The MSF Interview

I looked at the test; it consisted of 100 multiple choice questions covering a wide range of subjects from logistics, construction, electrical wiring, computers, water sanitation, administration/accounting, automobile mechanics, and other miscellaneous subjects.

Here were some sample questions:

What is the correct mixture ratio for reinforced concrete?
a.) 2 parts cement, 3 parts sand, 4 parts gravel
b.) 2 parts cement, 3 parts sand, 3 parts gravel
c.) 1 part cement, 3 parts sand, 3 parts gravel
d.) 1 part cement, 3 parts sand, 4 parts gravel

When the front right shock absorber is leaking oil, you should do which of the following:
a.) Replace front right shock absorber only
b.) Replace front shock absorbers
c.) Replace all shock absorbers
d.) Replace oil in front right shock absorber

If there is a shipment from India to Sudan and it's marked "XXX Sudan" what does that mean:
a.) India is responsible for cost of sending and insurance
b.) India is responsible for insurance, but Sudan is responsible for receiving
c.) India is responsible for cost of sending, but Sudan is responsible for insurance
d.) Sudan is responsible for cost of sending and insurance

Say there is a building with 5000mm distance between the walls and a height of 600mm. The building needs to hold a weight of xxx lbs per x m. What size pieces of wood do you use? etc...

Needless to say, I guessed a lot more than I would have liked. After completing the test, I walked across the hall to call the recruiter back in to finish my interview with Doctors Without Borders / Medecins San Frontiers. I had applied to do logistics and somehow got an interview in their New York office.

In total, the whole interview process took about three hours. During that time I spoke directly to one of the field recruiting officers, a MSF nurse who had been in 10+ missions already. All of their 'human resources' department had either been in the field or were current field staff. We talked rather candidly about life working on the field and its expectation. Here's some of the points that we covered:

• There were a high number of applicants per year (1000's) and only a very low number of accepted volunteers (approximately 100).
• Logistician applicants need to be knowledgable in pretty much every non-medical field (see all the skills mentioned above in the initial test).
• If accepted, you get a quick two day orientation that covers what the agency is about and then you get a plane ticket. You should be able to hit the ground running; there is no training.
  
• As soon as you arrive at your assigned country, you should be able to setup a refugee camp and find a way to gather all the supplies/staff needed for it to be operational
  
• Most people interviewing were older, usually in their mid to late 30's
• Speaking French fluently is a very big plus
  

I was confident about the interview and I think I guessed pretty well on the test. I was able to narrow most questions down to two answers and I knew I was strong in the electrical wiring, IT, admin/accounting, and simple water sanitation sections. I was surprised at how well some of my preparations paid off (I smiled when I knew I nailed one of the questions about the proper firing sequence for an automobile engine)

However, I wasn't surprised when two weeks later, I received a hand signed letter from the MSF interviewer informing me that MSF did not have any open positions for me. I needed more work or travel experience. She had asked me to contact her again if I were still interested in the future after more work experience and/or to update her if I'm ever able to speak conversational French.

Now learning conversational French is on my to-do list!

Project Homeless Connect - We do what we can...

Project Homeless Connect is a one day event where homeless persons can receive a wide range of free services. It's held all over the country at different times, whether its once a year or once every few months. Services include food, clothing, dental check ups, hiv/aids testing, id cards, massages, foot washes, haircuts, childcare, phone home, and a list of other services that are not necessarily accessible in emergency shelters.

San Diego held its third Project Homeless Connect (PHC) on December 5th and I had the opportunity to help in this year's planning. The San Diego community came together in the form of organizations and volunteers who offered their time, donations, and services.

As with any event, there was a lot to organize. Unlike an ordinary event, we couldn't anticipate the number of people who would show up since our target audience were the homeless, a rather tough demographic to peg. With over 2000 homeless individuals in San Diego City alone, how many would show up? It's not like we can have people preregister.

Two years ago, the first PHC brought in a little less than 100 homeless. Last year, PHC brought in a total of 195 homeless clients. Since the numbers were seemingly doubling, this year we expected the number to double to 400 clients. Two hours after opening, there were 300+ clients already inside Golden Hall and more than another 300 lined up outside. At the end of the day, there were approximately 1000 homeless people that came and received services.

Although the event went extremely well, people ranging from homeless clients to volunteer agencies have asked a lot of questions including "Well, why didn't you plan for more people?", "Do you think we have all day to wait in line since we're homeless?", "Why didn't intake move faster?", etc.

