Centre of Brussels, Belgium, March 2024

I've recently returned to Caracas after a week-long trip to Europe. As you may recall, I attended the European Humanitarian Forum (EHF) and also had meetings at my headquarters.
 
Despite the somewhat gloomy conversations and conclusions at the EHF, I found the meetings at my office to be constructive and uplifting. Unlike some previous HQ gatherings, there was a sense of optimism about our work and the near-term future. While we certainly face challenges—particularly concerning our inadequate budgets to address urgent humanitarian needs globally—people are displaying positivity and innovation in operating with limited resources amid vast needs.
 
I was delighted to reconnect with many friends and colleagues at the meetings, some of whom I hadn't seen in years. It was wonderful to catch up and spend quality time together.
 
Over the weekend, I managed to squeeze in two short day trips—to Luxembourg and Lille. As someone who enjoys city breaks, I was thrilled to explore a bit more.
 
If you're interested, here's a link to the photo album from my trip.
 
Looking ahead, I'll be working in Caracas for the next few weeks, focusing on advancing our humanitarian budget programming and tackling numerous work-related challenges. Hopefully, I'll be able to plan some personal time off soon. I believe it's high time I visit Mum in Poland and catch up with Amna and Tahir in Canada.

Centre of Brussels, Belgium, January 2023

I am getting ready to go to the airport and travel to Brussels. Next week, I will be participating in the European Humanitarian Forum (EHF) and then will continue with my organisation's conference for the head of offices (HoO) from around the world.

The EHF will gather humanitarian practitioners and political leaders, as well as academics discussing on how we bridge ever going humanitarian needs with little resources. Clearly, given my job, I will be advocating for the needs in Venezuela, but I am very interested to hear and learn on management of migration crises around the world. As the world, we are shamefully falling behind looking after the most vulnerable people, and as such any ideas on how make things at least a little better are worth considering.

During the HoO meeting, we will be focusing on challenges and standards and peculiarities related to work of ECHO (my own organisation). While it is going to be super busy, I am actually looking forward to be meeting my colleagues and friends whom I have not seen for a long time!

The US Capitol, Washington DC, USA, March 2024

This time around, I am writing from my hotel room in Washington DC. It is raining, and grey, but I am enjoying the weather a lot. It reminds me of Europe, and I have missed the atmosphere that this kind of weather brings. One cannot experience it in the tropics of Venezuela where I am based now.

As you may remember, I am here in the US for professional meetings. While I was quite busy during most of yesterday and day before yesterday, I had a good chance to have some feeling of the city, as I decided to walk walk between my hotel and meetings' venues rather than using a public transportation.

I am surprised by the US capital. I imagined the city with lots of skyscrapers that you see in most of the US cities, but I am learning that they are not allowed here. Consequently, the buildings are not high. Some of them are still huge, but not too high, which makes the city look attractive, I think.

Today is my day off, as it is Saturday, so I will take a chance to explore the city more properly. I am determined to do so despite the rain… Forecasts say that it should stop raining in the afternoon, so perhaps I will not get too wet.

I am leaving for Panama City tomorrow. I am having meetings in my regional office on Monday, and I am then back to Caracas on Tuesday evening.

In the middle of March, I will be in Brussels (for work), so as yo can see, I can't complain of being bored.

And if you are curious to look at some of the pictures from Washington DC and Panama City, you are welcome to visit this link.