China, Iowa, and some other stuff

If you found your way here you're probably interested enough in www.hodr.org to know that we have an active and busy deployment going on in Iowa, with Bill Driscoll providing organizational leadership to benefit multiple towns to get effective use out of dozens of local volunteers.

Marc Young has been stymied for a while, but yesterday (June 27th) received his China visa, and will fly to Beijing Monday AM. He'll spend 2 days or soin Beijing  making the rounds of NGO, UNDP, and business contacts that might be informative or helpful, then will head down to Chengdu.

Stefanie Chang and John Hancock have been in Chengdu for several weeks, and through the wonders of Skype Marc and I have been able to do mostly-daily conference calls as they work through many approaches to find the combination of access, need, and authority that might allow us to have an effective project.

Clearly there are sensitive geographic areas, and also some sensitivities re the need/benefit to have outsiders help with the recovery effort. Stay tuned, as I believe this situation will resolve itself within the next two weeks or so, though the outcome is uncertain.

If you have contacts in China that you believe may be helpful to us drop me an email at david@hodr.org and I'll follow up.

We had a pleasant HODR social event in Boston ( again, I know....) June 11th, including a helpful open discussion forum during that afternoon. About 20 were on hand for the afternoon, and about 50 for the evening.

Some take-aways:  need more geographic balance, and weekend events would allow more traveling/workers to participate. So, we will have our next event in Portland, OR sometime in early October, trying to be sensitive to day-of-week. Eventually we would like to have a get-together about every 6 months, moving them around the country (-ies, any votes from NZ or UK?)

Comments at the meeting complimented HODR on our traditional transparency re financials, but suggested more openness around hiring, management decisions, etc. We'll try to use this vehicle, and maybe the volunteer newsletter, to accomplish that. The general sense was that we don't send TOOOO many e-mails, though we worry when we pack a deployment announcement on top of other stuff, but we'll try to stay sensible.

Another obvious suggestion ( duh) was to allow those who couldn't attend to send in questions, so we'll do that next time; also we'll be sending out a satisfaction survey (  are we becoming too corporate?) so we can tell the skeptics that "our people" really do like our minimalist model.

We have just completed a job search to replace Paula Ogletree, who made a personal decision to return home to Atlanta. Beca Howard, who's been a great HODR (and Persevere) volunteer and project#2 over the past 3 years will become our Communications Manager, and bring  her experienced perspective to volunteer dialogue, plus fund raising activities with vols and with the public. Teryn Weintz is our first Director of Development, and will concentrate on introducing our model to foundations, corporations, and major individual donors. Our overall plan is to raise sufficient funds to increase our project capacity, eventually to the point that we have projects available, in major geographic areas, at all times! We'll talk more about those plans, and why, in future blogposts.

Lastly, Marianna, and others at the June event, opined that we don't have to update this blog every week for it to be helpful, but we'll commit to at least monthly, and see how that goes.

Keep your cards and letters coming, send info@hodr.org updated email addresses, and I hope to see you at a project soon.

davidC

small world

(from marc in bangladesh)

a few days ago one of our volunteers ('allia' from australia) was walking through the market when she encountered another foreigner. being that this isnt common they struck up a conversation. after an exchange of pleasantries and contact information they bid each other farewell. i followed up with an introductory email referring him to our website and inviting him to join us at our base in rayenda any time he (or his colleagues) might be in our area. i am always eager to make people connections, always looking for a "fit" for HODR, always looking for "that meeting" (where we exit high-fiving over the future success of our affiliation).

i didnt hear from allias' contact. then, one day as i was working, my phone rang displaying an unrecognized number. it is risky to have a cell phone here. "friends" call. the typical dialog is as follows: "HELLO?, hello. THIS IS RAKIB, IS THIS MARC? this is marc.. HELLO. HOW ARE YOU?, i am fine, how are you?HELLO WHERE, HELLO, MARC? WHERE ARE YOU? i am working. WHERE ARE YOU? i am in rayenda. OK BYE. ok, bye rakib, OK BYE" in this case i answer, it is a western voice (easy conversation), the voice of clint (from america) and we have a great conversation. it seems we may have similar interests and establish a meeting time for the next day.

during our meeting we find more and more common ground. his "team" (banded together by profession but based all over) has been assessing in bagerhat division and especially sharonkohla upazila. they have small projects that they might be able to fund, but are concerned about implementation. they are wary of local contractors. their funding would go much farther if they didnt have all the labor costs and the difficulties over poor project management. the excitement is growing, there is eye contact that indicates a kinship. i ask about funding, connections, short term plans, long term plans... all of the usual talking points. there is a connection of kindered spirts who are striving to do the right thing, to help, to help those who need it most, without the need for credit or recognition, to do it because it needs to be done. it is eery and gooseflesh inducing.

in my mind i have a question, that with the right answer, will be the cement to hold a team effort together. if i was playing cards, i had an ace, or a one-eyed jack and it was time to play it.

