I am alive and well!

Well, I have been in Sri Lanka for almost two years. This has been one heck of an assignment. This blog started as a semi work site but it is gonna have to change into something more personal. I am really tired of talking about work. After all, already I do it 24 hours a day. So let’s talk fun for a while. Hummmm, well that’s enough on that subject. Ok, then how about travel? Bob and I have taken several interesting trip in the last several months and have more planned. The first really cool trip was to McCloud Ganj - Home of the Dali Lama and the Tibet Government in exile. McCloud Ganj is in northern India sandwiched between China and Pakistan.

We also went to Viet Nam which was amazing and fun:

and Angkor Wat, which was extraordinary.

Check out the online photos in the favourite links list on this blog.

One Year Later

I have posted a couple of photos, taken this morning off the Colombo coast. The sea was calm and blue. Hard to imagine that one year ago that same sea wiped entire villages off the map and caused so many people to die and destroyed so many families. Nonetheless, life goes on and progress is being made. Today is a day of reliving the events and agonies of one year ago - tradition has it that life will go "back to normal" after this Remembrance Day. That means that people can concentrate on the future having relived that Day again. Now the survivors can put the past events behind... and move on with their lives, in the shadow of what was lost.

It is a quiet day for all of us. The Red Cross offices are closed to allow staff to remember those who perished. A few of us came in to catch up on work after going to memorial services this morning or remembering in one’s own way. It is very quiet throughout Colombo, and from what I hear from colleagues in the districts, all over the Island.

I am optimistic.

This year, the Red Cross did not compromise on the basic principles that drive our work – consultation with those affected, supporting and respecting national and local solutions and being sensitive to risks of conflict and inequity between survivors and others who live in poverty in the countryside.

People from the Sri Lanka Red Cross and our partner national groups have been present in every affected district since the day the tsunami struck and we will be working with affected communities to recover from the disaster for as long as it takes to get the job done.

We spent the first three months meeting the emergency and transitional needs of the affected population. Then is seemed like forever while we figured out the next steps and now houses are going up, money is being disbursed, workers are being trained in new livelihoods and scores of other programs that are helping people recover are being conducted.

Of course, there are still on-going emergency needs that the Red Cross continues to meet. For instance our local Branches are providing relief items to people in temporary camps and, get this - over 3 million liters of clean water are being produced (purified) and delivered each week to communities and camps in 5 Districts.

Anyway, I do not have the energy to go into a lot of details today. I just want to be quite and reflect on what has happened over the last year, and keep myself up so I can do my part for another one.

P.S. Check out the Op-Ed from the San Diego Union Tribune on the side bar ->.
(Thanks Gayle for getting that placed.)

P.P.S. There is also a link to a KPBS - San Diego radio interview on the Tsunami

This blog thing is not working out...

Clearly this blog thing is not working out for me.

Blogs are for recording personal stories and sharing them with strangers and the rest of the world. I don’t do that. I barely have time to communicate with people I know and like, let alone the world. Besides, it is too time consuming and the way I work leaves little time for personal stories.

Maybe that will change after the one year anniversary of the Tsunami when presumably things will slow down a bit. Or maybe it will have to wait till I am 70… at any rate, I am slogging through the work here in Sri Lanka and loving being back with the Red Cross.

Over the years, I have come to the conclusion that non-profits are somewhat dysfunctional and so are governments.

These organizations are great at building consensus but less than efficient when it comes to product development and delivery.

Personal efforts do make a difference but it can seem incremental. Maybe it is all those committees and group decisions. Profit making industries are better at product delivery but lack the community involvement and buy-in that consensus brings to the equation. It is a trade off.

Apart from the complexity of the relationships and the on the ground reality in Sri Lanka, the Red Cross has rarely if ever been in a position where we have the funds and people to do such a huge job as we are no doing. We are the largest single funder of recovery work in Sri Lanka.

We are about to enter into a working arrangement with none other than World Bank - to co-fund $25 million of grants to home owners to rebuild their own houses through a government defined reconstruction program. Red Cross is also negotiating another $37 million arrangement to build houses with Sri Lanka Red Cross Society and UN Habitat. Throw in a Red Cross project to build 61 health centers and hospitals for $49 million and another $100 million in rural and municipal water system re-development projects. This takes a lot of maneuvering through government and bi lateral donor systems and dealing with construction consulting firms, international suppliers, lawyers and others. All of which we have never done to this scale before.

