I might be one of the trekkers for Mt Fuji Rocks with the shortest commute to get there, I live in Bangkok, Thailand. I am an American born in Washington DC but I have been living and working overseas for the last 13 years and counting.
Upon completion of University in the US I joined the Peace Crops and found myself in a small village in Eastern Zambia working with a community doing whatever I could to improve peoples lives. After two years with Peace Corps I joined the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and over the coarse of more then 11 years have been able to live in Zambia, DR Congo, Tanzania, Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Rome, Italy, and Bangkok, Thailand while working with WFP. My work has also taken me to many other countries in Africa and Asia.
What is WFP and what do I do for them? Basically WFP is the largest Humanitarian organization in the world proving people food, who for what ever reason, can not feed themselves. We provide life sustaining food during times of natural disaster, political conflict, or simply when people are to poor to afford their own food. I work in the Disaster Preparedness and Response branch and thus jokingly refer to myself as a disaster chaser.
The job has taken me to so many great place and yet you end seeing people at their worst, when they are destitute. But knowing that something you do makes someone else’s life better is a gift. There are a few jobs/livelihoods in this world in which someone has the ability to touch someone else; teaching, being an artists, and working in the humanitarian field are a few examples.
After all these years with WFP someone recently excused me of being idealistic about the work. After thinking about that for a few seconds I realized that yes I am idealist, and I hope I never lose that. Doing work like helping others with something as basic as eating, is the job I always wanted to do but didn’t know it.
I join this trek from the perspective of hating to see others suffer or not have opportunity. Yes I have had friends and family die and be sick from cancer and doing anything to help bring awareness to an issue that kills and causes pain is an issue I would like to be involved with.
