I have been -- and continue to be--rather delinquent in my email blasts as of late. I duly apologize and hope you understand with all the demanding work and long hours at the Santo Domingo project in the Philippines, it really was quite difficult to get any information out, no matter how short. The project wrapped up last weekend, I skipped up north with a friend for a few days of R&R in the mountainous regions of northern Luzon (in the way north of the Philippines) and just a day or so I arrived in Hong Kong, visiting another friend who [View Full Entry]

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Hi all, and I know....long time no hear from! I won't go into a lot of detail here, only to say first off, as we wrap up our project here in the Philippines, the remaining 9 of us in the Hands On house are deeply saddened by the sudden loss of our friend and fellow American, Julia Campbell. Julia was somone who had touched each of our lives in some way, shape or form. She was a Peace Corp volunteer here for the past two years in the nearby "big city" of Legazpi. This is the place that for the first [View Full Entry]

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Still trying to figure out what I have been working on these past nearly three months that I have been in the Philippines. I have been on so many job sites and done so many things I never thought possible (ceilinging, anyone? More on that one in the future...), i just don't even know where to begin. ONe of these days I will just have to sit down and write a long short-story about life in smalltime Santo Domingo. To keep this one brief, please take a moment to go to our website, www.hodr.org , and view the current photos (under [View Full Entry]

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I don't have a single clue as to how I am going to write this next blast. I aim to keep it short but knowing how much work has been getting accomplished and all the things I have done in the past 5 or 6 weeks since I have been here (7? I don't know, I have lost track...first week of January, anyway!), it will be nearly impossible to even START to explain everything that is going on here. I can't stress enough how important it is to go to the website ( www.hodr.org) and read the reports, review the FLICKR [View Full Entry]

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Hi all, blast number two from the Philippines: Ok, I just read the 30 day report from our Operations Director, Marc Young, and everything I was going to write about is up on the website, at www.hodr.org so I encourage all of you to please go to the website and read what we have been doing for the, well, last three or four weeks! Tomorrow marks my third week here, and boy have we been keeping busy. I'm going to leave this one short, hoping you can please read the 30-day report (yes, you'll be happy to know, it IS shorter [View Full Entry]

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Good day! I keep forgetting how involved and time-consuming it is to do disaster relief work. It's physically and mentally tiring, but highly addicting at the same time! I just got to the Philippines four days ago after a glorious week in Chiang Mai. In northern Thailand, the weather was ideally cool, and quite refreshing coming from the more hot and humid days on the southern Thai islands as well as Borneo, where I spent a little over a month staying with some local friends. Sure I filled my days doing STUFF and THINGS, but to elaborate on them at this [View Full Entry]

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HAPPY NEW YEARS FROM NORTHERN THAILAND!! LET THE COUNTDOWN BEGIN! WE HAVE ONLY 5 1/2 HOURS LEFT UNTIL MIDNIGHT, AND MY FRIENDS NATALIE AND DALE AND I ARE GOING TO TRY AND STAY UP TO WATCH THE FESTIVE FIREWORKS. I KNOW, WE'RE SUCH PARTY ANIMALS, EH? :-) There are quite a number of people here for New Years in the growing city of Chiang Mai. Nat and I have been here since the 27th of December and still have four more days until we leave. We have visited fabulous temples, walked the walled in city inside and out, been to the [View Full Entry]

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HI and Happy Holidays from the Malaysia/Thailand border!! First off, so you all know, the Philippines Relief Project with Hands On Disaster Response has been put on hold for awhile, until details with the Philippines officials and housing issues can be settled. This said, I don't know when I will get there, but plan on being available as soon as I hear something a bit more concrete. Thank you to all of you who have commented on my last email blast. I also have to admit I made a terrible error in my last email. Besides being a big dork, I [View Full Entry]

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Ok, THIS is the shortest email blast yet!! I haven't even thought of what I want to say, but first off wanted to say I am truely sorry for not writing sooner (except of course to reply individually to you all wonderful, caring individuals...). I will be away from internet access for about 4 days, and with the amazing amount of response and inquiries I have received, I figured I should let everyone know NOW I am heading to the Philippines in early January to aid with the relief efforts after two destructive typhoons have hit the area within the last [View Full Entry]

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Just to let everyone know I am alive and doing well, despite the Typhoon Durian being one country away. It hit hard in the Philippines just last week (with subsequent mudslides burying entire villages!), hit in southern Vietnam a few days ago, and from what I hear on the news, is heading towards the Gulf of Thailand. I am in the middle of monsoon season here on Borneo, East Malaysia. There are rains every day, but no signs of any danger. That's it on the blast. Sorry. Stilll behind on "blast news" from three weeks ago. I should be finished with [View Full Entry]

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