I walked outside for some fresh air. 4 hours of keyboard duty, needed a break. COVID has changed everything. Since March, instead of in-person team visits, assessment trips to the war zones @PartnersRelief works in, and tours to speak at meetings & update supporters, I’m grounded

Grounded? I am surrounded by mountains, lakes, rivers, forests, and a pristine fjord. I climb, ski, hike, bike, paddle, fish, and enjoy the nature and wonderful people of this outdoor paradise. I live in a log cabin that I restored 10 years ago and heat my home with chopped wood.

While the people I work with suffer, I am surrounded by incredible resources, opportunities, and privileges. I have to remind myself that this is the fabric I have to cause change in the world. I exchange some of my freedom and privilege so others less fortunate than me have more

Until March 2019 I spent between 6 and 8 months per year on work assignments. Norway, my home, and my growing family were the refuge I returned to after each trip. But this year, due to the pandemic, travel came to a halt. Every day I’m alone in my basement office.

Work which was energizing in person, now online, has an opaque boredom painted on it. Endless Zoom, Slack, WhatsApp, Skype, and Team meetings. Never-ending email policy and procedure development. All important activities, but done in isolation and prolonged, not that motivating.

My team @PartnersRelief is working better than ever. Innovating and adapting in the face of bank shut-downs, border closures, COVID-19 restrictions, all the attendant complexities, and elevated risks. We have not stopped any of the lifesaving activities we committed to in 2020

For many reasons, including incredibly generous supporters, we have increased our work to help displaced families in 2020. @PartnersRelief are doing more than ever to aid victims of war in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Myanmar, and Bangladesh. Last March we couldn't have anticipated this.

This post was supposed to be about Rime and hoar frost. That’s what I saw when I walked outside for a break from my screen and keyboard. My slate roof covered in Rime crystals, the grass on the hill above my house coated in hoar frost, and a -10 wonderland of ice and arctic light

Mesmerizing. For me, the cold and snow are a joyous thing to see from the comfort of my thick wool socks and warm down jacket.

These thoughts made me think of Bangladesh where temperatures are dropping and #Rohingya kids warm themselves by a fire in the evenings, snuggle together with their whole family by their cooking-fire-pit in a bamboo hut roofed with a sheet of plastic.

When our @PartnersRelief team showed up in NE Syria last week with food supply for 1,350 displaced families, they discovered they were sleeping on bare concrete, huddled through the winter nights to stay warm. Nighttime temperatures -2 to -4. meant the children were suffering.

They lack the means to buy a mattress, a blanket, or a heater. The kids in these situations already endure so much, and now they are freezing too. My team mobilized and appealed for funds to help them. Not just food but mattresses, blankets, and heaters.

Because people were generous and we have a team on the ground, 2660 displaced families who have already endured the hellish violence and deprivations of war in NE Syria are sleeping warm at night as the same activity continues in Bangladesh, Yemen, Myanmar, and more