Goodbyes are never easy, especially when they leave you all alone.
Two days after returning to Bangladesh I had to say good-bye to one of my co-workers. The first health manager here, and an American search and rescue military paramedic, Willy's been with me from the beginning. For the past 6 weeks, he's been showing me the inner workings of our project here. He's very straight-forward, will tell it to you like it is, and can get things done quickly and efficiently. He'll take the time to sit down and explain things to you, but is also the kind of guy who will randomly get up mid-conversation, leave the room, and not tell anyone where he's going or what he's doing. However, I'm incredibly thankful for him, and grateful that we've had a 6 week hand-over period, because it's been a whole lot to learn and take in.
As he was part of the team that hired everyone for our medical teams, it was very hard for our national staff to see him go. Therefore, a Friday night health team get-together was in order. It was decided that we would go out for Fushka on the beach. Fushka is a type of Bangladeshi street food (and apparently a popular date night food, as I'm told all the Bangladeshi girls love it!) - it's a fried potato and pea ball, with a tamarind water sauce... also known as Panipuri in India. Our whole team took over one of these "street food stalls" on the beach (pictured on the right), taking all the chairs and benches that could be found, and passed around plates of fushka while gifts were presented and flashes from selfies lit up the night.
Willy left the following day... and so did my manager. So as I watched them pack up and leave the office, I stood there letting it sink in that for the next 2.5 weeks I was the only person left in the health office, while my manager was away on her R&R. All of sudden I was the boss lady - with two laptops and two phones to tend to. But I can handle it, right? I mean, everything was left organized, in working order, and I had 8 pages of hand-over notes from my manager... so what could possibly go wrong?!
Well....turns out many things can go wrong...and in a hurry.
I feel like it's just been a constant string of one thing after another going wrong this week... for example, one of my days went like this:
It was a 13 hour work day and not only was the power cut most of the day, but the generator was on the fritz. So of those 13 hours, we probably had power for a combined total of 3 hours... which means: no AC, no fans, and the heat in the office was nearly unbearable. Today I happened to be wearing a tank top with a cardigan (because for women, showing shoulders and lots of arm is considered inappropriate)...but since our office has a balcony and a glorious breeze was blowing that day, I decided to close my office door, take off my cardigan, and sit on the balcony while doing my work. Most national staff knock before coming in, so I figured I would have time to put my cardigan back on in case they came to see me... nope. Like luck would have it, 3 male national staff walked into my office, one right after the other, without knocking, to talk to me... while I'm sitting there in a tank top. *face smack*
Then, I spent almost 2 hours at the WHO office trying to fix a computer problem I'd been having for nearly a week... when we finally figured it was sorted, I went back to my office only to find out that it STILL wasn't working. There were also worries about possible protests due to the unrest that has been happening in Dhaka, so I was in constant communication with my staff in the field... but since we didn't have any power, I'd been doing my computer work by tethering to my phone all day... so obviously my phone is now dead, and I can't charge it because there's no power. Thankfully I have my second work phone (ie. my boss' phone) I can still tether to and keep in contact with my staff. But then my co-worker's laptop died... so we had to take the battery out of an extra laptop and swap it with his so he could continue working. Meanwhile, I'm still banging my head against the wall because i've already spent at least 8 hours of my day trying to fix a huge problem that had come up... and I felt like I was getting nowhere. Oh, and did I mention that my team is also unhappy because we've run out of needed supplies (and I didn't realize it before, so now I need to figure out how to urgently get more).
Then I get another urgent request from a co-worker that one of my medical teams needs to deploy to assess a critically ill man in one of the camps... so I have to coordinate that with a dying phone, and poor reception. THANKFULLY, my team was able to very quickly respond and tend to the patient, even though he was so ill that there really wasn't anything we could do for him. When I finally left the office that day, I was exhuasted and feeling defeated.
I feel like my saving grace that day was one of my co-workers (who I share an office with). He was so supportive - he let me vent, he brought me a cup of tea (even though I drank it in sips as I was running in and out of my office), and he brought me back a chapati (from the restaurant down the street) so I could have my favourite thing for dinner: chapati with nutella! Don't worry... I had a cucumber too. Need to get those veggies in!
At least by the end of the week I was starting to feel like I was getting things sorted, and getting the hang of things. I'm so thankful to be working with such a supportive group of people. Oh, and that the generator issue seems to have been fixed so at least we have fans when the power is out. And as much as I miss going to the camp every day, it's been great to be in the office and get to know my colleagues better. I've even discovered a place that makes delicious cappuccinos (I don't know why it's taken me 6 weeks to find this place) and found myself a gym buddy! It's a bit pricey at 500 taka/drop in (about 8$), and one of the treadmills tops out at 5.1mph, but at least it's giving me a bit of routine, has been improving my mental health, and is getting me out of the house in the evenings.
7 days down as boss lady...only 10 more to go.
I got this.
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