The Road to the Horizon

New aidworker blogs

On the road in Africa

The list of blogging aidworkers grows. Here are my latest additions:

After Africa: Long time blogger and cyberfriend Pernille faces her new challenge: after years in Bosnia, Uganda and Tanzania, she now works an NGO back home in Denmark.
Underwater Desert blogging, by Casey in the US, about Somalia. Or is it the other way round?
Chhaya Path, is Nisha's blog, who shuttles between India and Kenya
Shotgunshack blogs from different parts of the world, inspired by a video from the Talking Heads.
Rachel in Erbil (Iraq), after "Rachel in Kitgum" (Uganda) and "Rachel in Goma" (DRC)...

Remember, I aggregate the latest posts of all aidworkers' blogs on AidBlogs, twittered via @AidBlogs.

Picture courtesy of Pernille

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Human Rights for Dummies

If you don't understand what human rights are all about, after this video, then mmm...

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Give up, bail out or continue running?

Afghanistan ruins

Just read this on Itinerant and Indigent, one of the aidblogs I following. Phil, an aidworker in Afghanistan, writes about his struggle to continue believing in the "Cause". The "raison d'être" of an aidworker:

Why do we keep trying here? I am less and less sure that we achieve anything. I know, I know now that this work is not about us feeling good, or developing our CVs. And I am not an aid junkie, living on the high of the emergency, the thrill of saving lives. But I would like to see permanent progress here in some form, in my lifetime. I am less convinced that will happen, or at least less convinced that there is much I can do to expedite it.

It seems I follow a God of lost causes. I am not sure how I feel about that. As Nathan says, ‘I have joined the long defeat’.

I wonder how many of the long term aidworkers have this struggle. How many years does it take before we let our shoulders hang down, or bail out, or stop caring, or continue running with our eyes closed, or invent the famous "signs of improvement"..

How many years have we been in Afghanistan? In Pakistan? In Ethiopia? Niger? DRC?

Add on top of the lack of progress, the security risks every single aidworker runs in some of these places, and you wonder...

I think the only way to cope in the longer run is to check out for a while and come back with new hope. In a different country. Another project. And for the rest, continue holding on, in the faith that humanity is basically good.

PS: If you know where the picture is taken, I guess you can call yourself an "ancien"... Start counting the days The Doubt will come.

PPS: Phil.. Hang in there, buddy!

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Floods in Pakistan? Google's advice...

Google ad for Pakistan floods

When searching for "Pakistan Floods" on Humanitarian News, the Google ad at the bottom of the page displayed the appropriate advice. Kind of.

Google could also have displayed an ad for one of the aid agencies or something, but maybe they were thinking of more longer term solutions....