I arrived in Zimbabwe this evening feeling anxious. While I was waiting in line with my completed customs entry form, I realized that my hands were trembling – I was not sure that I would be allowed back in and I was not letting myself think about what would then happen next.
Some of you may be confused as you rightly think that I arrived in Zimbabwe at the end of October to start up and manage a new 18-month development project. I have already been here for a month and the stamp they put in my passport when I arrived was only for thirty days, in spite of the six-month multiple entry visa I had bothered to get from the Zimbabwean embassy in Washington. When I first arrived at the Harare airport, the customs official then told me that I would have to go to the Department of Immigration to get an extension. When I went there on Friday, I was informed that there was no way to extend my visa. I decided that it would do me no good to argue with this bureaucrat who had all the power in the situation and was very likely looking for a bribe he wasn’t going to get. So my only option was to go on a quick trip to South Africa.
Luckily for me, my aunt and uncle allowed me go and stay at their game conservancy north of Pretoria, which is a little piece of heaven. On Saturday they hosted a wine maker from Stellenbosch who flew up specially to give a wine tasting for their lodge guests. I didn’t arrive in time for the official tasting but I did get to drink the wine which was delicious. Sunday I crashed a 40th birthday party of a friend of theirs and met a fascinating woman in her 70’s who discussed with me the work I am doing in Zimbabwe. Her insight astounded me. I rounded out the weekend with short early-morning runs in the bush scaring the giraffe, zebra and wildebeast as I plodded by and getting sunburned reading a good book (The Year of the Flood) on my kindle sitting and soaking up some rays. It wasn’t all fun and games as I did work late both nights I was there to finish up the first draft of our program’s first year work plan, which needed to be sent out for comments by today.
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I approached the immigration officer’s desk at the airport trying desperately to look nonchalant and not to draw attention to my trembling hands. I smiled widely and said good evening and received a warm smile in return. He flipped through my passport and then paused. “Oh, I was the officer who stamped you last time you arrived”. I was waiting for him to then say that it was clear that I had left Zimbabwe on a trip of convenience to receive another 30 day visa and that was not allowed (and officially, he would not be wrong). Instead I heard the stamp slam twice on the desk and he handed me back my passport and said, “Welcome back”.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Retribution
Today was a very slow day in the office, which gave me the chance to get out and do some canvassing. It was great to get out on my own in the neighborhoods and talk to people. It is certainly a very diverse town.
There are many beautiful Victorian houses that look like perfect dollhouses in life-size. I will try and bring my camera around next time because I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many beautiful houses in one place. People of all economic status, race and age told me they are supporting Obama, but I also saw plenty of McCain Signs and even a nOpe sign, with the ‘O’ as the Obama symbol.
At one house I knocked on an open door and heard the woman inside say, “Now what’s that white woman doing here”. Her son came to the door but was reticent to tell me who he was voting for. When he seemed to gain confidence in the fact that I really was there working for Obama, he said he wanted to vote for Obama, but he had heard that if Obama wins that black people will lose there jobs. People are worried about retribution. I told him that his vote was secret and that no one would ever know who he voted for but he didn’t seem so sure. It made me all the more determined to make sure that Obama does get elected.
There are many beautiful Victorian houses that look like perfect dollhouses in life-size. I will try and bring my camera around next time because I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many beautiful houses in one place. People of all economic status, race and age told me they are supporting Obama, but I also saw plenty of McCain Signs and even a nOpe sign, with the ‘O’ as the Obama symbol.
At one house I knocked on an open door and heard the woman inside say, “Now what’s that white woman doing here”. Her son came to the door but was reticent to tell me who he was voting for. When he seemed to gain confidence in the fact that I really was there working for Obama, he said he wanted to vote for Obama, but he had heard that if Obama wins that black people will lose there jobs. People are worried about retribution. I told him that his vote was secret and that no one would ever know who he voted for but he didn’t seem so sure. It made me all the more determined to make sure that Obama does get elected.
11 Hours
I slept for 11 hours last night - with no drugs! I guess I really needed it. That's the good thing about everyone in Franklin being in Church on a Sunday morning. It gives me time to catch up on sleep!
