George Burdell

Recent Activity

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  George commented on the article | over 2 years ago

  Sex and the Single Aid Worker

  I commend the book "Emergency Sex" to those who find this an interesting thread.

  
  

  I've logged almost 15 years in conflict or immediately post-conflict settings, and think that "locationships" are certainly a reality and, for some, worth studying.

  
  

  I think it's enormously helpful to have a 'someone' to spend time with, if not away from work at least mentally not focussed on work, who understands the intensity of the work-day.  As someone above noted, other communities share this trait; and I think they too are communities where the intensity of the job defies sharing intimately with anyone not in the same line of work.

  
  

  My locationships were awesome (though not guilt-free). And my last one turned into a long-term relationship and now a successful and stable marriage back in the mother-of-all-conflict-zones, Washington DC.

  
  

  I don't think the phenomena of locationships is unique to our line of work.  But I think the context and the substance of our work makes them perhaps more intense than in some other professions.

  
  

  Thanks for the thoughtful article and the thread.

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  George commented on the article | over 2 years ago

  US Military, Taliban Share Same View of Aid Workers

  I think the text of the original post and subsequent comments is/are useful and constructive.  But I found the title to be both sensationalist and even offensive.

  
  

  Having been part of both the military and an aid organization/NGO, I ~really~ wish interlocutors on all sides of the various debates would work to err on the side of tranquility rather than generating (unnecessary) angst.

  
  

  But hat-tip for a good discussion none-the-less.