Humanitarian work, relief work, etc.

No Peace Corps vets here?

I did stuff like this for church for years. Peace Corps, Americrops, et al sound interesting.

i hope to do this in the future (MSF, preferably). friend of mine who did research in benin has serious beef with the peace corps, tho

What happened?

msf = docs without borders, right?

msf = dwb, yeah.

he was mostly just unimpressed with the type of person they attracted. that is: unfocused recent college grads who didn't actually know how to do anything, but felt that simply by *being* in africa they were making a difference. 60% of the PC people i have met myself fit this mold, the rest don't at all.

The Peace Corps realizes that it is a haven for the English, international studies, and psychology majors of the world, who join up to teach English to the natives. They're trying much harder these days to attract older people with careers, health care workers, and engineers.

It's really hard to get in with Doctors Without Borders; over 90% of their recruits come from in-country.

It's really hard to get in with Doctors Without Borders; over 90% of their recruits come from in-country.

-- kate78, Wednesday, August 13, 2008 9:45 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

well, that's an explicit part of their mission. better to staff with locals than with strangers. and yeah, as an American it's very, very difficult to get involved with MSF. there are loads of interested physicians, and US docs typically carry much more student debt, which makes working abroad that much more difficult. still, worth a shot.

I'm moving to Kenya in a month to work for these guys: www.oneacrefund.org

If we like each other after the first three months, I'll be there for at least a couple years.

I am excited and scared!

Lukas, that's really similar to what I want to do! What kind of preparations did you make? Learn any special languages?

Well ... not exactly. I have no experience in agriculture and don't know the local languages. But they know that. They were specifically looking for someone with my background, actually (management consulting ... yeah, boo hiss.)

One Acre hires locals as field staff, and also has interpreters to help the expats talk to farmers, so knowing the language is helpful but not essential.

And from what I can tell, there isn't much I can read ahead of time that will truly be helpful. The work is mostly an organizational and logistical challenge. The agricultural techniques that we're teaching are about a hundred years old.

But basically, I know astoundingly little about what I'm getting myself into.

I have a friend who's been working for MSF for around 12 years. She's Russian, started off in her local MSF mission dealing with homeless people in St P3t3rsburg. She had to fight to be sent to the field, and then to be paid the same salaries (not high!) as W Europeans in the field, but has been very happy working for them. Her route to promotion/regular field work was via learning the finance side of things from scratch.

You people make me sick. At myself for being such a shitbag donothing.

Roxy, good luck if you wind up doing something like this, it sounds awesome. What kinda work do you think you'd be doing? I take it you have some sort of education/background to qualify you for something for another?

I want to either teach family planning in an area with population issues, or to work in AIDS outreach/education/treatment, or somehow do both. I have a background in women's health, and I know French and am halfway through a (self-taught) Swahili course. I'd really want to go to either Kenya or the DRC, but I can see myself anywhere in East Africa. Some nights I go out in the woods barefoot to train myself for the Ituri rainforest (jk on that part -- but yeah, I actually do do that, but only for the joy of feeling like a baMbuti pygmy).

I wanted to go to Zimbabwe, because I wanted to go to the place that needed the most help. I couldn't find any way to really HELP, though...

I can see myself doing humanitarian work all over the world and at home, too, though.

I obviously haven't picked a program to align myself with yet.

roxy, a friend of mine started a non-profit in DRC. They mostly build/start schools but also work with the local hospital.

Anyway, if you have any questions you want to email her about Congo or whatever, let me know. (Do me a favor and email lukasb at google's mail, as I'm about to go dark for a few days.)

Oh wow, that's really cool, lukas.

I used to work in Romania (with a small, local organization) doing a similar kind of outreach with street kids and orphans about to age out of the system (this was 10 years ago). I had been living there before I started that job and did know some Romanian. My background is also women's health and HIV/TB/infectious disease case management.

I think it's also important to remember that there is a huge need for 'humanitarian' work in the US (as you obviously know, RM, given your background). It's cheesy, but the old adage about starting in your own backyard has a lot of value. I think many overeducated American kids get enamored with and romanticize the idea of aid work in Africa, Asia, and South America, when there's still a ton of work to be done at home.

Good luck!

am halfway through a (self-taught) Swahili course.

I was highly suspicious, but right about here is where I determined that you're an awesome person.

Maybe I'll brush up on my sign language again one day...

Wow. Thanks, Rabes. Swahili is mega-fun to learn, and I have a background in a couple tougher languages, so it's not that big a deal. I have definitely never worked this hard or this fast to learn a language, though.

Working up a five year plan, here. DRC or bust by 2013.

Just got a letter from a friend in Senegal that includes the line, "By the way, if you are interested in development work it is important that you like acronyms."

Do you?

yes iirc

Things to remember - in development/humanitarian work (or DHW) in Africa, DDR is not something Ken Chu is interested in.

hahaha im sure he's supportive of it in his own way