"so, clint hanna, you mentioned working in cambodia, do you know piper campbell?" he replied "yes, she is a rising star and she is my boss!" my reply is obvious to those reading this....."piper campbell is your 'boss' and her father is my 'boss', he is the co-founder of our NGO."

small world, sometimes to the point of inducing tears.

Project Pisco goes out in style

Like many things that HODR does if you didn’t know any better you would probably think we planned it all…well we did…in a kind of plan as you go spur of the moment kind of way.

106 volunteers gathered along side 25 Pisco community members at HODR’s favorite Pisco restaurant, site of our famed “Meat Club”, As de Oro’s.

Volunteers paraded down the buffet line with mountains of food somehow even leaving left overs!

We then held a different type of All Hands Meeting this one had a wireless mic and huge PA system. Individual volunteers introduced community members and thanked them for their efforts to help HODR and their community. Our local friends then addressed the volunteers (with Leah translating).

Some friends offered prayers, others tears but all expressed how eternally grateful they are for our work to help them recover.

Like “angels from the sky” HODR volunteers descended upon Pisco one local remarked. Project Pisco will close its doors shortly having hosted 500+ angels from the sky.

what do you think of......

...when someone says 'playground'?
for me it is the children (everywhere!) and the equipment.
in bangladesh it is 50% different.

the children: laughing, running, screaming, climbing, jumping, shouting, pushing, falling, skipping, whistles blowing, teachers torso looming high above the beehive of activity.

the equipment: swings. big banks of swings set high on sturdy a frame with children pushing their feet up to dizzying heights and slashing backwards so high that the chains bow and then jerk at the fall. tall slides with their upright back and curved graceful chute where the shiny slide pan has been polished by the seatpants of the masses. teeter-totters where the heavier child (or children) has the lighter child (or group) dynamically outweighed and will only at their mercy push up to let the other down. and a dizzying carousel whose occupants are spun off only to stand staggering between nausea and hysteria. and monkey bars, and hopscotch routes, and tire traps, and basketball hoops, and, and, and......

but, there is no playground equipment here.
oddly, in our assessment of the schools, most of the headmasters dont even know what the pieces are. maybe they have seen photos of a slide or have visited dhaka and seen a swing-set, but they would never think of having such things at their school.

the things we take for granted.

marc, from the playground in, bangladesh

Briefing from Biloxi, and Happy Holidays to the HODR family

post from DavidC. Had a great visit back to Biloxi, to celebrate the opening of the new Coastal family Health clinic, that so many HODR vols helped to make possible. While the funding for the facility came from the SSBG ( Social Srvices Block Grant) it's fair to say that the exposure Coastal got from the May 2006 Moss Point clinic opening, which dozens of vols contributed to, plus the sustaining work of the team that dealt with FEMA, IT issues, etc...all made this result possible. I was invited to speak, on behalf of all Hands On Folks, and recognized Nate Herrold, whose efforts were extraordinary, plus Kris Cyr, good friend Jack Blanks, and thanked the Coastal CEO, Joe Dawsey, for embracing our efforts. AND took the opportunity to name dozens of other volunteers who chipped in; yes I remembered you ALL!

Also got a chance to catch up with the REALLY LONG TERMERS, those HOUSA folks who are still helping out in Biloxi more than two years later. Amy, Jamie, Beau and Becca, Deubs, and others, who are living in Biloxi and carrying on great contributions.

Joined up with my "other family"  to celebrate the holidays, and had a nice week with 15 family, including 6 grandchildren....

Will cycle down to Peru in January, then to  back to Bangladesh in February.

To all the Hands On family, please have a wonderful holiday season, and thank you for being who you are!