Well, here's my point of view from the setup and organization perspective.

1.) Volunteers - This event is run entirely by individual volunteers and volunteer organizations. No agency or person has to be here to fulfill any obligations. These people are donating their time and they would not be here unless they cared. We appreciate constructive criticism on how to improve for next year, but if you're receiving free services, you have nothing to unconstructively complain about.

2.) Money - We don't have any. Our budget for this event is $0. Please understand this. We need everything to work within our budget and this includes the big costs of a location (normally $3000-$5000 per day - this year's place was donated by San Diego Golden Hall - thank you) down to the small costs of making copies or buying diapers (thanks to everyone that shelled money out of their own pockets).

3.) Intake Process - During the event I helped manage intake and our problem was that we weren't ready for 1000+ people. Yes, we had a massive line outside that stretched around a city block. However, the problem couldn't be solved by letting everyone immediately in. If we let everyone in, then there would just be long lines inside!!! If I let everyone in at the same time, we would not get the statistical information we need to apply for grants next year. More importantly, we would create chaos inside. Some booths (like food) were already overwhelmed with the rate of people coming in.

4.) Don't tell us your sob story while waiting in line. I'm not cold hearted, I'm fair. If you have a valid complaint like the lady who said she was diabetic and needed food while waiting in line, then we can accomodate. There is no disability where you have to be first in line. We're also dealing with the homeless population, quite frankly (and sadly) most of them are disabled.

5.) Why can't you get more of X service (food)? - It's a one day event; if we overestimate the number for X service (perishable), then we have a lot wasted. We took a good guess on the number of expected attendees, then went with that number for the perishables. We restocked as much as we could while at the event. We stocked as many non perishables as we could before the event. (See Number 2 - $0 Budget) If we didn't have enough, I'm sorry, but that's all we could do.

At the end of the event, an adult couple stormed out of the place crying. The woman was crying because they heard about the event late. At that moment, almost all the agencies had left already, and she matter of factly stated that it was just their luck. The woman had a visible limp to her walk and the remaining volunteers paused to watch this surreal event.

As volunteers, there was nothing we could have done since we had no food or other services left to provide. However, as soon as they left, a group of doctors and nurses chased after the couple. One of the doctors shouted that she was in no medical condition to go back onto the streets. They chased her across the street and helped her get medical care.

That last scene reminded me that we did what we could, but sometimes we must accept that we can only do so much. I'm glad that we are able to do something though; over 800 clients received the services they were looking for that day. It's tangible events like these that make me love nonprofit work.

Hobo Travels

My buddy Jim finished his Peace Corps service about a year ago and ever since he's been traveling around the world. Just recently, he came back to the States to crash with his sister for a month in Los Angeles, CA. Since he was nearby San Diego and his birthday was coming up, we decided to meetup and go surfing at the San Onofre beach. We spent the day eating burritos, surfing, and chilling at a night bonfire.

I suggested that we take a trip over to Yosemite National Park. It sounded like a great idea so in October, I took a week off work, picked Jim up from LA, and we drove to Yosemite to do some hiking/camping 'on the cheap'.

Now let me say that I respect everyone's need to plan to different degrees; some people need to have an itinerary for every hour with reservations already setup and on the other hand, some people only need to know where they're going. Jim and I thought the same, we were the latter of the two trains of though and the only planning we needed was that we'd start driving on the 5 freeway to Yosemite.

Since I was going with Jim, a cheap ass almost to the extent that I was (and maybe even moreso), we knew that we weren't going to spend more than $10 a day. Since $10 a day for food and shelter wasn't a large amount, we knew we had to prioritize our needs; we needed to cover food, shelter, and fun with our $10 a day budget.

Shelter:
I had been to Yosemite National Park before and had stayed at one of the cheapest 'rooms', which was pretty much a canvas tent priced at $89/night in Curry Village. On my last trip, I was with some of my family (including some younger cousins) so I didn't hesitate on spending the money. Now, it was different.

For this trip, a friend from work let us borrow a tent for free (Thanks Sara). The problem was, where do we pitch the tent without park rangers coming over to give us tickets? We thought about pitching our tent out in a random trail, but knew that my truck would get a ticket (vehicles could only park in certain locations unless they had a wilderness permit).