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Telemarketing Flashback
I am the manager of the Obama campaign office in Franklin City and Southampton County Virginia. Part of my job is make sure that hundreds of phone calls are made to potential voters every day and I sometimes get to make some of those calls myself. Fortunately my skills honed during my brief by stellar telemarketing career are still there.
Mostly it is just reminding me of the funny things you learn about people when you call them out of the blue. The old folks tell you way too much about themselves and can’t seem to avoid letting you know that they live alone and no one is there right now. The answering machines are the best though. In one day I had to listen to a women ranting a bible quote about Jehovah on her answering machine (and this is not an anti-religion statement, she was just all fire and brimstone) and then a short while later receive multiple options on one answering machine for what had to have been ‘night-time’ entertainment. One of the women said (and imagine this in a Anna Nicole Smith sexy voice), “Hi, you’ve made the right choice in choosing Star but at the wrong time because I’m not here…”. This contradiction I think captures some strange tension in this town. I really could not think of a better place to be campaigning for Obama!
Mostly it is just reminding me of the funny things you learn about people when you call them out of the blue. The old folks tell you way too much about themselves and can’t seem to avoid letting you know that they live alone and no one is there right now. The answering machines are the best though. In one day I had to listen to a women ranting a bible quote about Jehovah on her answering machine (and this is not an anti-religion statement, she was just all fire and brimstone) and then a short while later receive multiple options on one answering machine for what had to have been ‘night-time’ entertainment. One of the women said (and imagine this in a Anna Nicole Smith sexy voice), “Hi, you’ve made the right choice in choosing Star but at the wrong time because I’m not here…”. This contradiction I think captures some strange tension in this town. I really could not think of a better place to be campaigning for Obama!
Church
This evening a volunteer asked if I had been invited to a church tomorrow. The implication was that I would of course be going to church on Sunday, as she assumes I do every Sunday, but that it would be nicer to go with someone. When I hesitated, pretending to be deeply involved in my data entry, she mistook the reason for my hesitation and quickly notified me that her church was integrated. My colleague, who is here volunteering from Maryland didn’t understand her at first and thought she meant that the Catholics and Protestants went to the same Church (clearly she is no more a church goer than myself). The volunteer quickly and clearly explained that no, her church had both black and white members and everyone was welcome.
I almost started laughing and only held myself back because she was deadly serious. My colleague from Maryland is black and was so taken aback that the volunteer had to explain to her that not all churches here are integrated and that it is still quite a recent thing. Fortunately this conversation distracted everyone from the fact that I had not answered the original question so I am off the hook, for this Sunday anyway. Even better – the whole county is in church tomorrow morning so I get to sleep in!
I almost started laughing and only held myself back because she was deadly serious. My colleague from Maryland is black and was so taken aback that the volunteer had to explain to her that not all churches here are integrated and that it is still quite a recent thing. Fortunately this conversation distracted everyone from the fact that I had not answered the original question so I am off the hook, for this Sunday anyway. Even better – the whole county is in church tomorrow morning so I get to sleep in!
Friday, October 24, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Franklin
Franklin is an Independent City of a little over 8,000 souls in the south eastern corner of the state of Virginia close to the North Carolina border. It split from Southampton County and was chartered as an Independent City in 1960 and some say it did so because it somehow allowed them to delay desegregating the schools. (Schools were eventually desegregated for the first time in 1965 – 10 years after Brown vs. the Board of Education.)
Just a few miles from Franklin is the site of the slave Nat Turner’s 1831 uprising in which over 55 slave owners were killed. Virginia considered abolishing slavery after that incident, but instead became more repressive in their treatment of slaves and free blacks. Many say that they are still fighting the civil war down here.
The town is now about evenly divided racially. It’s economy (and the skyline) is dominated by a paper mill that is now owned by International Paper. There was a major flood here in the center of town in 1999, which decimated down town and probably helped the speed collapse of many businesses given that there is a Walmart just two miles away.
People are all very friendly and even McCain supporters tend to polite about their disagreements. If I could have picked where I want to be working on this election, I could not have picked a better place.
