Tag Archives: work

Honouring Fridays: March 13th, 2009

Mid-march already! So hard to believe it really. At home, I could mark the months with work cycles, important dates, holidays, and often seasons; here is harder to mark the passage of time as readily. The holidays are new and unfamiliar, the work cycle is totally new, and the seasons seem to wash slowly into each other like the bleeding of water colour paints. Perhaps this why time is more fluid and less structured here…thinking in larger increments of time lends itself to a more free and bigger picture way of thinking. The immediate details don’t matter…the afterlife, one’s legacy, one’s family history and sucessive generations…that is how time is truly measured in Nepal.

Nepali Straight talkers. Today I had my first productive meeting with my Global Campaign for Education-Nepal steering committee. The challenge for the past 4 months has been to try and observe, assess, and understand the organization and leave plenty of room for them to involve me where they see fit. I am very conscious of the methods other INGOs use to push their own agendas and I am very focussed on not working in that way. It is their country, their education policy, and their coalition…I can support but they need to feel comfortable with me. So, months roll by, I wait. And today, a tipping point thanks to another INGO. They had brought along a senior member of staff to observe and comment on the planning process (we are 8 reports behind schedule for our donor oganization….blech!). He was able to say the things I wasn’t – he could speak as a Nepali to another Nepali, with confidence about how things work , in a direct and constructive way. And the best part was that he was able to reinforce many of the recommendations that I had been making….so without getting too hopeful I would like to believe that this signals a productive turn in the work of the coalition. Yippee!

Cabbage. One of the most under appreciated, hardy, and satisfyingly crunchy vegetables to hit the culinary scene some centuries ago. Last night we made the most delicious sesame-soy-honey coleslaw with fresh green cabbage, carrots, red onion, and a smashing dressing. Recipe is coming soon….but wanted to remind folks that the lowly cabbage is worth a second look. Excellent in curries, instead of tortillas as wrappers for tasty fillings, in salads, pickled, in soups, as filling for tacos…consider this slogan…”where one could use lettuce….CABBAGE instead!”
M’s Family. The parents of my dear friend, M, arrived in Nepal this week. M’s mother was recently diagnosed with cancer so this trip has already been an emotional and mental preparation. A small group of us went for dinner with them this week and it was such an honour to meet them. There we moments of intense sadness and tears but also moments shining with laughter and sheer joy for being together. The poor waiters must have thought we were crazy, switching from laughing to tears in mere seconds. It was however, one of the most genuine, real, and honest moments of my time here in Nepal. Nobody tried to pretend things were okay or to create an atmosphere that felt overly celebratory. We all just shared our meal and infused our time with love, good conversation, support, warmth, understanding, and compassion…when we felt like laughing we laughed and when we felt like crying we cried.
Feeling a place through art. Other of my dear friends, and a fellow Canadian, is an exceptionally talented painter. It is a hobby but in my mind it is his true calling. He captures more vividly the mood, feeling, and inner sense of Nepal than any picture I could take with a camera. A few of his paintings are available to view on his website. His Nepal hills pulsate with purples, blues, greens and appear smoky with the haze of fog. It is always one of my favourite things to be in a place with G and then to revisit that place through his paintings.

Honouring Fridays: January 23rd, 2009

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Fridays seem like good days for reflection. They are filled with the potential of the upcoming weekend, informed by a week of learning, and harbour just the slightest innate wildness that I think make them more exciting than other days of the week. No, Fridays are not ordinary, plain or bland…and they deserve our attention. To honour Fridays, I would like to now begin my regular and weekly installment of gratitude…this week, things I am grateful for include:

Well-written policy documents and reports. After slogging through too many long and tedious government reports, I have a profound and accute appreciation for clean, simple, and fresh writing. To anyone who can infuse policy documents with such energy, I salute you!
Mah-jong. I had no idea that this incredibly old tile game was so much fun! I have taken to playing a digital version on my laptop when we are without power and immensely enjoy it. Now if only I could get my hands on a real set of tiles and a group of friends to play with…
Purna. Purna is a lovely Nepali man that we were connected with this week who is showing us around to apartments in Kathmandu. He seems to know everyone in our neighbourhood and has just the most wonderful energy. He stands only 5 feet tall, smokes like a chimney, and is a retired high-altitude guide. Without him, our quest for a Kathmandu apartment would be completely lost.
Avocado. Today I had this lovely achaar (kind of like a chutney or pickle or sauce that comes in many different flavours) that was a cilantro, onion, red chili, tomato, and avocado base. Amazing. Avacado, Nepali-style. I have new appreciation for the green fruit.

