Blog Post: Shaking off the numbness ›

Yesterday, a colleague in Indonesia told me that one of the slum areas we had visited while I was in Jakarta had been reduced to smoldering wreckage.

Blog Post: Displaced Pakistanis head home ›

Mercy Corps dispatched assessment teams to determine how we can best support returning families; in Mingora, we are working to improve the water supply for more than 25,000 people.

Blog Post: Peace and clean on Independence Day ›

Independence Day is an occasion for all Indonesians to be proud of their beautiful and diverse country — but that seems even more so for the neighborhood of Urimessing.

Blog Post: Dresses to the displaced ›

Last month, Pakistani women who'd been trained by Mercy Corps to make handicrafts contacted our local staff with a wish to tailor dresses for children displaced by the recent fighting.

Blog Post: Exploring Jakarta's hidden city ›

Today we brought more than a dozen Mercy Corps staff to Penjaringan, Jakarta's biggest slum — to continue the writing and photography training we began yesterday.

Blog Post: Memories and departure ›

The first time that Indonesia really came into my consciousness was the early morning of December 26, 2004. Almost five years later, I'm on my way to Jakarta, Indonesia's capital.

Blog Post: Generosity and play in the hardest of times ›

Here in the Pakistani city of Mardan, displaced families are starting to move home after nearly three months sweltering in the hot tents of makeshift camps.

Blog Post: Life returns to Pakistan's Swat Valley ›

Mercy Corps President Nancy Lindborg, currently in Pakistan's conflict-riddled Swat Valley, writes that thousands of displaced residents of Swat are finally returning home.

Blog Post: Thank you letters from displaced Pakistani children ›

Blog Post: Update from Pakistan ›

Holden Basch, who spent the last two months running our emergency program in Pakistan, provides a status report.