I’m on a flight from Mogadishu to Nairobi (27 Nov.). I feel like it’s
the first time I’ve had a chance to stop and think given the busy week I’ve
had.
Every once in a while, I like to record the events of one of
my days it to remind me someday in the future of what my life was like. While
this particular day was not noteworthy (like meeting Jane Goodall or arriving on the summit Kilimanjaro), it does provide a glimpse into what I do for a living.
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| sunrise in Mogadishu (from our roof) |
Yesterday I woke up to the sound of the call to prayer, as I often do in Mogadishu. It’s
not thunderingly loud but it’s audible enough to wake a light sleeper like me.
In fact there are several early morning calls and they are not all at the same
time. This one, from a mosque closer to where I stay, was around 4am. As is the case often with me, I was not able
to return to sleep. Once my mind begins thinking about the obligations ahead,
I’m generally doomed. After a vain attempt at going back to sleep, I got up and
officially began my day.
First thing is a cold shower. We don’t have hot water in our
guesthouse so I’m used to it by now. Usually it’s quite hot and humid so the
adjustment to the cool water isn’t bad.
This time, however, it’s rainy season and both the weather and the water
coming out of the pipes were cooler. Feels good when your body adjusts to it
but it’s a bit unpleasant in the beginning.
My dad is currently in the hospital so I used the early
morning to catch up on what was going on and any other emails that came in during
the night. The communication tools are so much better than they were when I
first moved overseas in the late 80’s. Back then it was basically a letter or
an occasional expensive phone call. Thankfully it’s much easier to maintain close contact with family
and friends.
I also get quite a few emails from NY and, as morning hits in
East Africa, the night owls on the East Coast are finishing up and going to bed. So I usually scan
for messages that are more urgent or possibly quickly addressed. The rest I
leave for later since I have other things I need to do to prepare for the day.
The focus of this week has been senior management meetings. A couple of times a year I pull
together top leadership our various field locations and Nairobi for face to face meetings. We meet bi-weekly electronically but this is
more of a 3-day retreat where we (about 20 of us) dig a bit deeper into
thornier issues and sort out the way forward. We discussed our flood response
in southwest Somalia. We sorted out some supply chain issues. Implementation of a new
enterprise management system. Etc. For an extrovert, it’s an energizing time
since the days are long and full. For an introvert, it can suck the life out of
you.
The official meetings ended at 4pm and I was escorted to a meeting
of our women at work group. I started our organization’s first such group in
Burundi back in 2011. At the time we had a rather masculine leadership team,
most of whom I inherited when I arrived in 2010. The purpose of the W@W group
was primarily to give women a greater voice in the organization. I knew I
couldn’t go through and start removing male staff, for legal reasons if nothing
else. In the end the group was a huge success and they are still thriving
today. In fact W@W is now a global initiative for our organization after its
humble beginnings back in Bujumbura.
About 20 or so women dressed in their colorful hijabs were
all crammed into a rather small office. It was an impressive sight, to be
honest. There are some strong willed ladies in our organization and I can see
that they’ll be taking full advantage of this group to make sure that the
interests of women are recognized and addressed.
Unfortunately I couldn’t stay long. After less than fifteen
minutes I was pulled away to a phone interview with a US-based news
organization. It’s hard to say how often I get contacted for such interviews
but it happens from time to time, particularly when there is an acute
humanitarian situation unfolding. In this case the topic was the flooding in
southwest Somalia.
The call lasted for about 20 minutes and afterwards I was told
that the article is likely to be published in the next couple of days. They
said they’d send me the link once its posted. Since NY set up the interview,
they generally receive the link and push it out through various outlets.
At this point I hoping to have some down time before a call
with NY at 6:30pm. This would not happen as I was pulled into a meeting with HR
to discuss a rather sensitive personnel situation.
Finally I was back in my room to take the evening phone
meeting. In fact, in spite of the inconvenience of the timing, it was a
particularly interesting discussion. This task force deals with sticky
humanitarian access issues. For example, one challenge we face is when donor
governments, particularly the US but not only the US, place certain restrictions
on what type of support can be provided and to whom. They call the shots since
it’s their funding. But sometimes these restrictions can be somewhat
politically motivated. It can relate to access to reproductive health services
or potential unintended support to people associated with terrorist groups or
something else. It’s up to us to determine how we feel about the restrictions,
whether or not they are in line with international humanitarian law or whether
they might compromise our own principles as a humanitarian organization in
making sure people in need get the support they desperately need.
As interesting as the call was, I was happy when it reached
its end and I could shut my brain down for the day. I clicked on a US football
game (streaming TV was something that I was unable to do my residence in Mogadishu a couple years ago)
and went to the staff mess to serve up some dinner. Camel. Some fish. Rice, of course. A few veggies for decoration.
I was off to bed early as is my norm. I need to sleep with the AC on. Can't open windows due to the mosquitoes (the screens on the windows are weathered to the point of not being functional and it's too hot anyway). The white sound of the AC and the cool room help me sleep. I did hear a couple of nearby gunshots but it wasn't the kind of thing that sounded hostile. Soon I would drift off to sleep, happy that I would be back with the family the next day.
