Back in the Saddle Again

Well, it's been a while. After finishing up my MEDA contract, I headed out to Egypt to visit my mother for a week, and then spent a month wandering around Europe, staying on people's couches and floors and generally enjoying life. It was fantastic.

Egypt is awesome, It turns out that the Nubian people still measure the worth of women by the number of camels they would have to give her father as a dowry. My best offer: 10,000 camels, I feel I'm worth at least 15,000. The Sphinx - overlooks a pizzahut and a KFC, AND there are people who actually believe that aliens built the pyramids! These people do a pilgramage to the Pyramids and climb into the burial chamber of the Great Pyramid to meditate and chant, hoping to call back the aliens, who will then take them to the chosen land. It's a bit outlandish I know, and I also really feel that they should have paid more attention when watching Star Gate - the aliens weren't very nice, so why would you want them to return?

And, it turns out that it is possible to do some development work from Calgary. I am currently working on a short contract for the World Bank, doing research on cash transfers in post-conflict/post-disaster zones. It's interesting work, but it's difficult to work from home, where I don't have access to all their files and information and must rely on other people to send me stuff (this become particularly difficult when the person responsible for supplying the information is transfered to a field office in East-Timor for the bulk of your project). I have some contacts for a few NGOs based in Calgary for after this project is done, and I'm heading to DC for the end of June to look for jobs and hopefully lay eyes on my boss.

I would really like to return to the UK but I'm not sure how to get there since I don't quite qualify for a Highly Skilled Migrant Visa yet. To qualify I need to make a bigger salary in the year before I apply. If I remain in the developed world that salary requirement is so high that I fear I will have to work in Oil and Gas again to make it happen, which somewhat defeats the purpose, since I won't have strong job experience in my field when I get to England. We'll see, hopefully something interesting pops up while I'm in DC. So think highly employable thoughts for me, so I can get hired by the World Bank on a permanent basis, or something like that.

Kelly!

Home, Home on the Range

Well, I'm back in Calgary and getting better every day. MEDA has been fantastic and while there are not the funds to send me back to Tanzania, I am finishing my internship doing research from home. I'm working with the wonderful folks in the Waterloo office and am doing a value chain analysis of the fruit and vegetable sub-sector in Ethiopia and Zambia as background information for a small-scale irrigation project they are running with a group called IDE. It's fascinating but ridiculously challenging. There is lot's of information on Zambia, and almost none on Ethiopia's small scale fruit and vegetable farmers, in part because there are few small scale fruit and veggie farmers in Ethiopia. I have always been a little obsessed with Ethiopia so it's great to learn about it, but a tad depressing all the same. The country faces so many obstacles, and to succeed in overcoming poverty resources need to be directed everywhere at the same time, which is obviously impossible, but farmers need access to markets to sell a surplus, which means they need seed, fertilizer, and education on better farming techniques to get a surplus, and they need better roads and transport systems to get to markets, and the urban population needs better jobs so they have the funds to buy this surplus stuff!! And even if there is no drought and Ethiopia has a strong crop, 5 million people will still need food aid. It makes me very happy that I am working on a project that may help farmers produce high income goods that can be used to overcome some of these issues, but on a macro scale the problems seem almost overwhelming.

It is very strange to have come from working in Tanzania, where it is warm, and humid and my office was full of fabulous people to working in my parent's house in Calgary, where it is cold, dry, and the only real office mates I have have four legs and bark. I miss working in an office with people who you can ask for help when you don't understand something, or get advice on, stuff or just talk to. On the other hand my commute to work is pretty sweet.

It's also getting to that point where us interns must start thinking about our next steps and start searching for and applying for our future jobs. Calgary is not exactly known for it's international development sector, so I'm feeling a little lost and envious of all my friends and fellow interns who are able to liaise with people on the ground and get contracts that way. Perhaps I should find a way to become terribly interested in oil and gas. I know that things will work out in the end but things are a bit tough right now. I'm hoping that I can work in an empty office at my dad's office starting next week to overcome some of the difficulties of working from home. I'm sure being around more people will help improve my mood. Until then it's just me and the dogs.