A Few Life Updates from Selim (Ukraine, Singapore, Running, Books)

Hi All,

As we have just started the last quarter of the year, I wanted to write this review and share what I have been doing in the last couple of months. Since the last newsletter I posted around two months ago, I went to Ukraine to support Save the Children's humanitarian programs; I attended an Effective Altruism Conference in Singapore. In addition, I continued to run and read as much as possible.

Ukraine

As I mentioned in my previous newsletter, I was deployed to Save the Children's Ukraine Response as Safeguarding Advisor from July to mid-August. First, I went to Warsaw, and Krakow, Poland, and then I crossed to Ukraine by UN Shuttle bus. I was based in Kyiv, but I have been in Lviv, Dnipro, and Chernivtsi, and I came back to Poland from Lviv by train.

As a Safeguarding Advisor, my role was to minimize the risk of harm to children, the community we serve, and my colleagues while delivering humanitarian aid to children and their families in Ukraine. Kyiv and Lviv were relatively safe, except for the?air sirens/alerts?you hear almost daily. The humanitarian situation in Ukraine is very dire as hundreds of children and people died, and millions of people were displaced, as it's the case for other emergencies like Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan, and others.??

If you'd like to learn more about what we are doing in Ukraine as Save the Children and support, you might check these links or reach out to me;?https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/where-we-work/europe/ukraine;https://www.savethechildren.org/us/where-we-work/ukraine?;?https://www.savethechildren.net/what-we-do/emergencies/ukraine-crisis

Singapore EAGxConference

In my previous newsletter posts?1,2,3,?I mentioned that I'm interested in effective altruism, the philosophical idea, and a community of hundreds of people and organizations who care deeply about the world and make helping others a significant part of their lives through their career or donations.

If you'd like to learn more about effective altruism, you may check this short?TED Talk by Peter Singer,?where he talks about why and how effective altruism, or check these websites for more in-depth information.

• Effective Altruism;?https://www.effectivealtruism.org/
• How you can do the most good with your career;?https://80000hours.org/
• How you can do the most good with your donations;?https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/

Running/Fitness&Health

This year I'm trying to have a more active life. When I was in Ukraine, I reached my maximum time/distance of running and walking as I didn't have other personal commitments on these days, and I was using running and walking to relax and boost my mental health and well-being. When I returned, I ran in the?Salt Lake Run; it was the most challenging race I have attended.

I'll continue to run, but this quarter, I have some other things I need to focus on and complete, such as my academic studies and writing. Thus, I'll be able to allocate less time and energy and time for running.?

Books

When I was in Ukraine, I read "Atomic Habits" by James Clear and "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by?Stephen R. Covey. Both of them are one of my favorite books that I read and study again and again almost every year. I also listened to the book "Awakening the Giant Within" by Tony Robbins.

In September, I read "The Precipe" by Toby Ord, "Be Your Future Self Now" by Benjamin Hardy, and "Factfulness" by Hans Rosling.

I finished reading the book "Building a Second Brain" by Tiago Forte this month. Currently, I'm listening to a book titled?"Var m?s?n?" (Are you in?)?from?Do?an Cuceloglu, a prominent Turkish Psychologist whom we lost last year.

This is all from me for now, see you next Sunday!