Sylvia's Journal

Every day the staff in our guesthouse puts a small piece of paper with a quote on my bed. Today E.B. White tells me “I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.”

The desire to improve the world is embedded in the professional life I have chosen – but when I read Meghann’s report on her work in Afghanistan with the midwives I am reminded that we can do that in difficult or easy ways, at least in terms of personal comfort. While she is experiencing the worst Afghan winter in 15 years, angry protestors that tie Kabul traffic into knots, I am strolling in end-of-august kind of warm weather to a small Greek restaurant that serves me a crisp white wine and a lovely salad. Life is not fair.

And then I read another few pages of Laurie Garrett’s Betrayal of Trust about the horrors of post USSR environmental policy and the demise of public health. How to get all that entangled is a mystery to me. I admire the folks who jumped into that mess.

Yesterday was the first time in 10 days I could sleep in but after a restless night I was wide awake at 6 AM. I had two more interviews with project staff, both had been out of the office two weeks ago when I interviewed their colleagues, to complete my exploration of what ought to be on the teambuilding program for the project staff that is schedule for the end of March. The chief took me out for dinner and we discussed what this teambuilding intervention might look like, his hopes and wishes while adding context to what I was learning.

I completed the version 2.0 of the facilitator notes for the team that will conduct the second workshop in Namibia on their own. It is just as well to hand it over to them – I am sure they will do fine. And eventually the public management institute will do fine, but not next time – that will take a little longer.

I found out that I am leaving for Lesotho very early in the morning, somehow that did not get communicated to me or I missed it. I had some idea to get to the office first but I am off south just after sunrise. And so the brief touchdown is over and I am packing my suitcase for the fourth time in two weeks.

I had a nice Skype call with Axel who is coming to the end of his consultancy in dusty and hot Abuja. He is generally pleased with the work although not everything happened on schedule. He will be heading home on Monday evening just when I start my Lesotho assignment.