Monday, July 12, 2010

Same same...but different

Trying to get everything done with less than 2 weeks to go makes my head spin. You'd think I'd be used to the pressures of tight deadlines with the industry I work in, but this seems different. The combination of nerves, excitement, fear of the unknown, etc, makes for many sleepless nights lying awake trying to figure it all out.
And then I watch the "6 months since" recaps on TV tonight and the images and personal stories bring everything back into focus.
And my heart breaks all over again for this country and it's people. It's small, vulnerable people. How is it that one country has been cursed with such poverty and pain, yet has also been gifted with the most beautiful children on earth? Such is the dichotomy of this nation.

At the same time, I feel such amazing frustration that the same issues we encountered weeks after the earthquake continue to this day, namely the coordination and distribution of aid. NGO's are working in silos, hospitals can't access stockpiles of supplies, no one knows who has what, and the result is that people continue to suffer and those in dire need are dying.

I'd like to believe that it doesn't come down to money. I'd like to believe that NGO's aren't working in secrecy in order to foster chaos and justify their existence. Surely the human capacity for compassion must be more powerful than that. Surely if a system for coordination was created, it would be used. All of these organizations, systems, logistics, in place and no one seems to be managing the big picture of coordination.

I wish there was an overarching organization that held the mandate to coordinate the efforts of various agencies to ensure efficiencies of scale and partnership during times of crisis. It doesn't even need a fancy name or anything...something simple, like, I don't know, the United Nations? Hmmm...sounds familiar. Too bad.


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