Summary: In the summer of 2017, Niv Rabino had just wrapped up a mission helping with the refugee crisis in Greece. He flew home to Israel, hoping to relax. But when he landed, news of Hurricane Harvey's devastation compelled him to rush back to the airport, and head to Texas. What's more, he had a personal connection to the tragedy: His niece had been visiting Houston, and was stuck for days on the second floor of a flooded house. Rabino hasn't left Houston since. For the past year, he's made the city his home. He's now working on long-term relief efforts, and helping the community rebuild and be better prepared for the next storm. Rabino works for the Tel Aviv-based humanitarian relief agency IsraAid. Like the Red Cross and Americares, IsraAid travels to the scenes of natural disasters. They've been busy in recent years. After a cyclone roared through Vanuatu, and an earthquake rattled Nepal, and a flood ravaged West Virginia, IsraAid ran to the rescue. They've gone on missions to the South Sudan, Japan, India, Sierra Leone, and the Philippines, just to name a few. They send teams of Israelis to help with rescue efforts, clean up and to help victims with the psychological toll of surviving a natural disaster. On today's episode, we catch up with Rabino to chat about the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Harvey, other global spots where IsraAid is on the ground and a unique program the group operates to train the next generation of Humanitarians. For behind the scenes access to our show, please join the "Our Friend from Israel" Facebook group. For additional notes, photos and a transcript of this episode, please visit www.ourfriendfromisrael.com.