First day of work

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After 2 months of cautious observation, protection, training and coddling, this week i our first week of work.

The cautionary tales of not expecting too much, being patient, and taking everything that might happen in stride had worn us all down. In fact, our expectations were so lowered that I was thrilled to walk into my office and have a desk, chair, and binder of reading waiting for me.

Much of the week was spent reading and studying documents related to child-friendly schools, inclusive education, valuing teachers, teacher training, and complex, tedious and often circular debates by large donor agencies about just how important education is to alleviating poverty (I absolutely can agree with their arguments but let me tell you these documents do not stimulate any creativity or inspire ideas that will help to achieve their lofty goals).

Today I got my computer started up and was able to dig a bit deeper into the specifics on my job which is to provide support and advocacy advice to the Nepal Global Campaign for Education, comprised of local NGO’s and some INGO’s that are making efforts to coordinate their advocacy efforts towards the Education for All goal of 2015. It is complicated…and more so given that I am not familiar with all the development lingo, acronyms, and agencies…phewwww!

The highlight of my day happens twice = once at 9:30am and once at 2:30pm. This is chiyaa chutti (tea break) and lunch respectively. The whole office gathers to chat and read the newspaper during chiyaa – a lovely start to the day. Then at lunch, we all flock to a corner of the yard to eat our curry, rice, and dhaal for lunch. We pay ahead for a month of lunch (about 50 cents Canadian per day) and the fabulous kitchen team lovingly prepares us lunch…very very tasty! No more brown bagging when I can have a hot and fresh lunch each day!

I have yet to sort out my best mode of transport to and from work. So far I have been walking 1-hour each way which in the morning is lovely – tea in a travel mug and BBC World News through my headphones makes the time pass quickly. But the afternoon walk is just chocked with exhaust, dust, noise, people, traffic, dogs, garbage, street vendors, honking, and the odd cow that it is almost too much stimulus after a long day of work. Today I hopped the bus and it was heaven, and by heaven I mean a jostling and bumping ride full to the brim with people, with bags smacking you in the head (much like a crowded 99 bus in Vancouver but with more chaos and twice as crowded) – and still…it was heavenly compared to the walk home.

Apartment Hunting

Bandh

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Today is my first bandh. A bandh is a strike, by a organized group of workers, ethnic minorities or a union, to remind the political wheels of their desires and needs. It can involve large demonstrations, many road closures, which shuts and entire city down. Not unlike a strike in Canada in fact, except that it is announced about a week ahead to notify the citizens. We were scheduled to have class in the VSO office today but the bandha road closures have prevented staff from getting to work, so we have the day off!

This weekend I have been asked to attend a 2-day workshop entitled “Quest for Quality Education” which is organized by a number of local NGO’s. This will be my first opportunity to meet the partners who form the coalition, the Global Campaign for Education, Nepal, for whom I work. Nerves, anticipation, anxiety, and excitment abound – will I have the right skills? Will I be of use? Can I do this work? Nothing I can answer yet, but hoping this workshop will put my mind to rest a little bit.

Sustaining myself on the people

As I enter into the final 24 hours of my work at UBC, I am just so touched by the people I have worked with over the past 3 years. They have made my final week brim with expressions of warmth, friendship, encouragement, and support. This both reaffirms my belief that people are the centre of any great community AND that community is an opt-in, choose-to-belong experience. If you choose to be “in” then belonging never really leaves you, regardless of where you are. I will always consider myself a member of the UBC community and feel incredibly rich in spirit to have been allowed the opportunity to work with such a talented bunch.

Thank you to everyone who has made my final week at UBC simply amazing. I leave full of gratitude, hope, and boundless inspiration from all of you.