A little too quick and very dirty

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Trip Start Dec 07, 2008 Previous
Entry Trip End Feb 03, 2009

  Gonaïves, Artibonite, Haiti
Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Some sad news reached my ears on my birthday when I heard that my grandma Mae had passed. I was unable to return to Chicago in time for the funeral, though I'm not sure it would have offered much comfort to anyone. In the past month, my family has been working through the will and estate, and it has become clear that I need to return home to help sort it all out. The difficult decision of how long to remain in Haiti has been made for me.

The past couple months defibrillated my lifestyle like I was hoping it would. Hands On Disaster Response is a truly inspiring organization doing uniquely high-quality work in a difficult field. I've made dozens of certain friends that will shape my life for years. Each day in Gonaïves offered a challenge, physical, logistical, or emotional, and I return home overflowing with the rewards of facing them.

I'll write just a few words in assessment of the organization. My experiences in New Orleans reinforced my general observations that running the daily activities of a volunteer humanitarian organization is a damn difficult job. There's always more to be done, and your three options are to do it yourself, ask nicely, or lay on the quilt. The HODR leadership here in Gonaïves seem to be balancing those as best they can. On a six-month project budget equal to about the annual cost of one mid-level expat for a typical multinational NGO, they've managed to help thousands of Haitians by engaging well over a hundred foreign volunteers. Thanks to everyone who made my time so memorable and worthwhile. See you at the next rodeo.

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