Frustrations...
On the one hand, there is too much bureaucracy; too many clearances required, too many departments to go through, not enough transparency.
On the other hand, there is no bureacracy; no one to authorise clearance, no departments to check information with, not enough transparency.
Then there is the technological issue.
I can't send emails to any contacts, or solicite any information or provide valuable details regarding our work because 4 of every 5 emails I send keep getting rejected by Spam detectors. It seems our internet host has allowed too much spyware and spamware to creep into their servers, essentially blacklisting us from almost all servers around the world. It's an embarresment when even hotmail rejects an official email you sent...
More and more money keeps getting sent to Bangladesh, but where is it all going? I see the press releases with large figures on them, but am struggling to see where it ends up... of course the U.N. gets the lion's share, and rightly so, but what of all the smaller NGOs with particular expertise in their fields, is it trickling down to them?
At least from my point of view, not yet, if at all...
That does not even come close to constituting a reason to give up, of course. Not when your first image of the damage from the cyclone is a little boy, naked but for a piece of string around his waist, standing in the middle of unrecognisable debris, thigh-high in water with a blank look on his face, his mother just a few feet away shrieking and pointing into the ruin and rocking back and forth as if to shake off the pain.
And so I vent and curse and privately accuse all sorts of people of all sorts of ill, I scorn the situation and scream inside my own head at yet another disaster thrust upon this seemingly God-forsaken place, then collect my composure by looking at the pictures of my family I have put around my desk, share a joke with a colleague and get right back to work.
There's no time to think about what might be done, rather only time to decide what should be done and then do it.
Those affected by the cyclone are described in some circles as those with nothing to lose. I believe that's a misnomer; there is still pride and dignity to be lost... but there are many good people from all over the world trying to prevent that from happening.
To those NGOs and volunteers and aid agencies working in the aftermath of Sidr, my sincere respect. You are giants among men.
On the other hand, there is no bureacracy; no one to authorise clearance, no departments to check information with, not enough transparency.
Then there is the technological issue.
I can't send emails to any contacts, or solicite any information or provide valuable details regarding our work because 4 of every 5 emails I send keep getting rejected by Spam detectors. It seems our internet host has allowed too much spyware and spamware to creep into their servers, essentially blacklisting us from almost all servers around the world. It's an embarresment when even hotmail rejects an official email you sent...
More and more money keeps getting sent to Bangladesh, but where is it all going? I see the press releases with large figures on them, but am struggling to see where it ends up... of course the U.N. gets the lion's share, and rightly so, but what of all the smaller NGOs with particular expertise in their fields, is it trickling down to them?
At least from my point of view, not yet, if at all...
That does not even come close to constituting a reason to give up, of course. Not when your first image of the damage from the cyclone is a little boy, naked but for a piece of string around his waist, standing in the middle of unrecognisable debris, thigh-high in water with a blank look on his face, his mother just a few feet away shrieking and pointing into the ruin and rocking back and forth as if to shake off the pain.
And so I vent and curse and privately accuse all sorts of people of all sorts of ill, I scorn the situation and scream inside my own head at yet another disaster thrust upon this seemingly God-forsaken place, then collect my composure by looking at the pictures of my family I have put around my desk, share a joke with a colleague and get right back to work.
There's no time to think about what might be done, rather only time to decide what should be done and then do it.
Those affected by the cyclone are described in some circles as those with nothing to lose. I believe that's a misnomer; there is still pride and dignity to be lost... but there are many good people from all over the world trying to prevent that from happening.
To those NGOs and volunteers and aid agencies working in the aftermath of Sidr, my sincere respect. You are giants among men.
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