Facing a World without Solutions to Problems ... - Noha-students.org

Facing a World without
Solutions to Problems?
Palestine Inside Out
- Witnessing Occupation
‘Fake it til you make it‘
Bridging the Gap between
Theory and Practice
Visiting a Protracted Refugee
Situation in Lebanon
Insight the Field

⌐
⌐
⌐
⌐
⌐
⌐
⌐
⌐
Help us improve C‘nect by sharing your
feedback or suggestions with the editorial
team.
Please feel free to e-mail us at:
cnect.noha@gmail.com
EDITORIAL TEAM

“

UPPSALA CREW
- VISITING A PROTRACTED REFUGEE SITUATION IN LEBANON -
T
Martyr’s Square

Shatila Camp

BOCHUM CREW
IN PLATKOW - BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN THEORY AND PRACTICE
Team Blue filling sand bags, team Red & White loading
the truck, team Green taking a break

Got Blood?! … the NOHA Blood Contest
- or ‘who has the fastest blood in the world?’-
As true humanitarians, full of caring for our fellow human beings, a small NO-
HA group at RUB did not need to think twice when the German Red Cross
rolled into Bochum town to collect our blood. With newbies and experienced
donors on board, we soon developed a competition on who could give blood
the fastest - a welcome change also for the Red Cross volunteers, who soon
Caitlyn from RUB and record holder
Jenny from UCD at the German
Red Cross in Bochum
competed against each other, on who’s
“patient” would be faster. With a current
record of 5 Minutes and 11 Seconds for
500ml of blood by Jenny Joksch, we are here-
Ingrid from UCD donating
blood for the
first time
by opening up the global NOHA Blood Con- t e s t
competition. So take your fellow NOHAs, colleagues and friends along for this
competition. Send in your picture, name, place and date to
cnect.noha@gmail.com and we will publish the high scores in the next
issue! We know those in the field will often be excluded for the next blood
donation, but those remaining in headquarters will surely find this fun.
Come on, give blood! World Blood Donor Day: 14th June
Help us improve C‘nect by sharing your feedback or suggestions with the
editorial team.
Please feel free to e-mail us at:
cnect.noha@gmail.com

To the NOHA Class of 2011,
-FOHA -
While updating my resume for the multitude of jobs and internships that I have
been applying for, I was struck by how inept the word “Network” was to describe
the conglomeration of places, faces, and lessons that we have encountered this
past year. It’s tempting to try to figure out what threads of meaning tie us together
since those first days in Poland when I was so occupied with trying to meet
all 140 of us that I even forgot my own name.
At first I thought community would be a better term, but finally decided only
“Family of Humanitarian Assistance” (FOHA-since it wouldn’t be humanitarian action
without an acronym) would accurately describe this experience. Even though if you
tried to draw our family tree, it would end up looking more like a crazy bush
(like how some of our attempts at making problem and objective trees for project
and program proposals looked: absolutely nothing like a tree). We have worked together,
eaten together, travelled together, slept together, partied together,
cooked together, danced together, celebrated together, played together, cried together
and laughed together. We have all exchanged roles as care takers and recipients
of care (beneficiaries?). We all have people who we get along with better
than others (just like any family) and I think each group has the weird “aunt”
or “uncle” that no one quite understands at times.
Even though I have only started to get to know you over a relatively short period
of time in our lives, I am grateful for the depth, honesty, and sincerity with
which you have all shared your hearts, thoughts, ideas, feelings, time and possessions.
After hearing alumni from last year’s class reflect that the people were the most
important part of the program, I can’t help but agree. Most of all, I feel connected
to you by the belief and feeling that I could show up on any of your doorsteps
where ever you are in the world, after how ever long, and I would be greeted
with an open door, a warm smile, a big hug, a place to sleep and a bite to eat.
You are true humanitarians.
There is nothing that can replace the warmness of that feeling of being accepted
and cared about no matter what. I hope that you all leave the program with the
same positive feelings that I do. As I do not like goodbyes, I will leave with an
“Until next time” and hope that I meet all of you sometime, somewhere in the
world. Thank you for a great year and best of luck with all of your future endeavors.
Sincerely,
Caitlyn Hughes