Today is my first day with the Somalia country team. After the customary meet and greet of all staff, including a regional director who I desperately wanted to inform how this organization screwed me out of a job a few months ago, I sit down to read massive amounts of documents on the organization and Somalia. I am also invited to a meeting but I realize quickly that I must be pro-active in asking to attend various meetings or I will do nothing else but read documents on my computer. Since I am still living in Westland and not at the organization's guesthouse, I have access to the organization's taxi service. Between the hours of 5 and 7pm, the traffic in Nairobi is atrocious. My patience escapes me and road rage is in effect. Typically I can last 30 minutes of drivers creating roadblocks and no I mean zero sense of order. During complete this complete ridiculousness I understand why the driver taking me home says - "If I had the option, I would get out of Nairobi." I am happy to be here - I just know that I will be even happier with a full salaried job and at peace with losing a friend.
Day twenty-four
The sector that I am most knowledgeable on and care most about is education. With the Somalia program that I working is thus far only doing agriculture and livelihood, and water, sanitation, and hygiene or WASH or even worse WATSAN - acronyms that the IGOs and NGOs use. Honestly I find when development workers speak mostly in acronyms they appear far less knowledgeable and sincere. I know very little about either sector, for example the distribution of lactating goats, and I am excited to learn.I arrange to meet with both of the program managers this week to help me build a picture on what this organization is doing in Somalia in comparison to the needs and where if possible can I squeeze in education. I happily find out that part of a European Union grant requires a project involving education. Blurry yes but it can be to the country program's advantage.
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