Saturday, May 30, 2015

Born in 1951

64 ans... ca me fait une drole d'impression et je me dis DEJA?
Je me suis leve a 5h30 et comme chaque matin depuis mon arrivee a Yaounde je me faufile par l'entree du personnel pour suivre un chemin dans le bush qui me mene directement sur le parcours de golf en moins de 5 minutes. Mon premier coup de driver est superbe et me fait arriver en 2 coups sur le green d'un PAR 4: Bien taper le put est une autre histoire car le green est une veritable patinoire: j'arrive quand meme a assurer le bogey. Je joue 4 trous dont un PAR 3 que je joue 2 fois avant de rentrer a l'hotel au bout d'une heure, avec l'espoir que le jour suivant je reussirai peut-etre a avoir un PAR... Je vais directement au restaurant pour un gros petit-dejeuner: papaye et ananas, puis poisson en sauce avec pommes de terre, arrose de the du Cameroun, et je termine avec un pain au raisin. Je quitte la salle avec un pot de yoghourt. Le temps de me raser et prendre une douche puis je m'habille rapidement et quitte l'hotel pour aller marcher 10 minutes vers le monastere ou se passe mon atelier: il me faut escalader des escaliers, quelques dizaines de marche, avant d'arriver dans une salle ou je dois systematiquement attendre les participants qui arrivent nonchalamment. Journee facile car je dois guider les participants a travers les etapes d'une analyse de situation basee sur les droits humains: a chaque fois c'est une decouverte pour des personnes qui ont passe plusieurs annees dans l'organisation. Au dejeuner, comme por tous les autres jours de la semaine, je mange du poisson frit et des legumes verts typiques de l'Afrique Centrale: Ndole, Folon...A la fin de la journee je suis creve mais content . La soiree est passee a preparer la session du lendemain sur la gestion axee sur les resultats. Le diner se resume a un pot de yoghourt et je m'endors vers 22h30 pour assurer mon reveil de 5h30 le lendemain. Et voila, j'ai passe la premiere journee de ma 65eme annee en ayant reussi  a communiquer d'une facon ou d'une autre avec tous ceux qui me sont chers. La vie est belle!

Monday, April 6, 2015

Lundi de Pacques 2015 - Daily life in Imerinafovoany







About 13 months between these two pics: WHERE??

It is unbelievable that I did not write on my blog since Dec 23, 2013...  The reasons: cataract surgery, Paris, Brazzaville, Port au Prince, Raleigh NC, Washington DC, Charleston SC, Kabul, Kinshasa, Ouagadougou, Bangui, Abidjan... not forgetting flight connection nights in Nairobi, Dubai, Douala.

It is 3:15pm and I am home alone actually since yesterday afternoon after having lunch with Mama in Isoraka. I want mainly to talk about my morning. I woke up late, had a quick breakfast with a left-over pizza, a banana and a big bowl of tea. Then I screened among the laundry to select what to wash with what and started the washing machine. Then I went around the garden to collect the avocados that have fallen during the night and prepared a salad mix that I will eat this evening as a light dinner.  I also had to unfreeze a piece of fish for my lunch (by leaving it just on the table). I spent an hour in front of the TV to watch the recording of the last PGA tournament in Houston before collecting the laundry and hang it on the strings in the garden. I filled again the washing machine for a second round and started to cook pasta: I managed to get it perfectly al dente....and completed fish cooking in the microwave within 5 minutes, with a mix of lemon, black pepper and chilly. All of that was absorbed within minutes completed with 2 'dried' apples still very tasty and not 'vary masaka' at all. The well deserved cup of green tea  was prepared at the same time I was washing plates, pots and forks....Then I went to collect the drying laundry and hang the second batch... delayed because at first I forgot to add soap.. Later today I will have my practise of short approaches because an important tournament is coming up next week end.
Why do I talk about these very domestic details? I realised how much time is needed to complete these domestic tasks at home: I did it because I was alone and I did not have/take the time for any house cleaning or even bed making... So I am very grateful to all those who are doing it allowing me to do something else or even nothing else... And I sympathise with all of you, mainly those who are continuously leaving alone, when some of these daily tasks are not completed properly.
Tomorrow I will be very busy between a round of golf, a process to sign up for a basic Evaluation course and some car maintenance work. It is amazing to realise that I have been a 'big boss' of planning and M&E and I never attended a formal course on Evaluation... mieux vaut tard que jamais!
Et voila, a few lines to demonstrate that I am back to my blog. With love!

En 2011 voici ce que j'ecrivais:
Je suis a une croisee de chemin apres avoir vecu a Tana, Paris, Toliara, Toamasina, Boston, Bujumbura, Gaborone, Islamabad, Sanaa, Abeche,Dakar et Port au Prince. Comment rendre cette experience utile a Tana ou ailleurs? Could this experience be really interesting for anybody? Should I just go around as I did for the past 40 years?
Interests: Development, Humanitarian action, Public Health, Civil Society, Human Rights, Tennis, Golf.
Deja plus de 3 ans qu'on s'est re-installes a Tana... On en reparle!