A year of learning about disaster response...: February 2012

I write this post following the pleasurable consumption of all the little extras one receives at 35000 feet when travelling with Virgin Atlantic; an unexpected packet of chive flavoured pretzels before dinner, and later, a vanilla ice cream. Along with the exhilaration and prickling sense of vulnerability (oh the ease of inevitable death if the plane crashed!) experienced during take-off, I don’t think I will never tire of the novelty brought by such complementary edible delights on board.

More to the point, the very essence of flying provides the perfect conditions for reflection; the productive sensation of movement, the physical change of location, the thoughts of the past and the anticipation of what lies ahead, the closing of one experience and the opening of another. Hence it only seems appropriate to draw this deployment to an analytical close before landing at LHR.

The office, Cuddalore
(insert regular power cuts and many mosquitos here).

I last left you as I waited in limbo in Pondicherry for news of where I was to spend my final weeks. While J was reposted back to the dust smogged, traffic-choked Domino’s Pizzaland of beloved Bhubaneswar, funding came through for the Thane Cyclone Emergency Response in Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu. Hence, I was sent on my way to lead the roll-out of this project and coordinate the local NGO partner to ensure that the response got underway. As the only Save the Children representative on the ground here, the responsibility was very real. As Einstein once said ‘nothing happens until something moves’; with no work-yourself-to-death J around to disperse his ‘get up and go’ attitude and respectably nerdy excel wisdom, this challenging position was exactly the boot up the arse that I needed. And, I’m pleased to say, playing such a key role in the initial stages of an emergency response has proved to be the most satisfying and productive weeks I’ve had on the traineeship.

So what exactly has the work consisted of? In a nutshell some of the things I’ve been up to include:

ensuring the partner is familiar with the project, field activities, deadlines and delivery processes of the response
communicating our planned activities to the villages themselves, and encouraging feedback from the beneficiaries (hello translator!)
collecting detailed case studies of families particularly badly affected by the cyclone
compiling a photo library from the field
guiding the local partner on how to conduct village Focus Discussion Groups to ensure local participation with sufficient women representation
guiding and supporting the local partner in selecting the most vulnerable/needy beneficiaries to be a part of our Cash for Work programme, without causing tension between villagers
keeping an eye on logistics and procurement, for example of hygiene kits needed for distribution
preparing and delivering a training workshop for the local partner on Cash Transfer Programming in Emergencies
hosting regular meetings between partner and line manager to update on project progress
pushing to get the recruitment of a Field Officer underway*
pushing to get the beneficiary lists completed and a database of names typed up*
pushing to get partner agreements finished and signed*
generally saving children, you know, by default.

*When we were both based in Bhubaneswar, J often said “what really helps is if you get a mallet and write the word deadline on it and hit the partners with it on the forehead, repeatedly and really really hard”. I gave this option fair consideration before granting that it’s not particularly in line with the spirit of saving children, nor our Code of Conduct.

Looking at that list, I can safely say that since being dropped into my first ever emergency response in early November last year, I have definitely emerged from the other side with a far clearer understanding of how they operate and what processes are involved, from proposal writing (big lovely donor please give us lots of money, pretty please?) to the planning phase (who are we going to help and how do we chose them?) to the implementation stage (how can we deliver the aid and what do we need?). Even though this learning hasn’t necessarily come about through direct training, simply being in an environment as such, one tends to ‘absorb’ what is going on all around and unconsciously stores it as acquired knowledge somewhere in the brain. Consequently I think I’ve learned more than I’ve initially realised, which is always nice.

a coconut a day keeps the doctor at bay!

Whilst fearing a patronising middle-class little white girl undertone with neo-colonial inference, the frustrations of my traineeship here have pointed largely towards cultural working practices. A dominantly hierarchical organisational structure means that those at the top are more often than not the deliverers of speech/opinion/decision-making in a far more one-way direction than I am accustomed to. Sometimes I feel like it’s all a bit of a role play – worker bees scuttling around after managers when they drop in to visit (and criticise) project progress every few weeks.

Along the same vein, I have noticed my strong distaste for the apparent emphasis on prestige/ego/status/keeping-face also involved within this working culture. I’m far more in favour of more fluid communication channels and relatively level ranking in the workplace to be honest. Maybe gender has even been a contributing factor? Yet, as some of the staff have noticed, I’m too strong willed of personality to necessarily adopt the role that may have been initially been expected of me (certainly expected of an Indian woman in the same position).

