As this blog publishes, I should be in Paraguay, on my first international Habitat for Humanity build. In fact, it’s my first Habitat build, period – my work schedule or personal schedule kept me being involved in the builds here in Oregon, at the Habitat affiliate I work for, and then, when my schedule freed up, we took a break from construction.
I’ve written already about why I’m doing this and all that it entails. And I hope I’m posting to some of my social media channels in real time about what I’m doing.
I’ve been asked by a few people what I’m packing. I’m relying on both my experience working in Afghanistan and Ukraine and my motorcycle travels to come up with what I need. I’ll have two carry-ons, one to go under the seat in front of me, and everything has to fit into them.
It takes a full day of flights (three) to get to Paraguay, and then I’ll be there for eight days for building a house, then just a couple of days in Brazil as a tourist. What I take will be somewhat different from what I tell humanitarians to take on their first mission abroad. For instance, I’ll be taking work shoes that I intend to leave in the country when the work is done: they are terrific, tough trail running shoes, but the soles are worn and can’t be repaired. They are great for spilling paint on but not for trail running. In fact, or team leader says that we can leave any clothes we want to, that are still whole and in good condition – they will be used by locals. Added bonus: it will create room at the end of the trip for things I might want to bring back.
I’ll most definitely be taking a carbon monoxide detector. When I worked at UNDP/UN Volunteers, one of our volunteers died in the field because of carbon monoxide poisoning in his guest house, and I once read about almost everyone dying in a guest house in Spain from carbon monoxide poisoning. It’s a scary and very possible reality. I take one even for travel in the USA. But I will NOT be leaving the carbon monoxide detector behind… I need it!
And for sure I’ll take The Dress. You’ve probably seen it in a few of my photos. In fact, if you do a search for the word UNICEF in my photo account, most of my dress photos will come up. I get tired of wearing motorcycle clothes or even just shorts and t-shirts when I travel, especially if I’m going to have a day just walking on a beach or going out at night. I bought it from the UNICEF Market. I love UNICEF, the UNICEF Market has items procured directly from artisans in Asia, Africa and Latin America. By buying through the UNICEF Market, I support these local artists and small, fragile economies abroad, and also support UNICEF (which gets a portion of sales). This dress is multi-colored (easy to hide spills), comes almost to my knees (which it was a BIT longer), HAS POCKETS (oh, yes, you read that right) and dries quickly (terrific to wear over a swimsuit).
Follow me online to read more about this Paraguay adventure – and whatever else I might be doing!
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