O.H.C.

I absentmindedly watched a man playing on the beach with some of the small native children as I received my assignment. “You will be supervised by Adam Miller”, the instructor concluded “he has a PhD in sociology from Arizona State University and he is the founder of Operation: Human Compassion. You are very lucky to be working with him. Here, I’ll have him come over and meet you.” I was still watching the man on the beach, and smiled as I watched him throw a joyously screaming little girl into the waves. “Oy! Adam!” the instructor shouted. I was surprised when I saw the man on the beach look up and start running over. This was Adam Miller? The guy looked like a hobo! As he reached us he ran his hand through long, tangled, reddish-brown hair, then rubbed sand out of his thick unkempt beard before smiling and reaching out to shake my hand.
“Hey! Welcome to paradise! I’m Adam!” he boomed out as he nearly crushed my hand in an iron grip. I noticed him wink at Derek my instructor, when he said the paradise part. “Um..Hi I’m Katie” I stammered in response. Despite the fact that I was slightly overwhelmed by this incredibly friendly stranger, I couldn’t resist returning his broad smile.
When I had signed up for this project I had been looking for something that would look good on my application to graduate school. I was planning on working with a team in an air-conditioned office, crunching numbers and looking for solutions to some of the economic troubles on the island. I had heard about Adam Miller. He was known back in the states as a philanthropic genius, although the details of his projects and his personal life were admittedly something of a mystery. When I arrived at O.H.C. headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand I was shocked to learn that instead of being added to a team in an area where O.H.C. was well established, I was going to be shipped off to a unpronounceable pacific island where Mr. Miller was trying to start a new branch.