David

hodr karma continues

from marc in bangladesh..........

we have a house!! this one was a little more difficult (although it is always a challenge to find a facility suitable for a volunteer base in close proximity to a natural disaster area) because of the extreme level of poverty in the affected areas and the issues raised by access. BUT, WOW, 5 big rooms with 3 (yes that’s THREE) bathrooms and a kitchen AND a great out door balcony that is big enough for meetings and socializing! ok, so there is no roof, but we have paid up our lease in advance and the construction repairs have already begun. also, the family that owns the house and lives on the level below has 2 sons that speak pretty good english.
my concerns over water were valid, for most of the areas we scouted had no water available on-site, but our new volunteer base has 1 deep tube well for drinking water and 2 shallow wells for clean water suitable for bathing!
at our first inspection of the house we were told that the electricity would arrive in a day or two. "oh, i see, wow that would be great!" all the while we knowingly snigger 'yeah, sure power in a few days when we havent seen anyone working to restore the power grid. when we returned to express our desire to let the house we curiously found trees downed in the yard. when we spoke with the owner we were told the power company had come to connect the house. when we arrived the following day to sign our lease agreement .......sure enough, the house was wired in! after dark i visited our beautiful large balcony where i found not another electrified neighbor.
the next step is to get the base set up for volunteers to arrive. we have contracted a banner maker to hand paint our signage for the front of the volunteer center and hired a local woodworker to construct the first bunk-bed. it will be exciting to return from dhaka and see what they have created.

Turnover

(Posted by Bill @ Project Pisco in Peru)

We have had a lot of turnover in the last two weeks. Many long-term volunteers (the name given to those who stay for 30 days or more) have cycled out as many new faces continue to cycle in. Project Pisco has had a baker’s dozen of veteran long-termers who joined us on previous projects but many here are first time volunteers. Most of the first time long-termers are coping with the departure of their friends; some of the veterans are coping as well.

One of the biggest challenges we face as an organization arises when long-term volunteers return to their “normal” lives, especially if they were a team leader as most end up stepping into a leadership role of some kind during their time with us. A long-termer’s knowledge base of how things work is traditionally the only form of institutional memory we have on projects beyond the operations director.

The turnover rate at Project Pisco, in terms of short-term volunteers is huge because we are in a heavily traveled area and travelers talk when they meet like-minded individuals on the trail. We have had over 430 volunteers walk through the doors so far. A truly amazing number over shadowed by only the volunteer’s impact within this community.

But the challenge of plugging new/fresh volunteers into the project falls in the lap of the long-termers and becomes a team effort to share the knowledge of how this and that is done and what time to do it etc.

The turnover rate presents challenges for our communal style living and the efficiency of the work day but another challenge, perhaps the hardest to deal with for a first time long-termer, is the “loss” of a friend and brother in arms.

On a personal level the significant turnover periods on projects can be hard to deal with. I remember when I woke up one morning in Biloxi during our Hurricane Katrina Relief Project (my first Hands On Project) and suddenly the “Tree Team” I had been working with everyday for 3 weeks had suddenly all returned home.

The realization that “this” won’t last forever and now I have to go and make new friends can be very strange and jolting. The veteran volunteer suddenly feels like the new kid in town because they don’t know anyone else and maybe don’t trust the “newbie’s” because they are new and “they don’t know...” The long-termer is faced with the decision to just leave because they don’t know anyone anymore or stick it out, make new friends and compartmentalize their emotions.

Yesterday long-term volunteer Amy touched upon this during her farewell speech at the end of our daily “All Hands Meeting.” Many of her closest friends left weeks ago but Amy stayed to oversee the rebuilding of a school, a project she started and has nurtured for months. She began by stating how she had debated whether or not she should even get up and speak to say goodbye because almost all of her friends had moved on and she didn’t really know many of the volunteers present. She decided to speak stating, “what I have to say I think everyone should hear anyway.” Man, I was glad along with everyone else that she decided to say goodbye to us and share her thoughts.

Her goodbye came on the 4-month anniversary of the quake that brought all of us together and Amy had been here since the beginning. She was Peace Corps Volunteer who had already been working in the area for 2 years prior and experienced the before, during and after of the devastating 8.0 quake. She described walking in the streets a week after the quake and seeing the sad state people were in and how survivors just wandered around not knowing what to do “... and then HODR showed up…and volunteers started pouring in. I saw the hope in people’s eyes when they realized that the whole world was fighting for them.”

Amy’s goodbye was poignant and reminded all that were present what the point was… to help, to give hope and to do everything we can. Her words rang true to those here for one day and those who have committed til the end. Her words will stick with us as the whole world fights for Pisco.