Disaster Relief

At the beginning of last week I just felt sad about the flooding – perhaps with a combination of survivor’s guilt and a wish to be more hands-on. A couple of productive days of sending out email appeals made me feel better – after all, the rebuilding won’t happen without the funds. I was reminded of a conversation I had with my friend Roberta, in which we talked about the people who work with the community and the people who raise the money so other people can work with the community – you need both kinds of people, and both kinds have different skill sets. More power to the people who work with the community, we said at the time. Serving in the Peace Corps in Morocco made me feel I was where the action was, and early last week I felt sad to be back to being behind the scenes. But by the end of last week I realized I was both and that I could serve an important role. The best use of my skill set is probably being in the office – I was pulled into a board meeting last week and asked to put together a one-pager of fast facts of Habitat’s disaster relief efforts, review a proposal that will go out to prospective donors and answer requests for information – so in the office I now feel on the front lines, working on immediate response. On Monday my responsibilities increased when I was pulled into a meeting with my supervisor, someone from Asia-Pacific who had flown in, and the head of Friends of Habitat and asked to put together a bunch of things for resource mobilization – proposals, budgets, timetables, prospect lists.

What also made me feel good about working on disaster relief in the office is a day I spent in the field. Friday we left at the crack of dawn to get to Marikina, one of the hardest-hit places. Habitat decided that its response would be to build portable bathrooms in the most crowded evacuation centers, filling an immediate need and also providing some sustainability (the evacuation centers chosen were all schools and will use the bathrooms later). We also held a soup kitchen there – to meet an immediate need and also to have some visibility (not sustainable, so not something Habitat would normally do). I had been told about the soup kitchen but not the bathrooms so I didn’t bring work gloves, and after slicing my hand open a couple of times on the metal frames, I hung back a little bit from the build, but I dished out soup (leading me to say, “mud, blood and soup,” which Julie thought should be the title of this entry). I’m glad I spent the day in the field – seeing the people and the mud and the trash and the remains of the houses that were swept away is different from seeing the pictures of the same – but it was somewhat disorganized and there was downtime and I thought about how many emails I could have sent. Now, that said, I would do another day in the field if I were needed, or pack relief supplies, or do whatever would be most helpful. I’m in Peace Corps Response, after all – and now I am responding!

There was a sobering article in Monday’s New York Times, noting that the infrastructure of Manila is particularly unable to handle the disasters – and with 20-25 typhoons a year, disasters are bound to happen. Read it at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/world/asia/05philip.html?scp=1&sq=manila%20philippines&st=cse. Fortunately for Manila, Typhoon Pepeng – for which we were told to stock up on food and water and avoid nonessential travel this past weekend – didn’t hit here, though it did cause major damage up north, and it is affected by the track of the next storm, Quedan, so it’s stalled there.

Month Two in Haiku

U-S-A-I-D
The American Chamber
Important meetings

Asia-Pacific
Housing Forum – some long days
Of documenting

Housing for the poor
Breakout sessions – disaster
Cutting-edge thinking

Four hundred people
Attended the Forum from
Thirty-five countries

Day trip with big-wigs
Pasig River squatter homes
Then to their new homes

Leadership Conference
HFH in the region
Strategic thinking

Typing conference notes
It felt like a term paper
Now posted to web

Sending out emails
Fundraising appeals
Building contact lists

New PCRV
A big change in my routine
But she’s very nice

Ondoy/Ketsana
Metro Manila big floods
Major disaster

Now an urgent need
Working on relief effort
More storms on the way

Meanwhile, some travel
Corregidor Island trip
Key in World War II

American Cem
etery – nice to go back
And read all the maps

Summer Capital
Baguio – Burnham design
Museum, curry

To the Visayas
Circling Siquijor Island
Swimming, relaxed feel

Hong Kong getaway
City views, great food, good friend
Walked, swam, saw a lot

Now I’m one-third done
Time seems to be going fast
But still a lot left

Some More Hong Kong Pictures (Week Nine)

Stanley:

Vietnamese coffee:

Stanley market:

Chinese lanterns:

Domestic workers' day off:


Government House (was British governor's residence - now Hong Kong chief executive's); tower was added by Japanese in the war:


