Saturday, April 02, 2011
Friday, April 01, 2011
last day in the office
Things were pretty quiet today. REALLY glad I didn't go to Chitral. Bad weather grounded the flights so they had to travel back by road. That sucks for two reasons: (1) it's an 18-20-hour trip and (2) you have to go right by the place where there have been two suicide attacks in the past two days.
I found out a little about what's been going on back at AKF USA. Sounds like I'm going to get about 30 seconds of, "Hey how was your trip?" and then it'll be balls-to-the-wall proposal time. Apparently we have taken on 15 proposals at once. That may be a slight exaggeration, but it's what I was told this morning by my coworker Leanne. Hoo boy.
Had a debrief with Nusrat about the national disaster risk reduction strategy, on which the National Disaster Management Authority held a high-level meeting yesterday. If we can figure out a way to get NDMA's plans, FOCUS's mandate, and OFDA's funding to dovetail, that would be swell. Gonna be hard to do, though, mostly because of FOCUS's mandate, which limits them geographically.
In the afternoon I went over to First MicroFinance Bank, which is up on the 16th and 17th (!) floors of an office building about ten minutes from the Serena. It was a quick and kind of pointless meeting because we didn't have that much to offer each other, but it was good to touch base and check the little box next to their name on my list. The driver was extraordinary looking. Like a 5'2" emaciated Peter Lorre. And he walked incredibly fast, especially for his size. Drove fast, too. The streets were pretty much empty at 2:30-3:30. Part of that is surely all the road blocks, but still, I was surprised.
Toward the very end of the day Karim Alibhai, the CEO of AKFP, came in and introduced himself. He just got back from leave yesterday. His reputation for enormity was confirmed.
Oh, almost forgot: Yousef is here! My buddy from FOCUS and the AKF guest house in Kabul, long-time readers may recall a certain cheeseburger incident. He gave me a hug and we chatted for a bit. He was just in Kabul for a few weeks and is now in Pakistan for a little over a week, wrapping up his most recent tour of the finance departments. We're going to have dinner tomorrow with Nusrat and (maybe) Karim N. It was good to see him, he's a good dude.
One last thing before I pack it in for the night: no pianist tonight. But they had some VERY dramatic flute soloist playing... "Can You Feel the Love Tonight." I laughed.
I found out a little about what's been going on back at AKF USA. Sounds like I'm going to get about 30 seconds of, "Hey how was your trip?" and then it'll be balls-to-the-wall proposal time. Apparently we have taken on 15 proposals at once. That may be a slight exaggeration, but it's what I was told this morning by my coworker Leanne. Hoo boy.
Had a debrief with Nusrat about the national disaster risk reduction strategy, on which the National Disaster Management Authority held a high-level meeting yesterday. If we can figure out a way to get NDMA's plans, FOCUS's mandate, and OFDA's funding to dovetail, that would be swell. Gonna be hard to do, though, mostly because of FOCUS's mandate, which limits them geographically.
In the afternoon I went over to First MicroFinance Bank, which is up on the 16th and 17th (!) floors of an office building about ten minutes from the Serena. It was a quick and kind of pointless meeting because we didn't have that much to offer each other, but it was good to touch base and check the little box next to their name on my list. The driver was extraordinary looking. Like a 5'2" emaciated Peter Lorre. And he walked incredibly fast, especially for his size. Drove fast, too. The streets were pretty much empty at 2:30-3:30. Part of that is surely all the road blocks, but still, I was surprised.
Toward the very end of the day Karim Alibhai, the CEO of AKFP, came in and introduced himself. He just got back from leave yesterday. His reputation for enormity was confirmed.
Oh, almost forgot: Yousef is here! My buddy from FOCUS and the AKF guest house in Kabul, long-time readers may recall a certain cheeseburger incident. He gave me a hug and we chatted for a bit. He was just in Kabul for a few weeks and is now in Pakistan for a little over a week, wrapping up his most recent tour of the finance departments. We're going to have dinner tomorrow with Nusrat and (maybe) Karim N. It was good to see him, he's a good dude.
One last thing before I pack it in for the night: no pianist tonight. But they had some VERY dramatic flute soloist playing... "Can You Feel the Love Tonight." I laughed.
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