The solution? We drove outside the park, parked on the side of the road, and slept in the back of the truck (although it was freezing outside). Despite the harsh conditions, we slept pretty well that first night. After that night, we got up early and registered a spot at Camp 4 (a well known spot for dirtbag rock climbers) where we were able to pitch our tent inside the park for about $7 a day.

Shelter - Check!

Food:
Being the bums that we are, we decided not to spend much on food. Instead we brought our own supplies. I had my camping gear (camping stove, pots, and fuel) and lots of food lying around the house; some clif bars, oatmeal, mac & cheese, and packets of instant noodles (the good kind - I spare no expenses when it comes to instant noodle!). Jim snagged a lot of smoked pork and chicken at his sister's party just before we left LA.

For meals, we would sit in the truck bed making our food while watching people walk by their cars. Instead of buying our food at Camp Curry, we shifted our food money and instead used it on what any other sane individual would've done; buy a beer everynight.

Food - Check!

Fun:
Our first full day in Yosemite, we decided to hike Half Dome... in flip flops. People advised us to start no later than 9 am. We started closer to noon and knew we had to hurry if we were to make it up and down that same day. We made it to the top (where its necessary to 'climb' up), rested a bit, and shared some of our spare water with others. The view was amazing. On top we met Godzilla, the park ranger lady who went around kicking people's stone shrines down.

On the way down, we passed by people who were already on the way down when we were still hiking up. We made it back to camp for our well deserved beer just as it got dark.

For the rest of the trip, we did a little bouldering, saw a bear cub close up on a trail, helped some German hitchhikers get to a far off trail (they laid on the truck bed hiding under our sleeping bags), met a hilarious French husband/wife, shared stories with an Irish rock climber over a campfire, never once took a shower, had farting competitions inside the tent, raced across trails, and incessantly made fun of 'punters' (tourists who spend a lot of money needlessly - for example, taking the bus tour through a trail)

Fun - Check!

After a week up in Yosemite while sleeping in a tent and hiking everyday, we weren't the cleanest of individuals (not to mention the farting competitions didn't help our cause). So on the way back to LA, we stopped by my first home, good ole Reedley! Even though Jim and I had our fair share of traveling the world, it was always nice to return home for a hot shower, a comfortable bed, and some home cooked food.

The Insanity of Normality

I'll ask questions in the office about 'life outside the office'. They're not inappropriate questions, although I'm sure they are an absolute waste of time. It was a habit that I picked up from some friends and I'll sometimes ask "What if" or "Would you rather" questions.

Would you rather have super speed or super strength?
Would you rather live only in the US or live only outside the US?

I could ramble on and on. It's really to kill the time, but at the same time it helps me understand the people I work with a little better; I see how they think and what they value. A common subject is travel. People think it's insane to want to backpack and see new places on a budget.

I think it's equally insane staying in an office the majority of my life.

Idealist vs Realist

I was just about to leave the house when I heard a shout come from the kitchen.

"William! The ants are back. They're in the trail mix." I came rushing in to assess the damage.

The ants were all around the kitchen, but mostly in the drawer where we kept a hidden stash of well sealed food. I sighed and replied "Ok, I'm gonna spray again" as I reached for the bottle of RAID.

Adrienne whimpered and complained about using the spray. I sighed again, this time with a hint of frustration building; I knew it was coming. Something as small as killing a few ants got us into arguments because our ideologies naturally clashed. Adrienne was an 'idealist' and I was a 'realist'.

To make it worse, we had this discussion before. The first time the ants came, I said I was going to get rid of them by going to the nearest supermarket, buying a can of RAID, and then spraying to kill. She complained saying that there was a more natural way to get rid of the ants.

I agreed and gave her a week to figure something out. A couple of ideas were thrown around, but no attempts were made to remove the ants. It doesn't matter how well thought out plans are if there is no execution. A week later, I sprayed and the ants died.

This time around I immediately sprayed. I heard the complaint again; it's poisonous. (Of course it is, that's why the ants die!!!) I argued that the amount of toxins were too small and indirect to really affect us, but were deadly to the small ants. All we had to do was open the windows, stay away, eat out for the rest of the day, then clean up. I asked again to find a natural solution, although I believe I can safely bet my left nut that nothing will be done until the ants come again.

The arguments are from the idealist versus the realist perspective. Adrienne has called herself the idealist and me the realist. I can kinda see that. A shining example of one of the things that we have constantly butted our heads on are our career goals.

