{"id":2853,"date":"2023-05-16T12:26:38","date_gmt":"2023-05-16T12:26:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.trailhead.ch\/viv-wuarchoz\/?p=2853"},"modified":"2023-06-08T13:45:57","modified_gmt":"2023-06-08T13:45:57","slug":"s-o-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trailhead.ch\/viv-wuarchoz\/2023\/05\/16\/s-o-s\/","title":{"rendered":"Dear Humanity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Yesterday (all my troubles seemed so far away<\/em>) I applied for this job<\/a> @ an NGO called Habitat for Humanity<\/a>. I now humbly<\/em> ask you — Dear Humanity <\/em>(incl. Ricky Gervais ;-D) — to pretty-please<\/em> help share some groovy vibes w\/ the universe … ;-D<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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“Little Firecracker” – XiShuangBanna (Yunnan \/ PRC), 1997<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Little Firecracker<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Little Firecracker<\/em> (my nickname for the wonderful creature<\/em> pictured above) miraculously lodged and fed 8 mountain-biking backpackers<\/em> (myself included) when we pedaled our grubby selves into her village, unannounced of course. ;-D The year was 1997<\/em>, Hong Kong <\/em>was slated to return to the PRC in a few months’ time, and I was wrapping up a 2 year volunteer gig<\/em> in the PRC<\/em>. Our grungy posse had rented trusty beater bikes ;-D<\/em> and we were hoping to find a mellow crashpad for Lunar New Year. Little Firecracker<\/em> took us in w\/ a laugh and a smile …<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Move over, Club Med !!”<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We negotiated an all-inclusive per diem<\/em> price that included yummy<\/em> meals. I think we stayed for 3 days & 2 nights. Little Firecracker<\/em> cooked on that hearth<\/em> in the middle of the floor next to someone’s soggy tube socks<\/em> … OMG what kind of house guest decorates w\/ socks … sheesh !! ;-D ‘Twas a raised house (flood risk mitigation, yo<\/em>) w\/ neither electricity nor running water. Please kindly try to imagine the rickety stairs that she needed to negotiate loaded w\/ water, firewood, food, cooking accoutrements, etc …
<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Habitat For Humanity International<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Back to the job that triggered<\/em> this post !! ;-D I am not in any way trying to exploit my Little Firecracker<\/em> for my own purposes. To the contrary, she (& many other kindred spirits I met during my 2 years in the PRC) <\/em>gave me<\/em> a lifetime of food for thought. I’ve now got a caveman husband<\/em>, family of 5, comfy abode w\/ all the basics (+ \u221e !!) …<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I’ve found it challenging to provide for my own family (& I have<\/em>), then how the hell did Little Firecracker<\/em> manage to host a bunch of muddied-up-hungry-hungry-hippos<\/em> the way she did ?!?! Yes, we paid her and I hope <\/em>we helped carry some stuff up and down the stairs but come on<\/em> !! I believe there was Big Magic<\/em> at work (hello Liss<\/em> !!) … infused w\/ generations’ worth of gutsy resourcefulness<\/em> … manifested<\/em> by her village community … w\/ their sturdy homes<\/em>, bamboo irrigation<\/em> system, agricultural know-how<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Match” for Humanity<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I dedicated my BS<\/em> to Natural Resources<\/em> (infinite thanx to my parents ;-D), my “Smells Like Teen Spirit”<\/em> self to Dolphins & Bears<\/em> (OMG there are no werdz ;-D) , my professional self to MarComm<\/em> projects, my Mommy self to Motherhood<\/em>, my civic self to Volunteerism<\/em>, my ultimate self to Hippie Hippie Girl hippie hippie hippie hippie hippie *SHAKE* !!<\/em> I’ve done what I can to share my ethos w\/ my 3 kiddos<\/em>, and hopefully they’ll run w\/ whatever bits they deem useful !! Finally <\/em>… check out what I woke up to this morning …<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Match” for Humanity – card game mock-up !! ;-D<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Please lemme ‘splain !! ;-D<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Early this morning, my mind jogged a few laps around the word humanity<\/em>. Perhaps in part b\/c Luli<\/em> & I talked about Yuval’s books<\/em> while I waded thru my photos of XiShuangBanna<\/em>. My meanderings guided me to a recollection of a card game<\/em> w\/ my dear friend Dave<\/em> on Memory Lane<\/em> … I think we watched Kill Bill<\/em> afterwards but that’s a story for another day !! ;-D<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

What my mind conjured up today<\/em> is a “Match” for Humanity<\/em> card set inspired by Habitat for Humanity<\/a>. The photos will all have been taken by HFHI constituents<\/em> @ on-site builds. It’d be the Classic Match Game<\/em> wherein players try to find a match (as above<\/em>) versus a non-match (as below<\/em>) …<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Oops !! Hopefully you’ll find a match next time !! ;-D <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I rendered these mock-ups b\/c I had to see them w\/ my own eyes. They kinda also look like drink coasters<\/em> and the blue ones <\/em>even resemble kitchen \/ bathroom tiles. I’d integrate tiles like that into my home if I were clever enough to do so<\/em>. That logo<\/em> drives me wild !! ;-D<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As I wrap up this post, I reach for my lucky charms, keep Nic’s Tunes<\/a> flowing, enjoy the Festival de Cannes w\/ Ma\u00efwenn<\/em> ;-D, and cross my fingers that a real human might one day notice my application & ATS-friendly CV<\/a> for HFHI<\/em>‘s Volunteering Communications Manager<\/a> job posting. What was my number again ?! Oh yeah …<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HFHI applicant #9871792<\/h3>\n\n\n
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HFHI applicant #9871792 @ Checkpoint Charlie, circa 2015 ;-D<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n
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“Excuse me while I kiss the sky.”
-Jimi Hendrix<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday (all my troubles seemed so far away) I applied for this job @ an NGO called Habitat for Humanity. I now humbly ask you — Dear Humanity (incl. Ricky Gervais ;-D) — to pretty-please help share some groovy vibes w\/ the universe … ;-D<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2864,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fun-stuff","entry"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.trailhead.ch\/viv-wuarchoz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/XiShuangBanna_HFHI-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/www.trailhead.ch\/viv-wuarchoz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/XiShuangBanna_HFHI-600x600.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Viv","author_link":"https:\/\/www.trailhead.ch\/viv-wuarchoz\/author\/wpvwu\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trailhead.ch\/viv-wuarchoz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trailhead.ch\/viv-wuarchoz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trailhead.ch\/viv-wuarchoz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trailhead.ch\/viv-wuarchoz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trailhead.ch\/viv-wuarchoz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2853"}],"version-history":[{"count":272,"href":"https:\/\/www.trailhead.ch\/viv-wuarchoz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3534,"href":"https:\/\/www.trailhead.ch\/viv-wuarchoz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2853\/revisions\/3534"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trailhead.ch\/viv-wuarchoz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trailhead.ch\/viv-wuarchoz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trailhead.ch\/viv-wuarchoz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trailhead.ch\/viv-wuarchoz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}