Month: October 2019

Confessions of a Serial Humanitarian #6: How to be a Humanitarian

After seeing so many disaster zones, you begin to rely more and more on your roots to guide you. Desensitization sets in, cynicism can slowly infiltrate your mind and blur your vision, but your roots remind you that exercising your compassion will ultimately help you win the day. This mentality has helped guide me through the lows that creep up. 

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Confessions of a Serial Humanitarian #5: Keeping it More Local

Most recently, the hurricanes in the Caribbean in Fall 2017 brought me to ground zero in Texas and in the Florida Keys. I had given thousands of hours of volunteer service to communities around the world while having neglected what happens in my own backyard. A common misconception is that rich countries don’t require help after a natural disaster. Sure, rich countries have a higher capacity to respond, likely have better preparedness plans and better response procedures, however people still manage to fall through the cracks. Knowing that this was a reality, I decided to help out our neighbours to the south. 

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Confessions of a Serial Humanitarian #4: Namaste, Nepal

Going straight to Nepal from a mentally taxing experience in Greece was a poor decision in hindsight. I left in a rush, with plenty of unfinished business that needed taking care of. It was a fight or flight response and ultimately, to preserve my sanity, I fled. The decision didn’t sit well for a long time, but there had to be an end in sight and leaving at the end of my visa seemed like a good natural end point. The decision was made—I would be joining a mobile demolition team roaming the Nuwakot region of Nepal.

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Confessions of a Serial Humanitarian #3: Ground Zero of the Refugee Crisis

Trusting in the experiences and knowledge that I acquired over seven months of volunteering in the Philippines, I threw myself at the refugee crisis on the island of Lesvos in Greece in 2016. At the time, I felt like my prior experience acted as a springboard to get me to this point, but nothing could have prepared me for what I would witness over the upcoming twelve weeks. I arrived as an unaffiliated volunteer and I took my time in determining who the players were, what the nature of the refugee crisis was, and how this crisis was being dealt with on the shores of Lesvos.

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Confessions of a Serial Humanitarian #2: Building Hope, Homes and Boats in the Philippines

After my first disaster response project in the Philippines, I had to return. So I did. Six months later I was looking out the window on my Japan Airlines flight, equipped with a brand new appreciation for my degree and how it helped me navigate the intricacies of a disaster zone. This second project was in response to Typhoon Haiyan and I was arriving eleven months after the storm. Haiyan was one of the most powerful storms to ever make landfall in the Pacific. Wind gusts of 300+kph coupled with a twelve foot storm surge in much of the greater Tacloban City area meant that much of the critical infrastructure, vital to the functioning of a city, got levelled.

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Confessions of a Serial Humanitarian #1: No Turning Back Now

Being in a disaster zone is a very unique place to be. You are essentially caught in the crosshairs of individuals having gone through the most traumatic experience of their lives, and those same individuals trying their best to pick up the pieces and start over. The atmosphere can be chaotic, disorganized, even desperate which is why the power of hope is invaluable in an environment like this. Having graduated from IDS at Guelph in 2011, I was equipped with a better understanding of the mechanics behind how social and economic vulnerabilities can be magnified in the event of a disaster.  While natural disasters will ‘level the playing field’, the long-term recovery for the fringe population is much more arduous and fraught with obstacles in returning to their pre-disaster state. I have had the privilege to provide hope to communities worldwide over the last four years. Whether it is in a typhoon-hit area, or on the beaches awaiting refugee boat arrivals, providing a shred of hope is a currency that yields results. This is my story.

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