No wonder this blog thing is not working out for me.

A Red Cross Volunteer

Then there is a story about a young man who works for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Mohadin Muzammil. He is typical of many Sri Lankans.

Last year he returned to his village having spent six years working in the Middle East so that he could support his family with a decent income. He worked as a waiter at the Dubai Sheraton where he saved up enough money to build a four roomed house close to the beach near Pottuvil on the East Coast. Tragically his new home was left in ruins when the tsunami struck. Two weeks after the tsunami he was at the ruins of his house and he noticed one of our delegates looking into his well.

The woman was Katarina Ortfeld, a Swedish Red Cross water and sanitation delegate. Katarina had been having difficulty finding a translator so she hired Mohadin on the spot. Eight months later, Mohadin is still with the Red Cross. Now, he heads up a team of volunteers who can go from house to house with their buckets and ladder, checking the water quality and cleaning the wells along Pottuvil’s coastal area.

In January he will be heading off to Germany for 2 weeks to take a mass water treatment course. He is very good and says that even though he lost his house the Red Cross gave him an opportunity to start a new life. Great Red Cross story isn’t it.

About Coffee Tables and Art

I finally got a coffee table worth talking about! When I lived in Nairobi, my friend Rachel tried to talk me into buying a 250 pound coffee table made out a very old piece of wood from the Congo. I’ve kicked myself a hundred times for not buying that piece of wood, but now, the kicking has stopped.

Robert and I bought a 100 year old 4’X5’ camel cart with the wheels removed and it is sitting in the living room. It is from the Rajastahan Desert in India. Weighing in at about 750 pounds, it is an awesome addition to the growing list of new/old posessions. Found it in an antique shop where they were asking $500. I ended up buying it for about $360.

Also, found some interesting oils painted by students and shown at a Colombo City park. Actually, the art is strung along the outside fence aong the sidewalk. Some very unique pieces can be found. So far we are up about 10 oils and bought them for what posters sells for in the USA…

On the Road to Galle

Today I made my first trip to the Tsunami area. Still a terrible amount of visible destruction but the area within 40 miles of Colombo is relatively clean and there is construction in many areas already.




The Red Cross is building houses in several areas. I visited some Red Cross funded construction in Beruwela on the Western Coast. I also saw a distribution of relief items like mats, cooking sets, pots and cloth. The distribution took place at a Buddhist Temple which served as a serene venue for the crush of handing out items to hundreds of people from a relief list.

Tissa S. De Silva has six in his family which includes his wife 2 daughters, son and his mother. He had a shop at the beach front that sold items to tourist and local residents. He lost everything too.

Here he is with his house.

Mr. and Mrs. K. Ramasiri, their son and his wife will live in this two bedroom house when it is finished. Mr. Kasmiri is building this house with funds and technical assistance from the Red Cross. He is shown here with the Belgium Red Cross coordinator, Chrisanthe Fernando. Mr. Kasmiri was a fisherman. He lost everything, including his boat and all of his equipment. The local government administrator arranged for him to receive a boat but not nets and other fishing equipment. He will need to be fully outfitted. This will be arranged in the coming months.




K. Sandon Rohitha Di Silva with his wife. They have 2 other children and one on the way. He also ran a tourist shop but since it was built of brick and concrete many years ago it is the only building still standing. There is nothing in it but he hopes to refurbish it one day. Right now he is focused on building a house for his family. Red Cross is helping to build the house. He was lucky enough to get land from his father who had a plot near the sea.

One of the most impressive of the distribution was the cadre of Sri Lankan Red Cross volunteers managing the operation. You could easily see that this group has had some practice at relief work. They were well trained and were all well identified. There was no question they could not answer be it from the people receiving the goods or the visitors on the scene.

Finally Arrived in Sri Lanka

"View From Hotel Room"



After a 36 hour/two night delay at London, Heathrow Airport, we finally took off. Not the worse airport situation ever, but it certainly gave me an opportunity to add to my quotient of patience. I needed that!

Arrived at Colombo Airport with the rest of the walking zombies. We were hit by the humidity first of all. That is all I will say on the weather other than it is hot. Better to think of it as tropical.

The ride from the airport is exactly what one might expect. Lots of industrial/commercial areas.

