock hard the next day.

Do: go to Victoria on Vancouver Island, there's at least one festival every weekend of the summer. We recommend the Greek Festival in Sidney for one, and the great party on BC Day (August 1).

Don't: visit the Island in one day. Especially without a car. It's worth it to plan a two day trip - there's so much to see, transit is efficient and cheap.

Do: try to enjoy a different cuisine every night of the week. In order to enjoy all the best of the West before returning to the field, we had Chinese, Japanese, Ethiopian (ironically I land in Ethiopia in a few hours), Mexican, Italian, French, Pacific Northwest, Quebec, English, Vietnamese and Thai (if I remember correctly).

Don't: think you have to leave the city, or even your own home for any of the above. I think Ethiopian is the only one we haven't tried at home yet.

Do: spend as much time as possible with the ones you love.

Don't: spend a lot of money doing it!

Diary from the Desert

As usual, a not-so-subtle hint from my maternal unit reminds me that my blog has been neglected. There is, however, justification for this oversight. Many of you will know that I am in Chad for the month of October, yet again leaving Laura to fend for herself. You may not, know, however, that I am in a remote area of this remote country, near the border of the Darfur region of Sudan. Internet access is, therefore, very sporadic and comes at a premium. Better late than never, though, so here's the scoop.

Kidding Around

I recently spent a couple of days visiting World Concern rural projects in Haiti. As we met with the beneficiaries of the "kids who love kids" program, our discussion and photo session was rudely interrupted by a horrific obstruction to this fabulous program, which has seen children multiply a single goat into a herd of 15 goats AND pay for a high school education. See below for information about the roadblocks faced by these kids...




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copyright Frank Thorp 2010.

It is fortunate that the intrepid journalist Frank Thorp, who is constantly keeping his eye out for danger while On the Goat Path, caught this on camera. We now have clear evidence of a bogeyman siezing goats while the children are unaware. Hopefully, steps to mitigate this hazard will be made, and the program can continue to provide school fees, disposable income and food sovereignty to Haitian children, while improving the breeding stock of goat herds.

Humour aside, this is a truly innovative program, designed by the World Concern Haiti Country Director, which not only provides education and income for one child, but multiplies the gift to a second child. Check out this story, which addresses the real problems these children face, and the opportunity a single goat can provide. If you would like to purchase a goat for a Haitian child, please consider the Global Gift Guide, and the Kids who Love Kids program.

Join the Revolution!

I have the opportunity while in Haiti to see great work being done by other agencies as well. One of these if Food for the Hungry, who has a great program with Child Friendly Spaces, a part of the Poverty Revolution. I urge you to click on their site, learn more about their communities and Join the Poverty Revolution! If you're able, sponsor a child today. If you're not able to, you are obligated to share the opportunity with your friends. Right now you can win an iPad if you refer new sponsors. How great is that?

P.S. Yes, I used to work for them, yes some dear friends work for them, yes I work for a close partner agency, and yes, I only plug things I truly believe in. Just read about it.

Time Flies, Despite the Heat

I can't believe another week has gone by:
- a week of irregular connections with my wife - sometimes an hourlong phone call, sometimes no connection whatsoever
- a week of daily thunderstorms, with some of the biggest thunderclaps I've ever heard, each one renewing my desire to get 1.5 million people into better shelter before a hurricane hits.
- a week of reorganizing staff, structures, and procedures to help us keep on track and achieve our goals
- a week of new surprises, new opportunities, and new friends

Now that we're into August, the heat is beginning to break, even as it keeps baking most of the US. Alfred, our new team leader from Zimbabwe can not believe the steady humidity here, like nothing Africa has to offer. For most of my time here, it has been the same temperature at 8 pm and at 5 am as it is at 9 am. We are steadily dripping. Now, however, sleep at night requires at least a sheet over top, and I take a hot shower in the morning, although I start sweating as soon as it's done. A new surprise was our landlord providing a TV connection, so that we boys can watch our beloved Gunners, starting this weekend!

