Remembering a remarkable experience

April 14, 2009
by Rodney Olsen
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This time last year I had just returned from my trip to Haiti and Dominican Republic with Compassion Australia.

The video in this post contains a bunch of photos I took on the trip with the audio of a segment I put together for my radio programme for last year’s Compassion Day.

If you’ve been reading my blog for any time you’ll know that we had to escape from Haiti after food riots in the city of Port-au-Prince intensified. We took a very tense drive to the airport to get out of the country just a couple of days into our visit which was to last around a week. The only way we were able to make it through was that we met up with a crew cab loaded with heavily armed police who agreed to escort us.

While the photos are from both countries, the audio is focussing on the situation in Haiti. I’ll post some audio from a remarkable story that came out of our visit to Dominican Republic in the coming days.

If you get the opportunity to watch the video I’d love to hear your feedback. Please leave your comments in the comments section of this post.



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A step back in time

April 5, 2009
by Rodney Olsen
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A lot has happened over the past year. I won’t bore you with all the details but there have been some fairly major changes and life events within twelve short months.

  • We’ve lost two close family members. Both died way too young.
  • The radio station I work for has moved across the city.
  • We decided to move house and are still going through the ‘sell one house buy another’ process.
  • Our ten year old son James spent five weeks overseas with Pauline’s mum.

There have been plenty of other things happening, most of which can be found in my blog posts from the past year.

On this day last year I was getting ready to leave Perth for an amazing adventure. Below is some of what I wrote early on Saturday morning the 5th of April 2008. At the time I really had no idea what was going to happen.

I’m the only one up in my house at the moment but very soon we’ll all be sharing our last breakfast together for ten days.

I have to be at the airport at around 9:45 to fly out at 10:45. Between now and then I need to put all the clothes my Pauline has so wonderfully prepared for me into my case and then double check that I have everything I need. (I just know I’ll forget something.)

Over the next couple of days I’ll fly from Perth to Sydney then to Los Angeles then Miami and finally on to Haiti. I’ll be in Haiti for around a week before I repeat the entire process in reverse.

I feel totally unprepared but I’m sure that’s what long flights are all about. The flights will give me time to finally stop and soak in the information that I haven’t had time to process so far. I’ll read about Haiti and find out a little bit more of what to expect, I’ll read the instructions to my audio recorder to make sure that I know what I’m doing when I start interviewing people from Compassion and those they serve.

That was the start of my journey with Compassion Australia to see the amazing work they do in developing countries.

Little did I know that I’d only spend a couple of days in Haiti and that we’d have to enlist the services of an armed police escort to get us to the airport to leave the country as fires and violent protests took over the city of Port-au-Prince.

Over the next few days I’ll re-visit some of that trip and look at the highs and the heartbreaks.



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Charity with Soul Steps Forward to Claim Shoes

January 5, 2009
by Rodney Olsen
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shoes_1.jpgIf you’ve read this blog in the past you probably know that I visited Haiti last year and saw the desperate conditions under which so many are living. You may have also read my previous post talking about Soles4Souls , a wonderful organisation that provides shoes for those in need around the world.

Today I heard that Soles4Souls has stepped forward to collect the thousands of shoes mysteriously dumped on a Miami highway. They’ll then send them to the Caribbean nation of Haiti. Great news.

The start of the New Year turned ugly for many commuters in Miami on Friday, when drivers were delayed by several thousand pairs of shoes littering the highway. Nashville-based shoe charity Soles4Souls contacted the Florida Highway Patrol and offered to immediately collect the shoes on behalf of needy people it supports, both here in the United States and around the world.

“These shoes are abandoned property and we’re happy that Soles4Souls can make good use out them,” said Lt. Pat Santengelo of the Florida Highway Patrol.

Soles4Souls Founder and CEO, Wayne Elsey, said the sight of thousands of abandoned shoes was a stark reminder of how many shoes are tossed into American landfills. “Too many perfectly good shoes are thrown away each year, and it’s a shame,” he said. “Soles4Souls is dedicated to keeping usable footwear out of our landfills and putting them on the feet of needy people around the world,” he said.

Some great news to start the year.

If you want to help Soles4Souls in their great work you can visit their website and donate directly.



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What's the big idea?

January 2, 2009
by Rodney Olsen
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Do you have any big ideas for 2009?

This time last year I was looking ahead to early April when I was scheduled to fly to Haiti with Compassion Australia to see their child sponsorship programmes at work. As it turned out we were only able to stay in Port au Prince for a couple of days before food riots made it necessary to leave the country and travel to neighbouring Dominican Republic to see Compassion’s work there.

There were other events throughout 2008 but the Compassion trip was certainly a highlight.

So what’s my big idea for 2009?

I guess it’s all about moving house and connecting with a new community. Over the past few months we’ve been busy getting our current home ready to sell so the task is now to find a buyer before finding a new house and moving. A big task indeed.

Do you have any major events or plans this year? Is there a change of jobs or a change of scenery on the radar for you? What are your big ideas for 2009?



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Cities in 2008

December 31, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
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Tony Sheng has been to quite a few cities this year.

I can’t boast the sixteen cities he can, but with my trips this year I can list a few. Several of my visits were just airport lounges rather than the cities themselves but I’ll take what I can get.

  1. Perth, Western Australia, Australia
  2. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  3. Los Angeles, California, USA
  4. Miami, Florida, USA
  5. Port au Prince, Haiti
  6. Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
  7. Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

So there you are. Seven. Better than most years for me but still not even close to Tony’s sixteen.

How many cities did you visit in 2008?



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