Peter

"Isn't it always warm in Africa?"

This question I got from my good friend Liv a few hours ago, when I told her that it is freezingly cold here in Nairobi (Kenya), where I'm working concentrated with my director this week. Of course it is not, and she knows that, but since she is coming to visit me in less than two weeks I can understand her worry. And even though I knew Nairobi would be cold at this time, it anyhow surprises me that it is actually that bad. I think it's even below an average April day in Denmark, honestly.

Saturday I will take the bus back to Kampala - and back to a far more decent temperature. There I will meet with my old friend from MS Pernille, who is at this very moment stuck in Heathrow Airport because a car crashed into the plane (best reason for a delay I've ever heard). In Uganda, Pernille will also work as a Development Worker, and she will be based in Adjumani, only 3-4 hours drive from me. And she will even be working with an organisation which is a kind of a sister organisation to NSEA where I work. They also received support from Operation Day's Work like we did, and they are also part of a new Civic Education programme in Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan that we have just been granted funds from Danida to implement. So maybe we will even get the pleasure of working together again, just as we did with Next Stop Serbia and a lot of activities within MS. Anyway, on Saturday night we will go out for a nice dinner in Kampala.

And then holiday is coming closer. I will just stop by my house and office in Koboko for a few days next week before i go to Gulu for a meeting in the MS Uganda Policy Advisory Board (PAB). And after that Liv will arrive together with Dines and Julie. And a week later Ida Maria, Nina, Lotte and Tanja will follow, and the whole of July we will be touring Uganda. You can read a bit about what we might experience here (It's a bit silly, but I guess that's how I am. And then you can also get an idea of what you can expect if you also choose to come and visit me.

That's all for now. It's coming to 1 AM, and tomorrow we will have a meeting with our Dutch partner about a new 3 year grant. So I guees I'd better crawl down under the heavy duvet and get some sleep before that.

Take care,

Peter

New Challenges

This is an article I wrote to NSEA's internal newsletter shortly after my arrival.

Monday 18^th of October I had my fist day at work at NSEAs office in Koboko as new Organisational Advisor (Danish Development Worker from MS-Uganda). Having finally arrived coming all the way from Denmark, I was of course very excited and curious about what this would mean to me: Not only did I start on a new job, I had also left my family, friends and usual way of everyday living in Denmark behind. Now I suddenly found myself in Koboko with a group of new colleagues, who fortunately welcomed me in a very friendly and helpful atmosphere.

However, I almost did not have the time to unpack my suitcase in Koboko before I went back on the road. As the actual work of NSEA is carried out inside Southern Sudan, of course I had to go there myself and get introduced to the activities and people involved. That trip took me to the Resource Centres in Nimule, Kajo Keji, Yei and Rubeke, as well as farther away to the construction site of the new NSEA head office in Maridi. And as if that was not enough, I shortly after went to Nairobi to get aquainted with the present Headquartes there. From wherever I went on this long trip, I obviously learned a lot.

Now I am back in Koboko on a short notice, before I again will take off to Maridi. Sitting here in the office, all my impressions from the extensive travelling are slowly beginning to be digested in my mind, and my ideas about what my work will actually consist of is becoming more and more clearly shaped.

First and foremost I am impressed! For the last two years, I worked in Denmark as Director of OD, the Danish Student's Organisation that back in 1999 organised many thousands of students to collect funds for the support of quality education in Southern Sudan. With this background I have of course read many reports about the activities in the Resource Centres, about the progress of the work as well as the constraints mainly with gender sensitivity. From these reports I learned that the activities of NSEA are sometimes carried out under very difficult circumstances, and now having the privilege to meet the staff and LMCs of the Resource Centres myself, I am very happy to see the commitment and positive will – despite whatever challenges and delays there might be from place to place.

But of course I was also able to see that there is a reason why NSEA requested for somebody like me to be here now. With the success of NSEA so far, circumstances naturally change and new challenges will always arise. Because stakeholders at all levels of the organisation are so committed to the cause of the work, whatever progress is made will hardly seem enough, and small frustrations from time to time are unavoidable here like in any other hard working organisation. However, this appears to me is exactly why the management of NSEA has acknowledged the need for a considerably higher degree of harmonistaion of the different programmes. With that, the time for increased coherence within the administration and management of the activities has also arrived, and my humble task here is to contribute in whatever way I may be capable to this visionary and ambitious process, that can only become reality with the full partication and cooperation of everybody involved, be it in Nairobi, Koboko, Yei, Rubeke, Nimule, Kajo Keji, Maridi - or wherever else we will work in the future.

The task is not easy, though, because changes one place in the organisation will have impact other places as well. It is very important to think all steps through, and patience is definitely the key word here. Nevertheless, I am very optimistic that we shall progress, and I am delighted with the fact that I again and again will get the opportunity to enjoy the friendly hospitality of all the people I met on my introductory trip. Together we shall share our ideas and enjoy ripe mangos – all for our common interest of promoting quality education. Meanwhile, I will hopefully also find time to finish unpacking my suitcase here in Koboko.