Dan O'Neill's blog

Partners In Mercy are the lifeblood of Mercy Corps. They're the donors who give monthly — in any amount — to touch children and families around the world with help and hope. It might be a quarter a day, a dollar a day, a few bucks a day, or more. Whatever the amount, these donors have made a commitment to make a positive difference around the world through life-changing programmes.

I myself am a Partner In Mercy — or a PIM, as we refer to them in the office. Because they’re so critical to our work, each year I call hundreds of my fellow PIMs to express my sincere thanks and appreciation for their contributions.

To bring more joy and hope to children in 2012, we're trying to bring 212 new monthly donors into our fold. We can be a part of something greater than ourselves. Click here to become a Partner In Mercy today. Photo: Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps

During those conversations I'm frequently asked this question:

Can my small gift really make a difference, when the needs around the world are so great?

My response: an enthusiastic "YES!"

When I founded Mercy Corps, I chose the word "corps" to signify the power of what we can accomplish together. We can be a part of something greater than ourselves. And with so many partners pulling together, any donation, large or small, is combined with other gifts to save and improve lives of families in desperate need around the world.

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Even in the midst of high-pressure humanitarian work and constant news of global catastrophes, our team manages to occasionally get together to reflect on our friendships and history.

From left: Mickie Porcelli, Jerry Dines, Steve Zimmerman, Amy Palmer, Dale Jones, Simon Miller, Peter Dickinson. Not pictured: Dan O'Neill. Photo: Dan O'Neill/Mercy Corps

Our Chief Financial Officer Steve Zimmerman (I call him "the incomparable Dr. Z") quietly puts out invitations to Mercy Corps alums and long-timers to hang out together over lunch. It was my privilege to join the group in Tigard, Oregon, on July 20. As I surveyed the small group I asked, "So how many years of service are gathered around the table today, Dr. Z?"

As I later calculated, it was nearly 140 years between the eight attendees. That's a lot of experience! I bet we could reach 500 years next year — if we could force our peripatetic CEO, Neal Keny-Guyer, to take another look at his travel schedule and join the fun.

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Sudan, 1984. Photo: Jon Warren for Mercy Corps

I first encountered extreme poverty and hunger in 1972 when I drove through Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia on a church mission trip. It struck me in the heart and I felt helpless. Then, in June, 1980, I went to Somalia with a Seattle-based non-governmental organisation, World Concern, to observe a new, unfolding famine.

In the Hargeisa region, I hiked through desert heat to visit refugee camps, swelling as beleaguered, thirsty, hungry children and families stumbled out of an oven-hot desert with tales of attack, torture and death at the hands of merciless bands of armed men and boys (yes, 12-year-olds packing AK-47s).

My camera clicked on June 9 as famine refugees streamed out of the Ogaden on weakened camels, donkeys and on foot. Underneath their richly coloured flowing scarves and robes, wrinkled, withered faces and stick-limbs protruded. Animal carcasses littered the fine sand which the hot wind whipped over everything, a gritty powder creating a cocoa-coloured monochromatic drape, mercifully shrouding the withered skulls of the dead.

There was a chorus of moans amidst the mass suffering. Babies were not crying. Pockets of doctors and nurses tended to those who could be saved: feeding, rehydrating with I.V. fluids and comforting as best they could. They were overwhelmed.

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Mercy Corps Founder Dan O'Neill, left, and CEO Neal Keny-Guyer finally meet in Jerusalem after 28 years of near misses. Photo: Aleksander Milutinovic for Mercy Corps

I plunged into the broiling cauldron of the Middle East in 1973 — six years before I founded Mercy Corps — as an volunteer on a Galilee Kibbutz. My colleague Neal Keny-Guyer, Mercy Corps' CEO, entered the fray in Lebanon in 1982 as the Regional Director for Save the Children. Turns out we were both there at the same time. Before that, we were in Thailand-based Cambodian refugee camps but never meet.

Neal and I first met in 1994 when he interviewed for the new CEO position in Mercy Corps' Portland headquarters. We discussed our shared travels and high interest in the Middle East. One day, we predicted, we would be together in "the eternal city" — Jerusalem.

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Dan O'Neill with Tasneem, 13, a special needs student at the Mercy Corps-sponsored girls' school in Beit Rima, West Bank. Photo: Andy Dwonch/Mercy Corps

Little 13-year-old Tasneem immediately captured my heart with her big smile.

