Gonna Take Me a Lot to Drag Me Away From You

I don't remember the last time I wrote here. It's been a while, I know. And there have been a lot of changes. Well, not lots. But some really big ones.

More specifically, I have moved. 

From here:

This would be Haiti (on an awesome hike from Furcy to Jacmel)

To here:

From - the baby elephant orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya

Via almost 2 months spent here:

the Emerald Isle of Eire (aka Ireland)

So, yeah... that kept me kinda busy. So sorry for not writing in ages. I'll catch up over the next little while to share what happened in these locations and why Kenya is the place to be at the moment. 

(ok ok, just a little taster...

Job ended in Haiti, no option or desire to renew;

Had a free place to stay in Ireland for December;

Went back for January and orientation with the new job

in Kenya. Where I now live)

Details to come...

And bonus points to whoever first gets where the title of this post came from.

I love my job

I love my job. 

Out for a wander through the community

I love that I love my job. 

I love that I am an aid professional. 

I love that even though I am an aid professional, I still have so much to learn. 

I love that there is always something new to learn.

I love that every day is different. 

I love that I spend some days in the office with a fan directed at my face using my creative juices to write reports to donors.

I love that I spend some days organising logistics to collect data for assessments.

I love that one day recently, the highlight of my day was negotiating to hire moto taxi drivers for the 5 days, for the above mentioned transportation. And succeeding - for the price and time we wanted. 

I love that some days, I work on budgets and with numbers and that it all makes my head go a little wacko (oh, numbers...). 

Crazy Rural Roads

I love that some days, I climb mountains and traverse horrendous mountain roads to prep communities for a donor / VIP visit. 

I love that I am passionate about monitoring and evaluating projects, constantly learning from mistakes, striving to create and implement the best projects.

I love that I get to consult with communities about what their needs are, and how we can work together to meet them. 

I love that I get to network with other INGOs  and local NGO partners to share information, build capacity, and provide assistance and advice. It feels like we are all in this together.

I love that I get to rub shoulders with people from the UN, EU, US government, and more. Ok, it makes me feel a little important (oh, it would for you too!). 

I love that adventure, travel, and new experiences are a constant part of the job. 

I love that by the time my passport expires, I will have (hopefully) been to 30 countries, and have needed additional pages, and filled all of them completely.  

I love that I can get frustrated, scared, feel inadequate, feel like I conquered the world, and feel extremely content and proud - all within a single 18 hour work day. 

I love that when I was looking for new jobs and actually got to the point to consider applying for work outside of the INGO sector that I actually had no idea what else I could do. 

***

I love my job. 

I love that I love my job.