Bermudian financial analyst Dominique Smith has been hired by the non-profit All Hands Volunteers charity to help organise disaster relief projects all over the worldBy Wendy Davis JohnsonLast December, as residents of Cagayan de Oro slept, Typhoon Washi assaulted the provinces of the southern Philippines with fierce winds and more than a month’s worth of rain.In the space of 12 hours, more than 1,200 people died. The city of 600,000 and its surrounding region were devastated by flash floods and mudslides.Disaster relief poured in from around the world. Among the thousands of volunteers who arrived in the storm’s aftermath was Bermudian Dominique Smith.Mrs Smith, known in the Island’s financial circles as the former Chief Operating Officer of Bermuda Commercial Bank, flew to Cagayan de Oro in February in her new capacity as Finance Manager of the US-based non profit All Hands Volunteers (AHV).She’s been working with the organisation since 2011, when she volunteered to help with AHV’s relief effort in earthquake-ravaged Haiti. A month-long stint in Léogane led to an offer to work for AHV.It was just the opportunity the 62-year old Chartered Financial Analyst had been looking for.After she retired in 2008, Mrs Smith spent a year in Paris studying photojournalism with a view to volunteering her services where they might make a difference.“When I returned to Bermuda, I started looking for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) where I could volunteer internationally,” Mrs Smith said from the Philippines, where she’s on a two-month assignment. “Today, most organisations require some form of payment to volunteer, but not All Hands Volunteers.“I was also impressed with how quickly the group responded me”.According to AHV’s web site (www.hands.org), the organisation is committed to “assisting disaster affected communities with recovery and rebuilding”.It was established by American David Campbell, a former business executive, who says “you never forget the day your life changes”.In 2004, just after a catastrophic tsunami hit Bangtao Beach in Phuket, Thailand, Mr Campbell was in the US having lunch with a friend, who just a week before had been staying at a hotel where the tsunami came ashore.Listening to his friend, Mr Campbell says he was “overwhelmingly compelled to act”.He packed his bags and headed to Thailand, where he found dozens of other volunteers from around the world who had been driven by the same impulse to help.However, Mr Campbell discovered these like-minded souls were being turned away by larger, more established relief organisations who told the volunteers “you can’t just show up”.So, says Mr Campbell, “we got together, and we started doing what needed to be done”.Hurricane Katrina prompted a similar response from what was now a committed group of volunteers, as did natural disasters in Peru and Indonesia.Mr Campbell decided he had an efficient model that could work in any disaster-affected area where a quick, organised response would help a devastated community regain a sense of normalcy.Since 2006, AHV has completed 14 projects, using almost 6,000 volunteers from more than 40 countries to clear roads, provide clean water and facilitate rebuilding efforts.AHV estimates the value of six years of donated labour at almost seven million dollars.It’s this hands-on, get-it-done approach that appeals to Mrs Smith, whose days can just as easily be spent lugging wheelbarrows of cement as managing AHV’s financials.“I’m responsible for all of the company’s financial activities and reporting,” she says. “This includes the budget and audit process, implementing key financial controls and ensuring donor funds are properly allocated across projects.“But no day is typical in the field of disaster response, even for the Finance Manager.“One day I can be with the volunteers in the field removing rotting fish from a Japanese fish factory destroyed by a tsunami; another day I can be in Haiti removing debris after an earthquake; and other days I can be in the office preparing financial statements or giving an accounting workshop to our field staff.”With administrative costs listed at five percent in AHV’s 2011 Annual Report, the organisation aims to keep overhead to a minimum.“All Hands does not have a head office; we have a virtual office,” explains Mrs Smith. “Everyone works from home or on project. Management meets quarterly at a predesignated location or on project and otherwise communicates daily by e-mail, web conference and Skype.”Mrs Smith says while AHV’s volunteer corps is made up of all ages and nationalities, it’s the 22 to 30-year-old group that tends to respond to the opportunities presented by the organisation.“These young men and women are often in situations where they’re in transition. Maybe they’ve been to university.“Maybe they’re thinking of studying for their master’s degree or they’re thinking of studying international development and they realise they need some experience.“Where a project is located sometimes drives where our volunteers come from. The project launched in Japan after the earthquake and tsunami had Japanese volunteers.“In the Philippines, we have 25 local volunteers. But the volunteer mix is from everywhere.”Mrs Smith, who still lives in Bermuda with her husband Christopher, travels when AHV requires her skills on site, usually spending two weeks at a time working on location.Her two-month posting in Cagayan de Oro is her longest to date.“What I have earned and the possessions I have collected over the years are really not relevant or important in the grand scheme of things,” she says when asked why she’s attracted to an organisation that warns volunteers that “the work is hard and dirty. We start early, finish late and work six days a week. Living is communal and amenities minimal, but the rewards are huge.“Whenever I am on project in a place like Haiti or the Philippines, where a labourer earns $100 a month and cannot afford to buy medicine for a sick child, I realise that I have far more than I will ever need and, if I lose it all tomorrow, so be it.”Information about volunteering for All Hands Volunteers is available at http://hands.org.Details about how to donate are provided at https://secure.commonground.convio.com/allhands/donate/ or by calling (765) 414.5387.