The Museum of Teaware is in the oldest colonial building:


Mixture of old and new:

Causeway Bay:

Early parade for National Day:

Some Hong Kong Pictures

The tram:

Temples are a combination of Taoist and Buddhist (with some Confucianism thrown in - and local gods, too):


I.M. Pei's Bank of China building - supposed to resemble bamboo stalks; known for bad feng shui:


From Victoria Peak:

The view from the top:

Symphony of Lights:

Vincent, a gracious host:

Star Ferry:

The view from Kowloon:

Dim Sum:

A familiar sculpture (to those who visit the Princeton campus):


World's longest escalator, to Mid-Levels:


Mao memorabilia on Cat Street:


Aberdeen floating restaurant:


Aberdeen sampan boatswoman:


Repulse Bay:

Hong Kong - Part Four

On Sunday morning I went for a swim in Repulse Bay. I had brought my rubber gloves and a trash bag, but there was no trash to clean up! The wind was blowing from the wrong direction for trash, but even so, Vincent says there isn’t a lot (maybe it gets caught in the shark nets?). He went for a run and I walked to the next beach over for another great view – the bay, high-rises on our side, islands all around.

We then went to brunch at Stanley, another town on the south side of Hong Kong Island, this one with a market and with bayside eateries. We ate Vietnamese in an old colonial building that had been taken apart when they built one of the modern high-rises and relocated – sitting on the porch in rattan chairs looking out at the water, with iced Vietnamese coffee and four dishes – all with different flavors, standing out yet blending together. I think this was my favorite meal of a weekend where I ate very well! We were joined by the stepson of a Princeton friend (who is himself a Princeton PhD – so maybe class notes-worthy) and his wife. Vincent went off to a meeting, and the other three of us shopped in Stanley market for a bit. Hong Kong is known for its markets as well as its other shopping (I’ve always heard it was a good place to get a suit tailor-made – but now I hope not to have to ever wear suits!). I bought a few things, but shopping is also on the list for another trip (as are trips to the outer islands – more temples, more history, more nature – and maybe Macao?).

The bus ride from Stanley up over the hill back into town is billed as quite a roller-coaster ride – it was fun and had some more great views. I then went back to the historic part and to Hong Kong Park, where I raced through the Museum of Teaware (which is located in the oldest remaining colonial building), the conservatory (supposedly the largest in the world) and the walk-through aviary (both that and the tea museum could have used more time – the aviary had over 600 birds of all sizes, shapes and colors and it was a pity to rush). Then it was back to Causeway Bay to meet Vincent – so crowded! I guess it was good to experience it crowded to see what it was really like, but I didn’t want to stay for dinner. We went to a healthy food court and (so much for healthy) had more gelato – and then it was time to go.

I’ve tried to keep this account to a reasonable word count but I could go on – I had such a great time. First of all, it was good to be with a friend – so much to talk about. And to realize a day that was long in coming. More, it was good to be out of the Philippines for a change of pace. And in a clean, modern, Western/Eastern city. And to do all of the things I/we did! I don’t know if I’ll get back there before my time here in Asia is finished – I’d do it soon in a heartbeat but Vincent is headed into a busy season – but I’d like to think I am going back (my sister points out that I always say that – that’s because I always feel that way about places and especially people I visit!).

Hong Kong - Part Three

Vincent had to work on Saturday morning, so I was off on my own. I took the ferry across the harbor (with more stunning views of the skyline) to Kowloon. There I walked along the waterfront promenade (which is also an Avenue of Stars of Hong Kong cinema – I said hi to Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan), pausing to hear the Noonday Gun on the other side of the harbor (the Noonday Gun was one of my favorite things in Cape Town – I marvel at the fact that since that pivotal conversation I have been to several outposts of the British Empire – Cape Town, Gibraltar and now here!) and then went to the Hong Kong Museum of Art (which had exhibits on colonial Canton, ceramics, calligraphy and paintings – and was an air-conditioned break during a hot day). There are markets, parks and other museums of interest in Kowloon (not to mention the New Territories – new meaning 1898, that is) but it was time to go back across the harbor to meet Vincent and some friends of his for dim sum brunch at City Hall. That was delicious – I’ve had dim sum before but this was the place for it – including a mango pudding that I polished off single-handedly, even though I tried several times to give the others at the table a chance to have some.

