Yes! I do!

 After a very long hiatus am trying to revive my habit of writing through this really old blog I had created in a moment of inspiration. This time it is to try and keep a track of the experiences of my recent move to Somalia for working at the UNICEF Mission here as a Child Protection Manager. I believe this is a very interesting transition for me both personally and professionally and hope that this will get a bit more interest than my previous posts which I think had all of nine and a half hits. So here goes.......

That moment when I got the offer letter for a position in Somalia was a strange feeling of elation and an overwhelming dread. What had I done! Was contemplating going to work in the world’s most dangerous place my midlife crisis? Do I need to learn pirate language in case I am taken hostage by the famous Somali pirates? So many thoughts, each worse than the other.

So I did what I do best to deal with uncertainty, started looking content on Somalia on the one and only Dr Google. And ofcourse it did what it always does even when you ask about common cold, it confirms your worst fears of a terminal disease and sure doom. Within minutes I saw media stories about it being the most dangerous place in the world, a travel vlog where said person apparently entered without a visa as a tourist and then nearly died of some mortar fire, and images of horrific attacks on civilians and UN Staff.

So clearly this route would not work for me to prepare myself for a move to Somalia. I borrowed a bit of all this ‘positive thinking’ influencers on social media, people I normally would like to block and curse for toxic positivity. But you know desperate times call for desperate solutions.

So I started doing the pros of this and decided to completely block out the cons for the moment.  First and foremost the role was very interesting, where I would be heading two pillars of work in child protection in Somalia on systems strengthening and adolescent development. This was more the development aspect of UNICEF’s work here while a major part of the overall focus of the work continues to be humanitarian. But Somalia had signed off the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 2015, making it the second last country to have done so in the most widely ratified world treaty. (Any guesses which is now the last and only country left to sign this document?). So this provided a basis for a nascent child protection system to be visualized in the country and a real opportunity of some basic work that could lead to sustainable child protection solutions in a state still fragile from conflict, climate change and poverty.

Conversations with colleagues who were in Somalia working now or in the past also seemed to confirm that there is a positive change in the country, conflict though still prevalent has reduced, the security situation is improving visible also with UNICEF expanding work in more and more areas across the country and overall, a good work environment. And the most compelling mission of UNICEF and boots in the mud for the most complex places of our work, kind of pep talk by colleagues.

So with some courage, tons of support of the partner and his willingness to take on child and household care, and a daughter who thought this would be an interesting experience in my career, I took a big leap of faith aided by a big gulp of gin or more, and said Yes! I Do!

Two months and tons of work to wrap up work and wind down a household, which reminded me again that I may need to seek help on my hoarding behaviour if I get out of Somalia alive, a zillion farewell parties and goodbyes with the family where I insisted on repeating my will for some effect and drama, there I was at the airport to board my Ethiopian Airlines flight to Mogadiscio.

 

To be continued………….