Believe it or not! Not every day on deployment with International Emergency Services is a good one! It's been a day of mental gymnastics in the stadium of disaster and the gymnasium of politics.Yesterday I spent the morning doing, I think, what most people think of when they imagine emergency services. For me it was distributing food, but it could be building temporary shelters, or providing medical care, or cleaning wells - anything that involves the messy, frustrating, unpredictable, chaotic but amazing adrenalin rush that goes with meeting the needs of a person that has, through no fault of their own, been left in need.
Today was not a poster day for emergency services for me. I spent the day on administration and management, analysing and evaluating the way ahead for the team. The part that makes it all the more difficult is that it will result in me having to terminate the employment of a number of people who have worked with The Salvation Army teams since just after the earthquake.
All of these people have stories, some have been impacted by the quake and all of them have become friends and valued team members during what has been an emotional roller coaster ride for Haiti and the team. They have befriended the imported 'experts' and said 'welcome home'. And in the western hemisphere's poorest country, with over 60% unemployment, they could all do with an ongoing income.
So, to put it bluntly, today sucks. (But that's why I get the T-Shirt!)
