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["I can't say who my informants are .......this might endanger them...."] Tuesday October 19th 9:36pm (Candles again, No Generator, No phone) The last few days have been really Hectic, trying to get my reports finished. Peter really slowed me done doing the book-keeping. I would have been much quicker doing it myself. He kept on trying to find the right budget code for the receipt in his hand, and got really concerned when he couldn't find a budget code to fit the receipt. He was really concerned about the food we purchased (we haven't paid the money yet), saying there is no budget line for the food. He kept on saying that the food is donated by the International Food Programme and that our main programme donor wouldn't pay for it. I find it a bit hard to believe that our donor will go through every single receipt. I told him that the reason why we purchased the food was that it was an emergency and there wasn't enough food in the feeding centre for the little children. At that point Peter walked out of the room a bit upset. I am really concerned about Peter's attitude, he sort of wants to run the office like it were in Europe or Australia with lots of rules and following the regulations, I really believe his expectations of professionalism are way to high in this type of environment. I came here to help these people and get something done, not set up a bureaucracy. In the end I told Peter that I would finish the book-keeping by myself, he seemed pretty concerned and said he was feeling sick and went home, in the end I finished by Saturday afternoon ready for car to Freetown on Monday. I also finished the Situation Report, this took a long time. I had to visit some of my informants in town and try and keep a low profile so as not to be to suspicious. I can't say who my informants are as this might endanger them if anyone reads this diary. I think the main thing is to get people's confidence and overtime they will give you good information. I talk a lot to the drivers especially Abdul about the overall situation. We have a good time in Mobile No16 (that's INGO talk for a 4WD Land Cruiser), Abdul has really cool African music in his car like Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Tracey Chapman. He talks a lot about the war and how it was. It sounded really scary. The rebels sounded really crazy with heaps of child soldiers everywhere. Maybe some of those kids are still hanging around here. I better be a bit more careful after a few drinks. Well I got some good information and put it in my Situation Report, I think Laurent will be really happy that I was able to get so much information so quickly. I have to write all my reports by hand as I still don't have a generator, hopefully I will get the generator this week so I can open the computer to get my Job description and Claude's handover. I still haven't found the security document and maps, they were supposed to be in the safe. I asked Laurent to send me them from Freetown, so hopefully I will get them this week as well. Ok I will write soon and thanks to all the contributors to the discussion board. |
Dave (me) Claudia
Angelina Ricardo
Claude Christian
Jen Petra
Bono
Anne Peter
Veronique Richard
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