Work

Just screwing around with the mirror.

What!?
Apnar somosa ki?

I started "real" work this week. After a meeting with the powers that be it has been decided that I should focus on a few things first. My overall goal and the reason I was hired was to put together an analysis program for the REAP program. While that is the top priority it is recognized that I need to get my feet wet to do a good job on that. So I am switching over to immediately working on a few other smaller projects first. One project in particular is the Monga project. This is a side project that the REAP program took up a couple of years ago due the demand for something to be done. The people in the Monga area are largely seasonal farmers who face large issues during the non-season. In cooperation with the CFGB (http://www.foodgrainsbank.ca/) we have put together a program to help local laborers by providing them animals and knowledge to raise those animals. The hope is that with intensive raising techniques, that these farmers can get a more diverse diet and have year round work as well as increase their income. It works kind of like Heifer International in that they agree to give us back an offspring. I first get to review and reassess the current data that we have established. I then get to come back and make suggestions for the future. To accomplish this I will be doing a lot of studying over the next while. I will also be talking to a couple of the older Bengali MCC workers who are now consultants for us and various other organizations. They are going to give me some pointers and a more thorough background on the situation. They are also going to get me connected with some other organizations that do analysis work in Bangladesh. On the side I will be keeping data for another research project that we have on the side which I will describe in another post later. I will also be preparing to assess another project that has yet to come. All of this will be with the goal of giving me the experience that I need to do a good job on the larger REAP program evaluations. This should keep me really busy for the next while.

On a typical office day I start working at approxiamately 8 and work until sometime between 5 and 6. I really appreciate that the office here is pretty laid back and like a big family. My co-workers often come to the office 7 days a week for reasons that I will discuss in another post. The real beauty is that I can work at the pace that suits me. If I'm just having a really bad day I don't feel pressured to force myself to work myself miserable. If I'm having a good day in which I'm really enjoying what I'm researching I can work past 6 if I like (though I'm sure my co-workers will drop by to try to get me to play badminton on their way out). It probably also doesn't hurt that people are often in and out of the office all the time here, so keeping an American style office setting would be very hard.

Next week we Ex-pats have our in-country retreat. I'll be gone from Wednesday through Saturday. I'm not really exactly sure where yet to be honest. I know what section of Bangladesh we will be in and that I am supposed to be in Dhaka by Tuesday night because we are leaving early Wednesday. You now know as much as I do about this retreat.

We made grilled cheese sandwiches for supper tonight and then watched The Simpsons Movie. I even managed to get shocked multiple times by a piece of electronics. It's almost like home. :-)