Beginnings and Ends

So last night was a bit about hellos and farewells. We cycled up to Inge’s house which is by the market to have a farewell dinner. Inge is a Belgian lady who works for the International Committee of the Red Cross at a rehabilitation hospital here (mainly physical therapy and prosthetics). She has been here for about 2 years and for the year I have been here it has pretty much been just me, Thierry and her as the only foreigners. She is a lovely person and we will miss her.

As well as her, Thierry himself is leaving after an unbelievable 3 years in the Speu (surely a record!). He is probably moving on to a job in Vietnam so hopefully I will get a chance to catch up with sometime cos he is a cool dude. His replacement Marie-Helene just arrived and she seems really cool as well and she is bringing her family in tow (2 kids and a partner). So when I arrive back from Oz the foreigner of Kampong Speu will consist of 4 Belgians (two adults, two kids) and me! I have heard there are some fly in fly out foreigners but I have never seen them.

So I think I will move house when I get back. There is no point having this massive house with just me. So I think Marie-Helene and her family can have this place and I will move into the landlady’s house across the road. A few WFP staff board there and it’s living with her family so it might be a bit more of a cultural experience for me. I will have my own space (kitchen, bedroom, bathroom) so it’s probably a good balance. I haven’t actually seen it yet but I will check it out soon.

Its a bit sad seeing people coming and going but I guess that life, the friends I make like Anna and Cristy (although Cristy is working for CARE over here now) who used to work at WFP as well as other random friends like Stephanie and Alexa (hey development is dominated by women don’t you know!) always seem to be packing up and leaving just as we become good friends. But it’s kind of interesting becoming the old hand at things.

Ummm apart from that I am being stalked by Blinky. On Friday he jumped on my head and freaked me out and Thierry said that last night after I went to bed and closed the door that Blinky made his way around the walls and under my door. Creepy.

Last week I was out at Pursat province (a province we are expanding our operations in) which was nice. Mostly focused on assessing the new partner in the Maternal and Child Health Program. They seem competent but we are unsure about their resources to actually achieve it. But as usual field experience always gets ridden over by the policy wonks at the country office. One thing I have learnt is that AusAID was not so peculiar in this way :)

We were out at one site and this mother put her kid in the basket of her bike and it looked so cute (well all the kids over here are so cute!) that Mony insisted that I run to the car and get my camera. Pursat is also famous for stone so I bought a cool Jayavaraman VII head (of Bayon temple fame). I am flirting with the idea of having something unique carved as a good memento.

At the office I have been preparing the business plan for next year and the process was so much easier than last year so that’s an encouraging sign. Also in light of the Algerian bombings where the UN offices were bombed and many people killed (including 1 WFP staff member) we are doing security upgrades at the office.

So the other night I bubble wrapped the hell out of a few presents I have bought so I am geared up to return to Oz but before that from Wednesday to Friday we have our annual retreat which will be fun. Apparently I am riding in the rear security car of the convoy. Not really sure what that means but sounds fun :).