TO THOSE WHO WOULD LIKE TO BE RESCUE WORKER, RELIEF OPERATIONS WORKER, DOCTORS WITH NO BERDERS, OR COLLECTIVELY - BE A HUMANITARIAN WORKER LIKE THOSE IN Jojo Saysons Project Michelangelo, International Disaster Response Network, Philippine Red Cross, Era Qrt, Wilderness Search and Rescue Team WISAR, Mindanaone Rescue Group - MRG, Rotary Club of Raha Sulayman Fire and Rescue Volunteers Inc.--- 19 Surprising tips for aspiring humanitarian workers Excerpted by Stephanie Walstrom, ONE, from an article originally published on WhyDev. If you want to work in the humanitarian sector, you’ll find no shortage of serious advice. But what’s the real inside scoop? WhyDev, a blog for individuals passionate about development, aid, and other global issues, put together a quirky and surprising list of the top 52 tips you’ll need to “outwit, outplay and outlast the humanitarian sector.” We’ve picked 19 of our favorites—some may catch you off guard! 1. It does not matter if you are posted in Ethiopia or India; bring a cardigan, because your definition of hot and cold are going to change. 2. If you spend years in one country and never learn the language, you’re missing out. Learning languages opens doors. 3. Ladies, pack tampons, because unless you have a cushy posting in Geneva or Phnom Penh, they don’t have them. 4. You know less about poverty than a small farmer in northern Ghana, who has zero years of formal schooling. 5. Can’t get a position overseas? Work in community development at home. The lessons you’ll learn will be invaluable in future. 6. There are more and more social and online tools to help you manage your long-distance relationship. 7. Pack some diphenhydramine or Benadryl before you get on that bus. I don’t care if you’ve never been carsick before in your life. 8. Be good to yourself. Keep an eye out for signs of burnout and its triggers, before it happens. You’re no good to anyone if you’re already burnt out. 9. You may have lofty dreams of improving lives, but if you can’t be good to those in your immediate vicinity, you aren’t going to improve anything. 10. Advertising your humanitarian status on Tinder is a bad idea. 11. You can check your privilege, but you can never, ever outrun it. 12. It doesn’t matter if you want to or not, once you work in the humanitarian sector, you represent it. 13. Be kind to your interns; they were you not too long ago. 14. Get field experience to gain valuable grass-roots knowledge and insights, and witness how programs and projects are actually implemented. 15. Do not underestimate the value of good data and good GIS. 16. The humanitarian sector is increasingly dominated by women, resulting in a lack of eligible bachelors. 17. Though it will be difficult, try not to become the cynical kind of expat whose main objective is to avoid being mistaken as a tourist. 18. If you talk about helping people in an overly simplistic way, you’re doing a disservice to everybody. Helping people is never simple. 19. “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelo IVE NEVER REGRETTED BEING ONE. ITS TOUGH YET I HAVE AN ADVENTURE-FILLED JOURNEY. RESCUE 1
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 22:07:28 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015