Developmentally disabled, she is a "special needs" student at the Mercy Corps-sponsored Beit Rima girls' school. Since coming to the school, she has made enormous progress. Once locked away at home, she now joins in all school activities and smiles a lot more. She is blonde and blue-eyed — which is very unusual for Palestinians — shy and very small for her age.

The West Bank town of Beit Rima has suffered significantly amidst the heated tumult of the protracted Israeli-Palestinian conflict. With many of the men imprisoned by Israeli occupation forces, the women have been forced into bearing very heavy family and economic loads.

Mercy Corps stepped into the gap by funding and managing two boys' schools and two girls' schools. Khaled — a Mercy Corps programme leader and certified psychologist — explains that a high percentage of children suffer some form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. No surprise.

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From left, Mercy Corps veteran Middle East staff leader Andy Dwonch, Nir Oren, Mercy Corps Founder Dan O'Neill and Rami Elhanan. Photo: Mercy Corps

A couple of days ago I shared Turkish coffee with two Israeli men who dare to cross traditional barriers in confronting violence and retaliation through dialogue and understanding. The Parents' Circle is an organisation touching thousands of lives for good. "We are all about bringing bereaved Israeli and Palestinian families together for reconciliation and Peace," said Rami Elhanan.

Rami — son-in-law of the legendary Israeli Army General, Matti Peled — lost his 14 year old daughter, Smadar, to a suicide bomber on September 4, 1997. It was a national news event for Israel and a shattering loss to family and friends.

Rami's friend and partner Nir Oren, General Manager of The Parents' Circle, shares a similar tragedy. His 60-year-old mother was killed on a Tel Aviv bus by a suicide bomber 16 years ago.

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In Jerusalem, near the "security wall" there are towering slabs of concrete crowned with razor wire, heavily armed Israeli Defence Force soldiers, military checkpoints and a palpable tension in the air. A two-hour drive later, I find myself at Kibbutz Ginosar on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

Mercy Corps Founder Dan O'Neill in a knocked-out Syrian tank while on a battlefield photo tour of the Golan Heights during the Yom Kippur War, October 1973. Photo: George Otis Jr. for Mercy Corps

Peaceful, serene, quiet. Two radically different worlds. I am visiting old friends, recalling old memories and discussing the turbulent issues of the Middle East. I have dusted off my Hebrew and can actually carry on a decent conversation.

In 1973, I lived and worked in the grapefruit orchards of the kibbutz while studying Jewish and church history. I swam in Lake Kinneret (the biblical Sea of Galilee) every day after laboring in the blazing sun. I was literally being "baptized" in antiquity.

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Mercy Corps Founder Dan O'Neill (left) and Dr. Oscar "Tito" Giron walk to a meeting in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, April 19, 1982. Photo: Mercy Corps

Dr. Oscar Giron was the first to greet me as I emerged from the customs line at Tegucigalpa's airport in Honduras on April 18, 1982. Mercy Corps was in the early stages of launching a rural community development programme with our local partner, Chet Thomas, who was to become our very first Country Director.

Dr. Giron, or "Tito" as he was affectionately known to family and friends, grabbed my luggage as he introduced himself. Mercy Corps Co-founder, Ells Culver, Tito and I checked into the Ronda Hotel across town and settled into a long conversation over cervezas. Later that evening, Tito and I walked through downtown Tegucigalpa, stopping to peer in through the huge, open, wooden doors of a Catholic church during an evening Mass. I will never forget the aroma of incense and cooking fires mingling in the warm, humid air.

Tito had graduated from medical school in Guatemala, specializing in pediatrics. Many in his graduating class were murdered by right-wing death squads, common to that time and place. Tito was deemed a "leftist" for his humanitarian leanings and had himself been threatened.

In an effort to recruit our first medical staff, Chet invited Tito to join the team in Honduras with the hope that Tito would find a safe environment in which to share medical help with poor families and children. "I care about the children," he said, "because they offer our best hope for the future."

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I met Jerry Dines the first week of June, 1982, in Beirut. He smoked a pipe as he sat at his desk at the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) office.