The projects continue to move along, with recent thumbs up from USAID for our work in rubble removal, to build on their appreciation of our housing repairs. The third piece in this work is the transitional shelters which was Scott's labour of love for so long. We rolled out our first round in the field, and did a site visit earlier this week to see how our teams are doing, and how the shelters are being received. We will continue to improve on this distribution, as problems arise, and the community is supporting wholeheartedly our efforts to make this project work for them. Check the photoroll on the right for some shots of our new shelters!

Making progress

Today was one of those days, were I seemed to spend the entire day getting nowhere, only to find at the end it was a successful. This week presents the Haiti Emergency Response team the opportunity to regroup around the new team leader, review the past six months, and renew the vision for the future. And that is exactly what happened...after batting around ideas all day, we finally emerged with a road map for the next six months, which identified targets to achieve, strategies for accomplishing them, and key roles in the process. To see it all mapped out at the end of the day was a revelation. We had accomplished something significant. To top it off, upon getting home we discovered that we know had a cook, which means no more cooking for the team by Chris at 8 pm, and we had a TV. This is important, too, as you can only read a computer and a book so much on Saturday, and we can't really get out at all.

After a swim and an email to my wife, the end to a full day and a well-deserved rest. There are some pics of our team house in the slide show to the right.

Now for a more detailed description of my work in Haiti. For a background, check out my last lazy post, which describes the work in someone else's words. Thanks, Scott, for such a detailed exit report!

So, currently, I am bridging a gap between Scott's departure, and the anticipated hiring of a new project manager. Fortunately, I am aided in this task by the arrival of a new emergency coordinator, Alfred on Friday, to lead our team and be a focal point for national integration. Although we are down here post-earthquake, it is only in support of a commendable World Concern Haiti office, whose programs have been fostering community development for over 20 years. With that in mind, we constantly seek to build the capacity of our national team to handle not only this emergency, but also the next. In addition, we want the communities in which we work to be more resilient and better equipped, so transfer of technology and soft skills is essential. But on to the nitty gritty...

Telling the story of Haiti

As I have only been here a short time, I'll start by giving a link to a couple of blogs that have detailed the story of Haiti and World Concern so far...

Haitian Snapshot

This is my first visit to Haiti, and first time working in the Western hemisphere. As always, my mind instinctively tries to make comparisons, and find similarities to other places, cultures, and economies. Why is it that we always want one thing to be like another? The power of association is so strong!

Back in the Saddle

Well, after a year of living dangerously close to settling, Laura has agreed to join me in the work I love the most. I have accepted an offer from World Concern to the position of Deputy Director, Disaster Response in their Seattle office. This position isn't available until October, so in the interim, I have returned to consulting on disaster management and have just arrived on assignment in Haiti.

Ironically, even though I am back in a job that requires more than 8 hours/day, I am more inclined to blog, so I hope to get my "virtual" life back on track - there are a few other posts that are in the works, including one about our vow renewal ceremony a few weeks ago! More to come...

Best and Worst...

Last night our small group gathered mid-hockey game (not yet a Canucks fan, but it is the playoffs) and one topic of discussion was our best and worst of the week. So, on a balmy, sunny Vancouver day I thought I'd share my week's highlights, looking ahead to the weekend!

First, the worst - I saw something I've never seen before in my life...

Rain City

Spring has sprung, and March is definitely going out like a lion (or perhaps a lionfish?) in Vancouver.

Monday morning

After a beautiful weekend, with a pleasant Sunday stroll, today is again fabulous. Yes, the cherry blossoms are bursting into full bloom, and it seems we've survived a winter with no real snow, despite hosting the Winter Olympics.

New year, new times

It's funny to be writing a New Year's blog on February 21, but that's how my life goes. Actually, I had given up blogging until my self-described "biggest fan" insisted that one person was reading my blog.