Question: Why do you not have a typical day?

Ken Gibbs answered on 15 Mar 2012:

@amy97: Hi, there Amy !

This is because life itself is so inconsiderate. Taking my disaster relief work, for instance, when I was in Jenin (Palestine), I might be out mapping the sewers to find where they needed to be repaired; or I might be dodging the tank shells when the IDF made another incursion (makes you run VERY fast, they do); or talking to the Jenin Municipality about the design of the water supply which was effectively totally destroyed; or dealing with the UN administration to ensure that we were given the money that we needed to buy replacement pipes etc.

In Bam (Iran), every day was different because we first had to ensure that water being trucked into the city was being disinfected to avoid cholera; or we had to inspect what little was left of the water supply system to see what would be needed to replace it; or we had to talk to the Iranian General Ahlavi who coordinated the work – and I had a serious disagreement with him which took a bit of time but he eventually agreed that I had been right, but custom requires that you are ultra-polite in your discussions, so this took time; and as we had quite a few strong after-shocks, I had also to be ready to leave the building when the shaking started; and I even had to go in search of someone to do my laundry. . . . .

In Kenya where I went to help the people who suffered after the elections, I would have to go through all the camps where they were living, inspecting the water supplies and drains; or I would be talking to the refugees themselves to find out what they felt they needed; or I would be testing the latrines to see if they worked correctly; or I would be taking photographs for the training programmes; or I would be negotiating with the United Nations to ensure that the work I started would be carried on after I left.

As you can see, life continues, even in an emergency and because I typically was alone, I had to deal with almost everything myself.