We then all walked along Hollywood Road, which is lined with antiques stores, to Man Mo Temple – a combination Taoist/Buddhist temple dedicated to the god of literature and the god of war (i.e. the pen and the sword). The temple has fortune-tellers who use bamboo – unfortunately they were on break when we were there, or I would have had mine done! From there it was on to Cat Alley, with bric-a-brac – my favorite items were the Mao memorabilia, but what spoke to me were carvings of the character for double happiness for me and the one for health for my sister.

We then went back to the south side of the island. Vincent lives on Repulse Bay (named for the H.M.S. Repulse) and we went down the hill from his place to the beach for sunset. I used to say that in Chicago I could live in the city and then go down to the beach and swim and where else could I do that – other than Honolulu? Well, Hong Kong! The water was a little cool though, so we went to his building’s pool instead and swam there.

Then it was on to Aberdeen, a fishing community, also on the south side of the island. We took a sampan (Chinese boat) ride around the harbor and then had a drink at a floating restaurant. It’s supposed to have great seafood, but rather than stay there and eat, we went for more exploration - back to Lan Kwai Fong for Thai/Malaysian food (I said I was open to anything, had been in the mood for Mexican but wasn’t feeling it there, and then decided I would veto Filipino…). We walked around some of the historical colonial area – very quiet at night and packed the next day, with (mostly) Filipino women who come to Hong Kong to be domestic workers and fill the parks and open spaces on their day off.

And then it was on to yet another hot spot, Causeway Bay. Shops are open late, but they were shutting down down. Vincent likened the area to the Ginza and Madison Avenue (lots of neon and lots of fashion shops!). I’ll admit that when I first got to Vincent’s office neighborhood I thought I must be in the Chinatown part of town because of all the signs with Chinese characters – and then felt like an idiot when I realized that that whole city would look like Chinatown because guess what! What can I say; I woke up really early to get to the airport….

Hong Kong - Part Two

It is easy to get from the Hong Kong airport into town – there’s a train; from there I took a hotel bus that dropped me near Vincent’s office. He met me and took me back there to show me all of the things his company sources; he also gave me a moon cake, which is a specialty made only this time of year, for a festival (not only is the moon festival soon, but October 1 is National Day, the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China – I would have liked the fireworks and other celebrations but it was fun enough to see the signs and the setup). He had some work to do before he could take a lunch break, so he recommended I take a tram (double-decker, first built in the 1800s) to the end – it went from the business district to a residential one, and it was interesting to see the buildings change from modern skyscrapers to more dilapidated high-rises, with clotheslines and neighborhood stores. At the end of the line I went to a market and a temple, and then I tool the tram back and met Vincent for Western food.

Then it was on to the Peak. I took a different sort of tram (again, first built in the 1800s and still the steepest funicular in the world) to the top – breathtaking views of the city and harbor. So many buildings – but also so much green, with the mountains in the backdrop. From the top, one can take a walk around the peak – 40-60 minutes with stops – on a tree-lined path with not only that postcard-shot city view but also outer islands and the setting sun. My timing was perfect – as I got around to the tram again, the city lights were coming on, and I was able to see the view both in the day and at night.

Back down from the Peak, I waited for Vincent at the (original!) Mandarin Oriental hotel (afternoon tea, there or at one of the other hotels, is on the list for next time). We then went outside to see the Symphony of Lights – every night at 8:00 pm, several buildings on both sides of the harbor have lights that twinkle, sparkle, dance, change color, and shine spotlights into the sky. I loved it! Then we went to a nearby mall (there are lots of malls there too) for a Cantonese dinner – subtly-spiced but flavorful – everything cooked just so, made from quality ingredients. My favorite was the roast chicken. This was followed by a walk in the nightlife part of town, Lan Kwai Fong – expats from different countries frequent different bars, and everyone spills into the streets. We walked by on our way to Soho (South of Hollywood – to get there you take the world’s longest escalator) – to some excellent gelato.