A New Phase

Despite all evidence to the contrary on this blog, I have been alive and well for the last eight months – just a little preoccupied. For the last two months, this preoccupation has taken the form of a new life in East Timor, where I started working on 1 June. I’m venturing into some uncharted waters for me – development, instead of relief (theoretically calmer and more compatible with a decent work/life balance!) and I’m moving away from programming, into more operational management. My new job is managing a regional program in a place called Aileu (47km south of Dili – up in the mountains so much cooler), with responsibility for programming across Aileu District, and running an office of 45 Timorese staff. This alone is a little daunting – I’ve never managed a team this large before, but I am loving it so far.

Aileu is a green town after you wind up a torturous mountain for a hundred minutes or so (most people are sick on this trip – the road is atrocious and when there is a road, it’s extremely narrow and a constant maze of switchbacks). It has rice paddies and surrounding farms, and is really one street, plus a few radiating spokes. My team is wonderful. I’m still earning their trust (Timorese take a long time to trust foreigners – they’ve been burned by them so many times), but we are really bonding and they are wonderful people. I’m really looking forward to working with them for the next two years.

So – it’s Sunday night and I’m heading to bed, but I wanted to jumpstart this blog and get it revving a little. Here’s hoping updates will be far more frequent from now on…