Posts by Miel
Typhoon Haiyan Response
I find myself half way around the world, supporting the response to the horrific devastation of Typhoon Haiyan, which hit the Philippines two weeks ago. I’ll be based in Manila during my time here, managing donor and coordination meetings and proposals for response and recovery activities. So when I see the news daily on TV,…
Read MoreEn route to Manila
I’ve now hit a new record for speed travel. I just boarded a plane, less than 18 hours after being called on a Sunday night to see if I could travel to Manila to support to emergency response happening in the Philippines. I will be serving as the donor liaison and representative for our teams…
Read MoreCarry On
As I settle back in after yet another trip overseas, I consider the bizarre balancing act that a traveler and professional like myself goes through from one day or moment to the next.
24 hrs en route and already a mountain email has piled up. My first day back in the office and I juggle between countries and continents, rarely able to finish one task before another pulls me away. For each country, it is for them as if they are my only priority, and yet I still have to juggle back to the next urgent priority.
I simultaneously attempt to catch up at home, cleaning, shopping, laundry, the normal routines that still build up while traveling. I look at my social schedule for the month and see that there are already an inordinate number of volunteer and other engagements filling up my calendar.
In the end though, you carry on. Somehow it all gets done. You learn to move from one part of the globe to another with relative ease. Overall I couldn’t be happier to be home.
Best,
Miel
Read MoreI heart Nairobi
“You are clearly a Kenyan,” the woman in immigration notes as she searches for my latest visa, with difficulty, in my bulging passport. I actually heard nearly the same thing from a merchant at the Maasai Market on one of my first days in Nairobi several years ago, when I met up with a dear…
Read MoreRunning the World
One of the activities I’ve been keeping busy with this summer has been participating in a fabulous Run Fit training program for half and full marathon runners offered through Fleet Feet in DC. I initially considered the program last winter and was deterred by the thought of running every Saturday morning at 7am for 16…
Read MoreInternational Rotary Family
One of the things the I love about Rotary is that you can step into a room and feel like you are coming home. Last night I had a miss, arriving well past the sunset time listed for all clubs in Bujumbura, only to find no one had arrived eat. I was glad to try…
Read MoreNairobi is Resilient
As I noted in my post about last week’s siege in Nairobi, I was a bit weary as to how Nairobi would be responding to such a shock. I remember arriving back in the states two and a half months after 9/11 and was taken aback by how the atmosphere felt. I’d have to say…
Read MoreFull Circle – Back in Buja
It always feels a bit surreal to be half way around the world in places that are so familiar. I have been to Bujumbura, Burundi more times than I can recount, traversing often during my journeys o eastern DRCongo. This time around it is after a full three years, which feels like forever and nothing…
Read MoreSiege in Nairobi
Westgate Mall was the first place I ever visited in Kenya. I arrived late from DR Congo and had a glass of wine with a colleague and friend at a great place called Art Cafe. After months in the bush I remember feeling far too scrappy for chic Nairobi. Since then I can’t count the…
Read MoreLast minute notice
Here we are on another last minute trip to Africa. The first in awhile, but it still brings back the same feelings. A week ago the status was that maybe I would go to Burundi for a week and then on to Kenya for a week. Monday it was likely. Tuesday it was maybe. Wednesday…
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