The Memoirs of Marta...
Just yestarday, out of the blue, I realized that I no longer work for Adra. And it really hit me hard. The team we had in our office was great and towards the time I was leaving it crystalized into a close bunch of people that I was really sad to leave... but this is not what the post is to be about...
I realized what an extraordinary time I had working for this organization and maybe once I will continue...
My main responsibilities were managing humanitarian and developing projects in the region of Asia. And already now, being in my new work for three weeks, I am starting to appreciate even more the work that Adra is doing.
During the year and a half I managed to meet many amazing people and see great work being done. Work for Adra was tough and many times very time consuming. But it was work that had a reason and that is what I enjoyed.
... few months after starting my work in Adra, I was to help with reorganizing documentation and management of one project that was being implemented in Bangladesh. In October 2007, I got to fly to Bangladesh and visit places where the project was implemented. It was not my first time to visit a developing country but it was still an eye-opening experience - seeing what impact the project activities may have as well as the ways of managing it... not all was to my satisfaction but maybe that gave me also some sense of what to look for in project implementation and what does it mean to do monitoring, how to ensure projects are implemented as planned, to the satisfaction of beneficiaries and while utilizing the financial resources effectively .
In the spring of 2008, two big projects that I was handling were being finalized. They were two projects that were implemented since 2005 dealing with the disaster that tsunami left in South-East Asia. I spent some 2,5 weeks visiting the sights in south of Thailand and in Sumatra, Indonesia as a part of my monitoring visit. The work that was done on the projects was good and hearing stories and witnessing others' organizations work, I must say that Adra did really good job with financial resources available. Visitting Thailand was really interesting also due to other reasons. I met with some really interesting people working on our projects and had long conversations on issues connected with work in such organizations, I till now I am really grateful for having such opportunity. I met some more great people in Indonesia, and it is amazing to hear the stories of people that work in Adra, what they have achieved and what are their dreams.
Another amazing event was going to Kenya for a several day seminar on Monitoring and Evaluation. I met many people from accross Africa and spend great time there interacting during sessions as well as after. One of the participants was a young guy from Sierra Leone and I was shocked to hear that he was one of those standing in a line to be shot in a head but saved... It is incredible through how much terror Africa has been going through... and the worst is, it keeps on going on and on with new conflicts and indicents arising constantly...
I also met an amazing local who enabled me to explore his country and for the first time I got to see Safari and wild animals in their true environment which was an unforgettable experience... I wont ever forget the feeling of serenity that I felt waking up in the middle of Masay Mara ... trees covering our tent, view of the river passing by... sunrise, light breeze and silence... I wished we had more time to pass by there... to absorb all...
Already being in Kenya, they were new projects launched in Prague to help the victims of cyclone Nargis in Myanmar and earthquake in China. I was responsible for both countries. Through public collections and government we managed to support three projects in Myanmar and two in China.
The sad part about this was, when I realized what a huge role media play even in our work. We worked so hard getting as much information from Myanmar as possible and we were thrilled Adra started helping victims in delta within few days... but our news industry decided that what they want to present is that no international organization has access to Myanmar and that the MM government does not allow humanitarian work to be done in delta... so no matter what information we were supplying them with, for weeks and weeks they would not acknowledge the truth. By doing so we missed a great opportunity to fundraise more money that could be straight away wired to Myanmart to help those suffering.
In September I flew to Myanmar and Cambodia. I speant extraordinary time in Myanmar and I met again amazing people. It is incredible to see in what conditions humanitarian workers are able to provide help for others, and what long hours and weekends they devote to their work. But seing the mizery of those who suffered and knowing that late provision of food may be the reason of death of some, I guess does not leave much time for thought...
The last trip was to Georgia in November 2008. There were two things striking, how a country may differ depending on what people you meet.
Anyways... so far that is for my todays' reflection... I have problems to put my thoughts and feelings into words... but I wanted to write it down anyways...
I realized what an extraordinary time I had working for this organization and maybe once I will continue...
My main responsibilities were managing humanitarian and developing projects in the region of Asia. And already now, being in my new work for three weeks, I am starting to appreciate even more the work that Adra is doing.
During the year and a half I managed to meet many amazing people and see great work being done. Work for Adra was tough and many times very time consuming. But it was work that had a reason and that is what I enjoyed.
... few months after starting my work in Adra, I was to help with reorganizing documentation and management of one project that was being implemented in Bangladesh. In October 2007, I got to fly to Bangladesh and visit places where the project was implemented. It was not my first time to visit a developing country but it was still an eye-opening experience - seeing what impact the project activities may have as well as the ways of managing it... not all was to my satisfaction but maybe that gave me also some sense of what to look for in project implementation and what does it mean to do monitoring, how to ensure projects are implemented as planned, to the satisfaction of beneficiaries and while utilizing the financial resources effectively .
In the spring of 2008, two big projects that I was handling were being finalized. They were two projects that were implemented since 2005 dealing with the disaster that tsunami left in South-East Asia. I spent some 2,5 weeks visiting the sights in south of Thailand and in Sumatra, Indonesia as a part of my monitoring visit. The work that was done on the projects was good and hearing stories and witnessing others' organizations work, I must say that Adra did really good job with financial resources available. Visitting Thailand was really interesting also due to other reasons. I met with some really interesting people working on our projects and had long conversations on issues connected with work in such organizations, I till now I am really grateful for having such opportunity. I met some more great people in Indonesia, and it is amazing to hear the stories of people that work in Adra, what they have achieved and what are their dreams.
Another amazing event was going to Kenya for a several day seminar on Monitoring and Evaluation. I met many people from accross Africa and spend great time there interacting during sessions as well as after. One of the participants was a young guy from Sierra Leone and I was shocked to hear that he was one of those standing in a line to be shot in a head but saved... It is incredible through how much terror Africa has been going through... and the worst is, it keeps on going on and on with new conflicts and indicents arising constantly...
I also met an amazing local who enabled me to explore his country and for the first time I got to see Safari and wild animals in their true environment which was an unforgettable experience... I wont ever forget the feeling of serenity that I felt waking up in the middle of Masay Mara ... trees covering our tent, view of the river passing by... sunrise, light breeze and silence... I wished we had more time to pass by there... to absorb all...
Already being in Kenya, they were new projects launched in Prague to help the victims of cyclone Nargis in Myanmar and earthquake in China. I was responsible for both countries. Through public collections and government we managed to support three projects in Myanmar and two in China.
The sad part about this was, when I realized what a huge role media play even in our work. We worked so hard getting as much information from Myanmar as possible and we were thrilled Adra started helping victims in delta within few days... but our news industry decided that what they want to present is that no international organization has access to Myanmar and that the MM government does not allow humanitarian work to be done in delta... so no matter what information we were supplying them with, for weeks and weeks they would not acknowledge the truth. By doing so we missed a great opportunity to fundraise more money that could be straight away wired to Myanmart to help those suffering.
In September I flew to Myanmar and Cambodia. I speant extraordinary time in Myanmar and I met again amazing people. It is incredible to see in what conditions humanitarian workers are able to provide help for others, and what long hours and weekends they devote to their work. But seing the mizery of those who suffered and knowing that late provision of food may be the reason of death of some, I guess does not leave much time for thought...
The last trip was to Georgia in November 2008. There were two things striking, how a country may differ depending on what people you meet.
Anyways... so far that is for my todays' reflection... I have problems to put my thoughts and feelings into words... but I wanted to write it down anyways...
posted by Mart'a at 5:54 PM
2 Comments:
yeah, yeah..stop bragging :)
I've been to Laos too ...he..he
but i did not write about Laos :p
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