A tale of disaster, dirt and true grit

In this wired and connected world, daily news filters past my computer screen of credit crunches, funding gaps, company closures, austerity measures. And if that wasn’t enough, along come earthquakes and floods… Is the world as we know it really coming to an end? Will it keep going long enough to allow me to have a few years of quiet retirement? It has occurred to me to switch off my email, get un-LinkedIn, de-Twitter my life, and change my internet default page from ‘News’ to ‘Entertainment’. Who can blame me for being nostalgic about a world before Internet when bad news was not delivered instantaneously in sensational blow by blow accounts?

Speaking of global disasters, you may remember the earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12th of this year. It was months ago, before floods in Pakistan, another earthquake in New Zealand (see what I mean about the disasters?). It is estimated that 222,570 people died and 300,000 were injured in Haiti, and 1.5 million people were displaced from 200,000 damaged homes. This matters to me because I lived in Haiti for a few years when I was 6 years old. Almost 50 years on I have clear memories of going to school, learning to swim, and even my first (tiny!). Fragments of Haitian Creole even persist in my family. I haven’t been back to Haiti in decades, but something of that country will stay with me for ever!

Evolution tells us that those that respond to challenges succeed. I learnt how to swim in Haiti and I resolved to use that knowledge to raise some money for an organization that runs two orphanages in Haiti. Since the earthquake they have been overwhelmed by the needs of the local population. So, I signed up for the first ever organized swim down the river Dart in South Devon (UK). A 10 kilometre swim in muddy waters just 130C. It was going to be dirty and hard work.

Raising money for charity is like raising cash for a business. You cannot ask too often, but when you ask, you contact everyone. I emailed every person on my email contacts list, and the Biolauncher team Tweeted (#FF @biolauncher, @showcasbio, @treeberries) and posted messages on LinkedIn We achieved an amazing response. Donations and messages of support came in from far and wide: friends, family, work colleagues, my PhD students from years ago, school and University friends, work colleagues, business clients, employers, employees,…from Australia, Canada, UK, Germany, Spain, USA… people I haven’t seen in decades, to colleagues I see every day, and even people who I have never met. With support like that I was never going to fail!

And yes, I successfully completed my swim in just over two and a half hours, raising in excess of £1200, more than I had achieved in all my previous efforts put together. And what did I learn?

• Fund raising is a global effort
• Its easier to do difficult things when you get support from lots of people
• Don’t be shy to ask for help
• Email, LinkedIn, Twitter can help (are tools that maintain connections)
• Swimming through muddy water is hard work, but lots of fun and very rewarding
• Mud squishes through your toes – but doesn’t harm you.

You can still donate to my Haiti appeal: http://www.justgiving.com/Dirk-Gewert, and to prove that there is no dignity in fund raising of any kind check out the slides below.