Intense traffic (I mean INTENSE). Lots of motorized three wheelers or tuk-tuks as they are called here. I call them fearless. Plus lorries (trailer trucks), vans, busses (of all types), bicycles, Izuzu trucks, water buffalos with carts, donkeys and assorted other forms of transport - very few of which were remotely road worthy! Where is DMV when you need them?

Made it to the Hotel Taj Samudra in good condition though and will go from here to live what will now be "my new life".

I cannot believe I am getting paid to do this!

It is catch-up time for me and the Red Cross. Five years away = Five days of briefings. My head hurts! This week, I am in Geneva at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. I already spent a day with former, now current, colleagues at the American Red Cross in Washington, DC. Then I spent a day at the Federation office at the UN in New York. Whoa… so far so good. The best thing is that I am reminded of the individual good deeds performed by millions of Red Cross and Red Crescent people that reach into every corner of the Globe every minute of every day, everywhere. How cool is that?

Here at the Federation Secretariat my briefings covered things like: community-based health care, construction of houses and hospitals, external relations, security, audit and risk management, reporting, organizational development, disaster management and many other topics. There is a lot going on, lots of changes (good and bad), but still a core of people committed to the work of the Red Cross.

It is wonderful meeting with so many genuine and caring people. It is also fun to be back in an international setting where you have to pay attention to people’s name and work at pronouncing them correctly – which I never do! Here are the names of a few of the people I met: Tijana, Tiziana, Gulzhanant, Haken, Mauricio, Mikhail, Luntan, Markku, Encho, Uli, Aurelia. Sure some are easier to pronounce that others, but one must listen closely. They all helped me to reconnect and in the process learn even more about the continuing work the Red Cross and Red Crescent in helping people in times of need.

Reflecting on this week however gives me a moment to marvel at the fact that I am getting paid to do this. I cannot believe that! It can only get better as I go closer to the field and where the real work in actually performed by local people. Having said this, I hold no illusion that there will not be days when I mock this message and complain that I am not getting paid enough to do this or that…. But for now, this is my story and I’m sticking to it.

So about the name thing, I am thinking, plain old Al just doesn’t work anymore, maybe I’ll start using Alfredo.

The View From 40,000 Feet

Traveling from Philadelphia to Geneva for my briefing gives me a lot of time to reflect on what is before me, what coming back to the Red Cross will be like, what I may find living and working in Sri Lanka, what I may find in my new life. WHAT HAVE I DONE???

The last month has been a whirlwind of cleaning up, sorting out, selling off, packing up and many bittersweet farewells. I have lived a wonderful life in San Diego for the last five years. I have met and worked with some pretty amazing people. Being with the Waitt Family Foundation gave me a rare opportunity to view philanthropy from the supply side for a change. The Waitts themselves are generous and it was a kick working with that family and those who came in and out of the orbit of the Foundation.

Being somehow affiliated with Gateway Computers has fed my fascination and love of technology and innovation. The Foundation has funded either directly or indirectly hundreds of non-profits. I got to know many of them very well. They are all trying to make a positive difference in their communities and the world. At the risk of leaving some out here are a few that I personally worked with most closely: InfoTAP, Mid City-CAN, Hope in the City, San Diego Grantmakers, Council on Foundations, National Geographic Society, Community Solutions, San Diego Domestic Violence Council, The Family Justice Center, Envision San Diego, YWCA, American Red Cross Chapter of San Diego/Imperial Counties, San Diego Organizing Project, Nonprofit Management Service, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Christ the King Catholic Church, San Diego Community Technology Coalition, City Heights Community Technology Center, San Diego Regional Technology Alliance. (I'll add more later).

What about the people who were so much a part of my life? And especially those who turned out to be friends? I am going to take the diplomatic way out of that and not list them. I will name the last five I saw in San Diego, true blue friends who will always be with me somehow: Candice and Wendy (of course); Miriam, Patty and Susan. I am fortunate to have these five women in my life.

So what is the view from 40,000 feet? Blue sky, clear and sunny. There will be lots of disasters along the way, many challanges to overcome and tests to succeed. There will be suffering followed by relief. The outcome is bound to be positive. More to come on this bolg.

Farewell Lunch

My last official day of work for the Waitt Family Foudation was May 25, 2005. After nearly 5 years, it was hard to say goodbye to friends and co-workers.

Welcome

Hello everyone and welcome to the Panic O Diaries.