He was running the MECC Lebanon emergency relief programme geared to assisting refugees and other victims of the interminable violence which have plagued the region. I was leading a Mercy Corps delegation assessing the plight of refugees. A few days later, on June 6, the Israeli army invaded Lebanon. We were together under Israeli Air Force bombardment for days. We witnessed death and destruction. And a long friendship was born.

Jerry Dines. Photo: Mercy Corps

Jerry continued working with the MECC until 1985, promoting peace and running humanitarian programmes. In September of 1985, he joined Mercy Corps and worked in Khartoum, Sudan, as our country director, running our cross-border relief programmes assisting famine and war victims in Ethiopia. In April, 1986, Jerry led an assessment in Pakistan and registered Mercy Corps to run a cross-border aid programme in Afghanistan. Jerry became our Pakistan country director, serving in Quetta until 1990. From 1990-1994 he worked in Portland as the Mercy Corps desk officer for Afghanistan/Pakistan. In 1995, he became our senior programme officer for the Balkans. He also led assessment teams following the devastating Turkey earthquake and in the horrific aftermath of Rwanda's 1995 catastrophic massacres.

Since that time, Jerry has served as senior programme officer for logistical support and senior programme officer for food security and material aid.

On September 29, Jerry was honored in Mercy Corps' Portland headquarters, in the office of CEO Neal Keny-Guyer, for his 25 years of service. Befitting Jerry, it was a small gathering but with high praise for his enduring diligence in addressing disadvantaged peoples around the world. Jerry could tell many "war stories." But he is a quiet, humble man.

So I will share one of my favorite Jerry Dines memories. Islamabad, Pakistan, 1992. Jerry, Ells Culver (our late co-founder and then president) and I had just returned from an exhausting trip to our Quetta office on the Afghan border. We were invited to the official residence of the US Ambassador by Ambassador Oakley's wife, Phyllis. A lovely person, she served us dinner and, surprise! She played us the newly-arrived video tape of the Super Bowl! And, surprise again, she passed out bottles of Heineken beer. Alcohol was illegal under Pakistan's sharia law. But, she explained, she had the brews flown in a "diplomatic pouch."

We all laughed. And enjoyed the game.

Thank you, Jerry Dines.

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The Headless Horsemen (HH) a Northwest-based band of bikers, rode to benefit Mercy Corps last Saturday, Aug. 28. The 27 riders logged 300 miles through the Puget Sound area of WA. Bill and Melba O'Neill, Mercy Corps supporters in Shelton (and my parents!), hosted a thirst-quenching pit-stop and were presented with an honorary certificate of membership in the HH. The ride raised several thousand dollars (and rising) for children and families in flashpoints of need including Haiti and Pakistan.

Legendary Seattle radio personality Ichabod Caine is the founder of the Headless Horsemen. Photo: Courtesy Ichabod Caine

It was just the latest benefit outing for HH founder, Ichabod Caine, Harley-riding, Seattle rock/country radio personality. And, yes, that is his legal name. "Icky" has been a good friend since the mid 80s and told me back then he would one day own a Harley Davidson motorcycle like mine. Decades later, he bought a fire-engine red Harley from a Seattle fireman and soon launched the HH for the purpose of sharing the passion of motorcycling with folks who ride all kinds of bikes for a number of charities. The first HH fundraiser was the Seattle "Ride for Kids" in 2007.

"The Mercy Corps ride was an opportunity for us to have a global impact," says Marty Conrad, a 911 dispatcher and HH coordinator. "This was a great first annual ride!" Pierce County Police officer, Ken Board, served as the official HH photographer and agrees there will be more rides for more charities in the future, including Mercy Corps.

In 1999 I organised a Harley ride for Kosovo war refugees with the help of Eastside Harley Davidson in Bellevue, WA. In spite of driving rain, 70 riders turned out and helped to make a positive difference in the lives of homeless people half a world away. It has been a long, dry spell for charity riding for me but I am back in the saddle and ready to hit the road at a moment's notice. And now that I am a full member of the HH, more road trips are on the horizon.

Donations can still be made! Click here and weigh in.

It's hard work, this motorcycling business. But someone has to do it!

Twenty-seven Headless Horsemen pose with Bill and Melba O'Neill (donors since 1980) in Shelton, Wash., during the Mercy Corps benefit ride, Aug 28. Photo: Ken Board for Headless Horsemen

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