Just a few miles from Franklin is the site of the slave Nat Turner’s 1831 uprising in which over 55 slave owners were killed. Virginia considered abolishing slavery after that incident, but instead became more repressive in their treatment of slaves and free blacks. Many say that they are still fighting the civil war down here.
The town is now about evenly divided racially. It’s economy (and the skyline) is dominated by a paper mill that is now owned by International Paper. There was a major flood here in the center of town in 1999, which decimated down town and probably helped the speed collapse of many businesses given that there is a Walmart just two miles away.
People are all very friendly and even McCain supporters tend to polite about their disagreements. If I could have picked where I want to be working on this election, I could not have picked a better place.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Vietnam to Virginia
So I decided not to take the job in Vietnam. When on your first day of your new job you discover that half of your new colleagues are leaving the company, it is generally not a good sign. I gave it a shot for the month that I was out there, but it was clear that the organization had issues that were not going to fixable so I decided not to get on board a sinking ship.
I also decided not to go back to my old job. I realized that a large part of what was so attractive about the job in Vietnam was that it was not my old job. So I have opted for change. I am still figuring out exactly what change I am looking for, but so far things seems to have worked out well.
My situation made it easy to decide to go independent for a while and see if I can make it work. In other words, I am going to continue to work in international development, probably working for my old firm at times, but I will not be a full-time employee of theirs and so I will have the option of saying no when I want. It also gives me an opportunity to get to know lots of different firms and to pick and choose interesting assignments. Of course, that is assuming that people will actually want me to work for them.
So far so good on that front. Given the life-cycle of consulting assignment it is taking a few weeks for the first assignment to come through, but this morning I was asked to do an assignment in Ghana. Unfortunately, they want me to get started and do a few days of work over the next two weeks and that could be difficult. It’s the run up to the election…but I’m getting ahead of myself.
I decided to make the best possible use of my down time and I now find myself in the tiny town of Franklin in Virginia campaigning for Obama.
I also decided not to go back to my old job. I realized that a large part of what was so attractive about the job in Vietnam was that it was not my old job. So I have opted for change. I am still figuring out exactly what change I am looking for, but so far things seems to have worked out well.
My situation made it easy to decide to go independent for a while and see if I can make it work. In other words, I am going to continue to work in international development, probably working for my old firm at times, but I will not be a full-time employee of theirs and so I will have the option of saying no when I want. It also gives me an opportunity to get to know lots of different firms and to pick and choose interesting assignments. Of course, that is assuming that people will actually want me to work for them.
So far so good on that front. Given the life-cycle of consulting assignment it is taking a few weeks for the first assignment to come through, but this morning I was asked to do an assignment in Ghana. Unfortunately, they want me to get started and do a few days of work over the next two weeks and that could be difficult. It’s the run up to the election…but I’m getting ahead of myself.
I decided to make the best possible use of my down time and I now find myself in the tiny town of Franklin in Virginia campaigning for Obama.
Monday, September 08, 2008
What a Day!
My day started out waiting 30 minutes for my breakfast at my hotel – a tiny toasted cheese sandwich. So I was late for work and then realized that I had forgotten to bring with me the documents I had been working on over the weekend. Still, things picked up for a while and I was actually getting quite a bit done.
I had an afternoon meeting with my new boss. I hadn’t seen him in a week as his son has been critically ill with a staph infection and they had to fly to Bangkok. Unfortunately, he told me that there is a possibility that he and his family might have to leave Vietnam if the infection came from living here. That definitely complicates things for me as I took the job because I thought he and I would make a good team, and I really don’t think his supervisors and I would do the same. Life is complicated, but I will just have to wait and see.
So with lots of thoughts bumping around in my head, I left the office before 6pm with every intention to go back to my hotel and then go for a run around the lake. I found a taxi and very quickly got stuck in the worst traffic jam in my life. It turns out that with so much traffic heading out of the center of the city during rush hour, many streets become de-facto one-way streets. There was no way a car was going to be able to drive in the opposite direction. It was so crazy that I was even worried about getting out of the car and walking because there are no sidewalks (no one walks here) and you have walk in the road dodging mopeds. The taxi driver did a U-turn and then drove in circles around the city for 30 minutes trying to find a way through. When the meter reached 55,000 dong (about $3.30), my usual taxi ride home, I told him to pull over and got out. I had absolutely no idea where I was, but I started to walk in the opposite direction of traffic. After half an hour of walking, I finally got to a street that was more open and where I caught a taxi and finally got back to my comfortable quiet hotel room.
