Work woes and wankers

I'm not so happy with Oxfam right now.

Things are not looking good on the project front. We missed out on half our funding due to UNICEF tightening their purse strings, so we are having to limit the scope of our new WASH project in Rumbek North and not include a schools WASH component. Most importantly/sadly we also have to end the contracts of six of our staff because there isn't enough money to keep them all on - nor is the project big enough. It also means there is only enough money to fund my position for six months. Hopefully some more funds will come out of nowhere sometime soon. (!)

I really don't want to have to 'fire' our staff. It's just a shite process. But it sounds like I'm not really going to be part of deciding who should stay or go - to apparently avoid bias in the decision. Considering I manage and work with these guys on a daily basis, and know who those are that work hard, and those that don't, it all seems rather f#cking illogical to me. Our HR and funding departments are really starting to piss me off.


I'm fighting with HR about my contract too. Our Deputy Country Director is being a dick about the whole thing. I will soon have a new title - Coordinator, Public Health Promotion, instead of Advisor. I'll be required to get more involved in national-level strategic development of PHP approaches and strategies, and work more across the Oxfam South Sudan program. This is effectively what I do now, but it's designed to remove my involvement in the staff management side of things by taking me out of the field, and get me focused on these higher-level activities. One part of this is being based in Juba, but I'm not really keen; I prefer Rumbek and I can do more here in the field. There, I just sit in the office and attend meetings and don't really feel like I belong there. That's not why I signed up to work here.

Our Public Health project manager, Moses will be leaving soon, so I may have to act in his position in Rumbek til they recruit someone new anyway, which could be around two months. I'll miss him a lot. He's a great guy to work with, totally chilled; I enjoy his company and respect his professionalism and experience. Still, I feel like I do a lot of his job for him; when I'm here I basically manage the Public Health team, and initiate all the planning of the project; yet it is him that should be doing these things.

That said, it could be a blessing in disguise 'moving' to Juba. With my Rumbek social network dissolving in front of my eyes, going to Juba where there is a critical mass of people could be a good thing. It will enable me to focus on what I should be doing, and remove the distractions of managing the team. But what I find most frustrating about the whole thing is that I will get to the field less often and be expected in Juba more often. And they're asking me to go 'immediately', because they want me to cover for the absent Public Health Coordinator, whose position has been vacant for around three months now. Not my f#cking problem, Oxfam. You've failed to recruit someone for this position. I'm not going to sit behind a desk in Juba doing this person's job if you're not going to compensate me for it. I'm refusing to go until I'm good and ready.


And for many reasons, I just don't like the place. It's big, dirty, unsafe and I don't have a good feeling about it. But maybe I just need to give it time. It's not like I don't enjoy it when I'm there; I've just never really got a reason for being there apart from passing through... but now... another bonus: I've met a nice Kenyan guy there, who I really like, so hopefully I'll get to spend some more time with him. And I have some other friends there with whom I'll get to spend more time. And there's constant phone network, electricity and decent food, unlike Rumbek. So it has its advantages.

Plus I get to decide how much time I spend in Juba vs the field, even though it's supposed to be 40% Juba, 30/30 Lakes/Upper Nile. I don't think I'll get to Upper Nile in the near future though.We have over 60 staff there now, working on the refugee emergency response and a lot of Hygiene Promotion experts to provide assistance. In some ways I'm happy about it - it means less moving up and down all the time - but in others I'd still like to go there and be part of the response. But I've tried to make contact with the managers there, to find out if they would like me to come and support the team; even my request for a ToR has fallen on deaf ears. If they don't want me there, fine, just let me know! For now, it suits me fine though. I can support the team with planning our new Public Health intervention in Rumbek North.

Funnily enough, just yesterday I got a request from one of the PHP advisors to come there and 'share my experiences' working in Jamam. They could have done this 2 months ago when I got back, and the scale-up there was 2 months younger than it is now. Such a cop out. They only want me to do this now that I have a new title. Directed from Juba no doubt.

Still, we'll see how things pan out. You have to stay optimistic in this place, otherwise it drags you down. Hopefully we'll get funding. Hopefully our little dog will survive. Hopefully a new social contingent will come in to fill the gaps. I do love Rumbek and I'll be sad to leave. But Juba brings with it a number of new opportunities. So let's see what happens.

Ok! Rant over.