Imperfect is OK. Keep showing up.

On Thursday of this past week, I was exhausted. I had just driven back from a head-spinning, 36-hour trip to Fond des Blancs and was in Port au Prince to attend a meeting related to the hurricane response. By the time the meeting was over, I was tired, had a headache, and overall, wasn’t feeling well. All I wanted to do was go lay down, and get some rest. But I couldn’t, I had another meeting on nutrition that day at two o’clock. I knew if I didn’t attend I would be missing out on opportunities to advance our work to help those in need. So rather than rest, I went to get lunch. I quickly grabbed water, juice and a Gatorade, but I still felt horrible. My head was throbbing, I felt like I was overheating, and all I wanted to do was sleep. But I couldn't. I knew the importance of attending the meeting. And as I have done multiple times throughout the past few weeks, I thought back to my ultramarathon training. During my training, there were so many instances where it felt like the pain and uncertainty of being able to complete my first ultramarathon were going to overtake me. But somehow I found a way to keep moving forward, I kept pushing and the period of pain and uncertainty eventually passed.  On Thursday, by the time I was sitting down in the meeting, I still felt like crap. I wanted to be there, but my body most certainly did not. Then, like the many times I did during my ultramarathon training I just kept pushing forward, even if in this case, moving forward simply meant being able to sit through an hour-long meeting. Then, about 15 minutes into the meeting, I noticed my headache started fading away, my body temperature was regularizing, and for most part, I started to feel OK. While I was most certainly not at my best, I was able to make it through the meeting. And of course, the meeting turned out to be productive as I was able to build relationships to advance our work to help those in need. 

I know this isn’t the most exciting of stories, but the reason I am sharing it is because I have been through many periods like this before that were much worse and lasted much longer – days, weeks, and even months. Where the pain and uncertainty of the situation seemed too much to bear, and all I wanted to do was give up. And I know there are people out there right now who are in tough times and are struggling to keep moving forward in their given situation - at work, at home, with their health, whatever. I encourage those of you who are, or will be, in a period of pain and uncertainty and don't know if you are going to make it, to keep moving forward. Sometimes making it through a tough situation doesn’t require us to perform at our best, it simply means to keep showing up. While we can't know for sure if things will work out the way we want them to, what is certain is that if we give up, we will never even have the chance to make it. No matter how uncertain our futures may seem at times, or how slow our progress may be, we have to keep moving forward.    

Piti Piti - Little by Little, Step by Step, We Will Get There.

With love,

Kevin

http://etinspires.com/

Haiti Hurricane Relief Update

This is shaping out to be much worse than initially realized (Flicker.com/minustah). It is like a tornado the size of a hurricane hit the western tip of the southern department.  Hundreds if not thousands dead. There are tens of thousands of people who are still cut off from all communication. Hundreds of thousands of people who lost everything and will be in a dire situation if relief is not provided.  The full scope will only become clear in the upcoming days and weeks. I have been relocated to the capital, Port au Prince, to help our organization collaborate with the Haitian gov't and large international organizations in coordinating the national response by connecting the large actors in the relief efforts with information and organizations on the front line. The relief organizations are trying to avoid the same mistakes made after the earthquake and are making it a point to collaborate with the government, which is much more prepared this time, but still overloaded. We need support in every which way as our hospital is preparing to continue serving as the primary referral hospital for the southern peninsula. We need your help.  Thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated, but donations are needed. www.haitihealth.org.  With over 30 years of producing real results in Haiti, you can be confident that your donation will lead to real impact on the ground.

With love,
Kevin

Gand'Anse Department which is still mainly cut off to all supplies.  photo credit: flicker.com/MINUSTAH