I thought it was about time that I gave you a little peek into office life at WFP. I work in an office with 2 other guys. One of them is a Serbian, Darko Petrovic, who has been working in the Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping area. For those of you who are not in the development world, here is a definition of what it entails: (ahem..read the Vam part only if interested.)
VAM is a WFP information tool for targeting who are the hungry poor and where they live. It is an analytical tool as it inquires about the causes of their hunger and tries to answer hown food aid can make a difference. It provides WFP decision makers with food security and vulnerability information as well as monitoring tools to effectively implement.VAM efforts are guided by five fundamental questions:
- Who are food insecure and hungry?
- Where do they live?
- How many are they?
- Why are they vulnerable to food insecurity and hunger?
- How can food aid make a difference in reducing their vulnerability to food insecurity?
Anyway, Darko is a tall, charming, super multi-lingual guy(Wolof, German, Serbian, French, Italian) who is fun to work with. He is the one pictured with me below. Some of his VAM analysis on the bullitin board to our right. It is a lot more impressive when seen in person. You can also see a palm tree and sunshine right outside our window. The weather is really beautiful at this time of year but it is slowly starting to inch up in temperature.
The occasion we are celebrating in the pictures is Darko's new position as a UNV in Muangdau,Myanmar. He had been going through the process for a couple of months and was offered an opportunity to stay in The Gambia, but the guy instinct kicked in. Muangdau is the right in the middle of a Serbian style conflict with the Muslim population and armed fighting and insurgencies. That would be the last thing that I want to do but he is pumped.
Darko brought in a bunch of snacks and drinks, including champagne (no he did not get fired for that). The goup in the picture below are those who came for the festivities. The woman in the flowered dress is a Gambian who spent 10 years going to school in Canada. Apparently most of the American slang is also Canadian slang. I asked her what part of the states she was. from (because of the slang and accent) and she told me in no uncertain terms that she was Gambian. The Canadian bit came out later in the conversation. The lady sitting on Darko's lap is the number 2 person for the UN in the Gambia. That involves many more organizations than the WFP. The woman with the white shirt behind her is Tersita Mosquera, who is the programme officer for the WFP, and is my counterpart (as the Peace Corps terms it). The girl with the green scarf around her neck Isatou Njai, our local fashionista. She is always perfectly dressed and accessorized and wears some of the tallest heels I have ever seen. Some days she towers over me. Needless to say her family has money. She has applied to get her masters degree from a university in Windsor, Ontario -- she is a sharp cookie so I hope she gets in. BTW my desk is in front of the green bulletin board at the back of the picture
The last picture is the terrible trio who share our office. The man on the left is Dean Tunkara. He is half Gambian and half British and was raised in Great Britain. He has had an interesting life and done a lot of crazy things in the past, including being a recording artist and actor. But I am sure the pinnacle moment in his life is working with me on Monitoring and Evaluation (AKA project management for development). The three of us have quite a bit of fun together so I will miss Darko when he leaves. Today he dropped the bombshell that he was taking Isatou Njai (the fashionista) to a wedding today. He and Dean have been regularly harrassing her when she comes in the office so I should have known something was up. An Interesting thing about weddings here, they don't invite people until the last minute and then send out a general invitation via email or phone call. Can you imagine the Bridezillas in America dealing with that?
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