I ordered pizza and flipped on the TV – an interesting polygamy show on Oprah. Of course the pizza place misunderstood my horrible Vietnamese pronunciation and delivered my pizza to a different hotel. It’s been an hour and it’s now 8pm, but I still have hope that I will eat at some point tonight.
I had an afternoon meeting with my new boss. I hadn’t seen him in a week as his son has been critically ill with a staph infection and they had to fly to Bangkok. Unfortunately, he told me that there is a possibility that he and his family might have to leave Vietnam if the infection came from living here. That definitely complicates things for me as I took the job because I thought he and I would make a good team, and I really don’t think his supervisors and I would do the same. Life is complicated, but I will just have to wait and see.
So with lots of thoughts bumping around in my head, I left the office before 6pm with every intention to go back to my hotel and then go for a run around the lake. I found a taxi and very quickly got stuck in the worst traffic jam in my life. It turns out that with so much traffic heading out of the center of the city during rush hour, many streets become de-facto one-way streets. There was no way a car was going to be able to drive in the opposite direction. It was so crazy that I was even worried about getting out of the car and walking because there are no sidewalks (no one walks here) and you have walk in the road dodging mopeds. The taxi driver did a U-turn and then drove in circles around the city for 30 minutes trying to find a way through. When the meter reached 55,000 dong (about $3.30), my usual taxi ride home, I told him to pull over and got out. I had absolutely no idea where I was, but I started to walk in the opposite direction of traffic. After half an hour of walking, I finally got to a street that was more open and where I caught a taxi and finally got back to my comfortable quiet hotel room.
I ordered pizza and flipped on the TV – an interesting polygamy show on Oprah. Of course the pizza place misunderstood my horrible Vietnamese pronunciation and delivered my pizza to a different hotel. It’s been an hour and it’s now 8pm, but I still have hope that I will eat at some point tonight.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
The Truth
I wrote all of these blogs while I was in Vietnam a few weeks ago but I held off on posting them partially because I was trying to keep a secret (and partially because I procrastinated). I was actually in Vietnam for a job interview and I have since been offered the job, accepted and now find myself on a plane moving to Vietnam!
The job is based in Hanoi working for a start-up development firm and my job is managing a bamboo subsector development project. Essentially the project’s goal is to reduce poverty by supporting the bamboo business in Vietnam from farmers all the way through to the end product manufacturers. For those of you that don’t know, bamboo is showing up all over the place as flooring, wall panels, decorative bamboo shoots, handicrafts including vases and bowls, and even fabric. I’m sure I’ll be writing more about my work over the coming months as I figure out exactly what I am doing.
I’m writing this on the plane as I head out for a month to do the annual planning for the project. I agreed to get out there quickly for this, but I will be back in DC from mid-September through mid-October to properly pack up my house, fix everything that needs fixing, find a renter, and of course have lots of au revoirs!
Notice it’s not goodbye – it looks like I will have at least a spare room or two in Vietnam so Chez Bronwyn will soon be open for guests and I hope there will be many!
The job is based in Hanoi working for a start-up development firm and my job is managing a bamboo subsector development project. Essentially the project’s goal is to reduce poverty by supporting the bamboo business in Vietnam from farmers all the way through to the end product manufacturers. For those of you that don’t know, bamboo is showing up all over the place as flooring, wall panels, decorative bamboo shoots, handicrafts including vases and bowls, and even fabric. I’m sure I’ll be writing more about my work over the coming months as I figure out exactly what I am doing.
I’m writing this on the plane as I head out for a month to do the annual planning for the project. I agreed to get out there quickly for this, but I will be back in DC from mid-September through mid-October to properly pack up my house, fix everything that needs fixing, find a renter, and of course have lots of au revoirs!
Notice it’s not goodbye – it looks like I will have at least a spare room or two in Vietnam so Chez Bronwyn will soon be open for guests and I hope there will be many!
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