I am so stressed at the moment. There are so many issues going on
with the program. Things aren't happening and it's driving me insane. I
have an end of 2008 timeline hanging over my head and we're already 3
months behind schedule.
My WatSan program is at a
standstill with an overpricing investigation, and until its all sorted,
the country manager won't sign any purchase orders. So, no materials are
coming in and we can't build any more toilets and wells, or install any
more septic tanks. We built a new warehouse at the beginning of January
in Along village for all the new materials we were supposed to get ages
ago... so it's been sitting there since, waiting to be filled! Our
logistics and finance people have left, leaving a massive gap. Our
'run-around guy' has taken over Logistics since the senior logistician
quit and her sidekick resigned (he was the subject of the overpricing
investigation), but he is totally unqualified and, while doing his best,
is not doing a good job. So my two engineers now refuse to work with
him out of frustration. I don't blame them - I'm as frustrated as they
are - but I think they're being a bit harsh on him.
The
last week has been bloody stressful too: we recently recruited ten new
Indonesian Red Cross volunteers, and have put them through 3 days of
PHAST (hygiene) training and 3 days of Community Development Training.
Our construction supervisors attended the CDT as well. I have been
running around playing driver to ferry people to training, because
logistics and/or my staff hadn't organised the cars properly. Today is
the final day, a full-day induction to Indonesian Red Cross
(booooriiiing!). They will all be knackered by the end! I have been
trying - quite unsuccesfully might I add - to understand the training
content, which is tiring enough in itself!
My two hygiene
promotion staff don't get along well and have been decidedly unfriendly
and unco-operative towards each other all week. Thank god there are
other people around for them to hang out with.
And
then, to top it all off, I hit someone with the car yesterday. We were
coming back from a great stress-free afternoon at the beach with all the
volunteers and staff, I was driving at night and an oncoming car
blinded me at exactly the same point where an old man was walking on the
road. He wasn't wearing visible clothing, plus there are no lights or
road markings. Luckily I only clipped his elbow, and there was no
serious injury. Our staff went back a couple of hours later to check if
he was ok or if he needed any further medical care than the traditional
massage we organised for him. He was ok, thank god. Turns out he was the
father of one of our drivers, which in some ways was good but in others
made things more difficult.
I was in shock for the
next 2 hours, and turning over and over in my head what could have
happened. Thank god nothing worse happened. I've come down sick becaues
of all the stress of the last week or so, and all I want to do is sleep.
But
it's off to the field tomorrow. We have an ARC Board member, Tsunami
Operations Manager and his assistant, plus Communications manager
coming to visit. We'll have to drive to Salang and give them a tour of
all our projects. In some ways it will be good fun, but in others I just
wish that it wasn't all happening at the same time!
Can't
wait til Thursday when all our visitors leave and I can rest. Let's
just say Easter can't come fast enough. Because the training included
working on a public holiday and a Saturday, we can take a couple of
extra days off over Easter, so I am taking my team to Lake Toba for a
bit of rest and relaxation, which should be fun :)
A week away from work will be a real refresher. Game on!
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