Sylvia's Journal

I am official now, with an updated ID card. My last card was from 2002. I am a little greyer now. Slowly all the settling in pieces are falling into place. The only things missing are my multiple entry Indian ‘escape’ visas (not easy to get, and particularly hard after the bomb damage), my work permit and my multiple entry visa to Afghanistan.

It is starting to get really cold in the morning, time for warm socks. My office is heated by the sun but the sun doesn’t get to me until sometime after lunch.It’s very hard to dress for these temperature extremes, from 30s to 70s and back to 30s. Winterization is starting and consists of the placement of small diesel stoves in our offices and bedrooms. I am told the diesl stoves are actually a little bit too large for my small office and so soon I will be sweating again. I have also been warned of the diesel fumes. It’s good that there are cracks between the floor and the door.

I am experiencing the novelty of being senior management on a daily basis. My opinion is very highly valued because it is no longer simply an opinion but an opinion that can quickly turn into a decision. People line up outside my office for this or that and they are waiting patiently outside until I wave them in. At least I can see them; Steve has an office without glass, so he sometimes doesn’t know people are waiting outside his door. I don’t know what is better.

We received the news tonight that the (re)elections are scheduled in 2 weeks. I can’t imagine that the election apparatus can pull this off but I guess people must have been prepared. The elections will be happen just about when Axel was planning to arrive, a decision we thus may need to revisit. I am getting a bit lonely without him.

For dinner tonight we had dishes prepared by one of the cooks who has applied for the new guesthouse position. It was our way of ‘interviewing’ him. We had him prepare a meal for our current guesthouse under the supervision of our cook. The meal was excellent. We will have another guest cook in the next few days. And on Thursday I will interview the housekeeper. I don’t quite know how to conduct such an interview, which will have to be with an interpreter. What should I ask him? I may be as much intimidated as he will be.

We shared our meal with a gentleman who is in town doing similar stuff that I do for another large organization like MSH that has a strong and large presence in Afghanistan. He is investigating how to turn an expat-managed and led project into an Afghan-managed and led project. MSH has much hard-earned experience about how to do this.

I enjoyed meeting with him as we turned out to be kindred spirits. He also comes from a family therapy background and has turned into an OD consultant and leadership developer. He has been very active working on peace and reconciliations as well as trauma response in conflict areas around the world.