Project Pisco has officially come to a close. After spending 125 out of 126 days here in Pisco, I leave this dusty town behind tomorrow night (Monday January 14, 2008) and head to Arequipa in the southern part of the country. Some of you are aware that I was an exchange student in Arequipa many many years ago. I have been in this country for just over four months and haven't yet seen the host family who was so kind to me so long ago. I plan to spend a little over a week visiting with my host family and other [View Full Entry]

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have you heard the latest...we are shutting down the project early. the 12th of jan will be the last day due to all the crime and general uncertainty here in pisco. robberies and theft continue to be a problem and a threat to all the volunteers, escalated of course with the holidays, but the last thing we want is for someone to get seriously injured. bummer it has to end this way. david campbell the executive director of hands on came yesterday, and by chance two incidences happened while he was in meetings trying to figure out the best way we [View Full Entry]

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WOW!! What an incredible alumni letter/newsletter.....I wanted to pass this on and share this with all of you who have followed my volunteering efforts with this incredible organization since its inception --when we were known as Hands On Thailand (I still have one of the original shirts!). Many of you on my "email blast list" are past or current volunteers, so just in case you did not receive this email, I am passing it on to you as well. Oh, and click on the newsletter link as well. Yours truly is featured in three of the photos: 1. Pouring cement into [View Full Entry]

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this is a short one this time.... for those of you who are involved in hands on disaster response (HODR) and have been following the news lately, you are aware a devastating cyclone (Sidr) hit the impoverished country nearly one month ago, ruining what little infrastructure the country already had, taking the lives of thousands of livestock and affecting millions of people in terms of loosing their livelihood, harvests and crops. no bueno?! didn't hear about it? yeah, well, even though it was one of the worst disasters to hit bangladesh in the past decade and a half, it didn't seem [View Full Entry]

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Why I have I not written until now.... Ummmmm...been busy volunteering?? Cleaning up a big city that has nearly all fallen down due to a massive earthquake last August. Yeah, well, someone's gotta do it, right? Even though we all try and keep as healthy as we can while traveling, sometimes we just can't help getting run down. Traveling is hard on our bods, work is hard on our systems, living in a disaster zone is hard...period. Sometimes one's body tells you when enough is enough. My time is now. Ok, I spent 8 1/2 hours at the hospital yesterday. [View Full Entry]

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Trek Number 1, Halloween Day: Wednesday morning started off promising. Local transport took us nearly three hours outside of Huaraz, into the Cordillera Blancas. My friend Rachel and I, along with a guide, took a 3 hour trek (and 2 hours back down) to an absolutely stunning lake (called Laguna 69 for anyone who knows the area and/or may have been to this area before). We hiked up a total of 700 meters in some light rain, which, on the final 1/2 hour assent to our destination (and the hardest!), we actually got hailed on! The mountains surrounding this turquoise lake [View Full Entry]

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i am currently on a much needed mini-vacation after plugging away in the center of pisco at clearing out rubble, knocking down roofs and sledging down walls. i opted to head about 10-12 hours north of pisco for my 6-day getaway. after a 7 hour bus trip on a super vip bus from lima to huaraz...windy, windy, windy...up up up... to higher elevations, we pulled in to the station at 5 this morning. naturally, the only super snorer on the bus sat right behind me! he kept everyone up all night, the little bugger! besides that, the seats folded nearly all [View Full Entry]

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HOLA MIS AMIGOS! As I write this, I have now been here in Pisco, Peru three days shy of a month (and as I send this, I am ONE day shy). Time has seriously flown, and even though I feel as if we have barely scratched the surface with the work that needs to get done in this town, when I look back at the first few days and compare it with what I know and what I see now, there is no doubt in my mind so much progress that has taken place here in Pisco. We started out, like [View Full Entry]

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The YOUTUBE video is up and I encourage everyone to watch it. It is only 4 minutes out of your entire day, and if you compare that with reading one of my email blast novels, well, that is like an eyeblink of time! No excuses! You can find the video right on the front page of the HANDS ON DISASTER RESPONSE website at www.hodr.org Would love your feedback! [View Full Entry]

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Last Sunday night I made it down here to Pisco, Peru, the hardest hit area after a major 8.0 earthquake struck the region August 15th. This is a blast to let you all know I am safe, well-fed (amazingly so, thanks to the generostity of the locals here in the community), have easy internet access (not even 3 blocks from the Hands On House), but cold, oh so cold. It is going to take some time for my body to adjust to the cold nights and mornings (thank goodness we are going into summer here in the southern hemisphere or I [View Full Entry]

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