I think a job is exactly what it is, a job. When it comes down to it and you need money, you need to put your ego and sense of entitlement aside. You don't have to be paid a lot and you don't have to enjoy it (even if you have a college degree); it's a job. It's not what defines who you are unless that is all you do. Now it could certainly be the opposite; you could love your job and you could get paid a lot.

However, it's usually not the case when you immediately graduate out of college and have no real experience. When you're straight out of college, you usually get to pick one; high pay or enjoyable job. When you get enough experience, you could be lucky enough to pick two.

Adrienne's an idealist. She wants both. I ask her to apply for all the ones she's interested in, but to remember that most of the time, it's either gonna pay well OR be something you enjoy. My logic is that since she's had so much trouble getting a job, she should start applying to more than her dream jobs. When she hears this, she gets mad at me for putting her down. I'll spare the details.

I admit that I might be wrong (and I really wish I am). Currently I'm in a job that pays decently and that I enjoy enough to stay at least another year. I think I got extremely lucky though. Adrienne also has a job interview next week that (based on the job description) she'll love and that pays very well.

Whether I'm right or wrong about how to pursue a job or how to kill ants... I don't care anymore. I'm just tired of it. I hate the constant arguing, the constant bashing of ideologies, and I wish there were a quick fix spray... but that's not realistic. I'll find a way to work on it.

The disillusionment of self by the self as pointed out by another

Sometimes I like to think of myself as a patient guy. I like to think that I'm open minded and respectful of how others live. I like to think I'm not judgmental. I like to think that no matter how someone else lives, I can coexist peacefully with anyone. That was before I moved in with my girlfriend.

That's one of the many 'perks' about being in a relationship; your significant other will without a doubt bring you back to reality and remind you how close minded, disrespectful, and judgmental you are (especially if you're in an argument). Ok, maybe I'm being a little harsh; she's a lot nicer than it sounds here and to her credit, a lot of times I am all of the above. The main point though, is that being in a relationship has shown me sides of myself, both good and bad, that I never would have guessed were hiding in the deepest recesses of my personality.

One of these traits that I discovered is how much I can't stand certain actions or beliefs being superimposed into my life. I could spend the night typing out an epic list, but I'll keep it short and addressed towards my main concern - Money. Like any typical couple, we have our disagreements about our finances.

My philosophy on finances is simple; don't spend it if you don't have it. Sure I use my credit card during emergencies, but it should ONLY be reserved for emergencies. I've been raised to think that there's a certain disillusioned mentality out there that believe they can use their credit cards without needing to pay the consequences of interest and debt.

I'm on the other end of the spectrum and am exceptionally wary about using credit. To me, credit is this fake magic money that appears out of thin air. As a personal rule, anything that breaks the laws of physics and creates something out of nothing is beyond my limited understanding of this world. I try my best to stay clear of it. Credit will forever be etched in my mind as this evil plastic card that's ready to trade your financial peace of mind for something like the latest laptop, a new car, or a crazy night with lots of hookers and pounds of unadulterated cocaine. (Of course this isn't realistic, I doubt hookers and drug dealers accept major credit cards)

Ok, after reading that last paragraph, some may argue that I might be the disillusioned one. I admit that that statement is very plausible. It's true that I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of credit, but the result is that my credit card debt usually comes out to $0 at the end of every month. I adapt to my environment and I learn to be happy with what I have. Money helps, but it won't certaintly determine whether you're ultimately happy or not.

When I see someone living 'beyond their means', I have a hard time accepting it. Sure if it's a stranger, I couldn't care less how they live... but when it's someone you love, it's extremely difficult to see them digging themselves a deeper financial grave. It's even more difficult when they're so closely entangled with you that you become involved.

I guess if I were more open minded and not so judgmental, I could adapt and coexist with anyone. Well, I learned that I'm not like that; I really can't coexist with just anyone. I am adamant and unwavering about a lot of things, and finances is one of them. I'm glad that I had the opportunity to learn this about myself.

The reality is that there's a line that has to be drawn, and I'm definitely sticking to mine; I believe in living simply and within my means, even if it means picking either the hookers or the cocaine, but not both.

Tired...

I have the urge to move and do something different. Travel the world by scooter? Volunteer for Doctors Without Borders as a logistician? Move to South America and brush up on my Spanish?

I'm getting tired of trying to make a difference by just sitting in front of a computer compiling reports. Maybe it's just a phase. Maybe...