Iceland review - 2015, Page 40

38 ICELAND REVIEW
BY ZOË ROBERT. PHOTOS BY PÁLL STEFÁNSSON AND COURTESY OF HLÍN BALDVINSDÓTTIR.
HELPING HAND
At age 56 Hlín Baldvinsdóttir said goodbye to a job in the hotel industry and
embarked on a career in humanitarian relief. She tells Iceland Review
about working in some of the world’s most challenging spots.
Sometimes it’s really hot and there’s no
air conditioning, the camp or work
area can be a six-hour-drive from
the capital along a really bad road, there’s
seldom hot water and it takes time to find
things you need… but that’s all fine—I real-
ly don’t mind,” Hlín Baldvinsdóttir says of
the sparse living conditions she often finds
herself in during overseas missions for the
Red Cross. “I adjust really quickly. I may be
working in a country from six months up to
two years but during that time I travel a lot
between countries and also come back to
Iceland in between,” she adds.
I meet Hlín at her house in Seltjarnarnes,
located on the narrow peninsula bordering
the west of Reykjavík, six months after
returning home from her last mission.
Souvenirs, like handmade wooden animal
figurines from faraway places punctuate
her home’s interior. “Often when I leave a
place, people give me a gift. I also like to
buy small things here and there. Not so
much to have souvenirs but to support peo-
ple. People often ask for money but instead
of just giving cash, it’s much better to buy
something from people who are working,
creating something,” she explains.
SEA CHANGE
At 56 years old, Hlín made what many
would consider a late career change from
working in the hotel and travel industry to
humanitarian work. After starting out in
the hotel business at 17 years old, she went
on to operate Hotel Esja, the hotel known
today as Hilton Nordica Reykjavík, later
moving to Denmark to work in a travel
agency, and eventually expand her experi-
ence in the hotel business. After 20 years
in Denmark, she moved back to Iceland
in 1998 on a whim. “I came to Iceland to
look at my house I had inherited, to decide
whether I would continue renting it out or
sell it. I always tell people this when they
first visit because people wonder why I’m
living in such a huge house alone,” she
explains, almost apologetically. “I was only
planning to be in Iceland for ten days. I
joke that those ten days must have had
the best weather in Iceland in 200 years. It
was so sunny, so warm! I hadn’t planned on
moving back at all but I decided to stay!”
But Hlín wasn’t planning on sticking
around. Working in the hotel and tourism
industry in Denmark she had experienced
travel and an exciting life. During the
economic crisis in the nineties, humani-
tarian aid contributions from the world’s
governments were reduced. For Hlín, it
wasn’t so much a question of “helping
people” per se, but rather improving
the effectiveness of intervention among
donors and NGOs. With years of experi-
ence managing hotels’ finances, Hlín had
valuable skills she wanted to put to use
in the field, something she says she had
been thinking about for a little while. “I
thought: maybe the limited funds they
had could be better used. I wanted to try
to share my knowledge.”
At an age when many are contemplat-
ing retirement—and with no other job
offer on the table—Hlín quit her job
in Denmark and went looking for her
next big challenge. “I approached the
Danish Red Cross but they said it was for
Danes,” she says laughing, before contin-
uing: “They told me to try the Icelandic
Red Cross. By coincidence the course
necessary for new delegates, which is
only held twice a year, was being offered.
I applied, and shortly afterwards I was off
on my first mission.”
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