A bit of history about me

I have always had a love of travelling, and a passion for working with those less fortunate than myself. My first real experience of seeing homeless people was when I was a student on an exchange trip in Germany at the age of 17. It really opened my eyes as I had not really seen it before in Christchurch, New Zealand where I grew up. After I left high school I moved to London and did plenty of backpacking in Europe. Seeing homeless people begging on the street became a frequent and everyday experience. I often wondered what had lead the person to be in this situation. Well in London I worked with two Albanian refugees who had fled their country for a better life. One of these men had been smuggled into England in a secret compartment in a truck! The lengths some people go to are amazing.

In January 2005 I was lucky enough to travel to India to visit a friend and see part of the country. India however had one month early experienced “the boxing day tsunami”. I enquired before leaving if any volunteers were required, however I did not have any experience or previous connections with any agencies.

While in India I did talk to some locals who told me stories about how high up the beaches and streets the tsunami came. Considering I was on the west coast of India and not in the southern states it was incredible to hear how far the destruction of the tsunami stretched.

Back in London I have a friend who works for an NGO (mapaction)that goes to disaster zones to do geographical information systems (GIS). This involves her travelling to the disaster zone and remapping the territory to provide up to date maps for emergency and relief organisations.

I also have travelled to South East Asia and seen some the effects of the landmines on Cambodian people. Victims of war who have experienced having limbs blown off. I came home to New Zealand to study occupational therapy but have always had in the back of my mind the idea that I will go back overseas.

Then earlier this year while looking the World Federation of Occupational Therapy (WFOT). I saw a job advert on there looking for occupational therapists to work in Haiti after the earthquake that destroyed much of the capital Port-au-Prince (city). I looked at the job advert then also saw on the WFOT website information about their “Disaster Preparedness & Response” Information and Resource Package. The WFOT website onlineshop says that this package “combines resources and material developed within WFOT regional and national workshops in regions affected by the 2004 tsunami with other material to inform occupational therapists internationally about the OT response possible to assist people and communities following these incidents.”

It was after this that I started reading about occupational therapy and disaster management. At this point it was not something I had learnt about in any of my classes. Then last week we had a lecture on disasters and the occupational consequences of them. Writing this blog has enabled me to research and learn more about the role of occupational therapy in this area.