It’s no doubt a character and a culture thing, but I raise my views when I feel the need, even if this means challenging the Boss to get my voice heard and breaking a seemingly long-crafted hierarchical mould in doing so. At the same time, I mustn’t forget that I am also peering in with one foot still planted on European turf – things work differently and context is everything.

I think my gripe is with something called politics? If so, the fine line between politics in the workplace, individual personality clashes and cultural setting is something perhaps worthy of further discussion, some other time.

Reflection… hmmmmm….What else have I learned?

Living in both Bhubasneswar and Cuddalore has been significantly damaging to my health. I feel that I’ve aged in the last 4 months -in the elasticity of my skin, the bags under eyes, and by far the most drastically, the pollution and god knows what other suspended particles that have been pushed in and around my lungs since I arrived. Even in the office in Cuddalore which is away from a road and in a quieter part of town, within 20minutes of being open you can run your finger along the keyboard of my laptop and leave a trace through the dust.
I have been forced to point out to J, that at 28yrs, he is sprouting grey hairs.
Every country should sell passion fruit for 6p a piece.
I have discovered that the need for creativity in the work that I do is essential. I can’t stand the feeling that at times I am just a cog in a machine, to which anyone could contribute/replace. This realisation has been quite a major personal breakthrough career path wise. I’ve always known that days spend indoors pouring over laptops and spreadsheets isn’t my bag, but knowing that I need to give my own spin on the work I do has been quite enlightening. Give me a camera and let me spend my days as field photographer and case study compiler, please.
I bloody well do just luuurve to travel. At times the travel vs. work motivation conflict has been reared its intrusive head, and I still come away wondering how society, almost globally, has come to prioritise the lifelong undertaking of work over the lifelong act of living and even exploring our own environment and looking after ourselves?
the days I think 'I really don't want to die' I know I'm the happiest
I will miss real, proper chai until the cows come home.
These blogs take me FOR.EVER to write and edit. Slow and unreliable internet connection is the expat aid worker’s biggest grievance!
Emergency Response is an insanely diverse sector to work in, and adaptability and proactivity are the two most useful personal assets to put into practice.
This plane food just keeps on coming.

Finally, thank you for reading. And even more so to all those who keep in touch. It makes my day to get a hello from the homelands and I literally squeal with excitement when opening packets from the postman. The senders of these will all live long happy and prosperous lives. Fact.

Next up: six days in cold sunny Brighton (woop woop), followed by a month in Kenya for further training along with all the other trainees on this programme, followed by DEPLOYMENT 2 in HAITI! Watch this space…

xxx

Photo Gallery

Work and travel shots from November 2011- Feb 2012.

Pondicherry

School toilets - locked as standard throughout India
(well if they're used they'll get dirty, right?)

One of our 27 target villages worst affected by Cyclone Thane, with a terrible drainage problem to match.

Running a training workshop on Cash Tranfer Programming in Emergencies
(oh i'm so big and grown-up these days)

Tree on school -Cuddalore

Tree in school

Nasty toilet in one of our target villages -Cuddalore

Cuddalore beach walk at high tide

Decaying dolphin I came across; Cuddalore beach.

Orissa

Fishermen -Kerala

Beach hut - Gokarna

Hampi

Calcutta

Caluctta

Calcutta goat -Christmas day.

Calcutta

Beach Dog -Gokarna

Villager's kitchen - Orissa; one of my favourite shots from this trip.

J and I in our finest. Departing Bhubaneswar airport -Dec 2011

Candyfloss

Chai drinking on New Year's Day - Delhi

Just another day saving children.

I gave the kids the camera: good photographers!

This widow, Devi, is still living in this collapsed hut (reduced to 3m x 3m x3m since the cyclone).
Receiving no support and earning £7 a month as a morning servent, she is unable to gather the funds to repair her house and has been forced to send her children away to live with relatives.
Devi is a clear example of a beneficiary that will receive an 'Uncondional Cash' transfer from our programme along with a basic household utilities and hygiene kit. Additonally we will be contacting the local government officials to ensure she is enrolled in the widow's benefit support scheme that she is entitled to.

Devi's roadside hut crushed by a fallen palm tree in Cyclone Thane.

Iinside her hut - belongings incl.

Taj dog. Nov 2011

Gokarna

It's all about the Anbu Ambulance.
(who needs a door when you have a dead body a/c freezer box anyway)

World's BEST Thali. Thank you Cuddalore!
Not even included in this shot is the unlimited popaddoms, rice and bananas given to you... £1.20 well spent.