Oops

Wow...I'm really terrible; I didn't realize how long it has been since I'd last written! Well I guess I'll just start with a recent update because I don't even think I could begin to remember all the things that have happened over the last (nearly) month. Things are really just same old same old, I have to admit. Things with work have been picking up some. I guess it was last week now, I went into my bosses office and approached him about starting of some projects because I am bored (and yes I told him I was bored). There is now an Alliance building project that I am slowly working on; hoping to having a meeting with one of the Board members when he returns from Zambia about going forward with determining who CPA's members actually are. My boss also suggested a few other projects that I could start work on; it's nice because they are really interesting projects for the most part and they are things that I can work on at my own pace or put on hiatus if I get busy with other things. The VSO volunteer and I are currently working on creating the last newsletter of the year. The boss was wanting to have it our for the end of November but knowing how slowly things function in this country and considering we have just recently started we didn't think there was anyway that would be possible but it turns out that UNICEF (they fund the newsletter) needs to have a first draft to the printers by the 20th of November otherwise we might not get the funding for it. So it looks like we don't have a choice but to rapidly produce a newsletter in the next 3 weeks. Things are going well so far but I have to admit that I'm not looking forward to the inevitable stresses ahead of chasing people to submit their stuff. Fingers crossed that all goes well!

In other news, I am now doing some volunteer work on the side for an NGO called Education for All (EFA). I am currently trying to find a donor to fund their new strategic plan and once that has been completed I have to write a proposal. I was kind of worried about the proposal writing but I think anything is going to seem easy next to having to find a damn donor. Now I truly understand why people hate the donor community; they certainly don't like to make things easy or even comprehensible for potential grantees. I will stop with this now before I bore you all to death but truly a frustrating endeavor!

Not been doing much other than working lately; so much so that I really can't recall anything that I've done other than strolling the beach and spending time lounging by the pool on a Sunday afternoon...hmm not sure if that's a good sign or not...probably not.

I've been thinking more about traveling, it's becoming that time of year (although you'd never know it if it wasn't for the calender) where people start asking what you're doing for the holidays. I know that CPA doesn't close for any extended length of time but I'm allowed to take a week or two holidays so I'm trying to decide what I want to do with myself. With so many friends in the Eastern and Southern parts of Africa I was hoping to make a trip out there but it turns out that it is extrodinarly expensive to fly within Africa (I guess because most people in Africa can't afford to travel and if they can they generally head outside Africa; it seems that most people who travel within Africa do so only for business purposes). So I am thinking about what I want to do, I might price some flights at different times of the year and see how things go; I really do want to see something other than The Gambia and knowing myself I'll probably regret it if I go home and didn't travel so I might just have to bite the bullet and pay the extortionate prices. Well see what happens.

Well I guess that's about it for now, I will try to be more diligent about writing but I won't make any promises! I hope that all is well with all of you wherever you are in the world!

From the Smiling Coast of Africa,