Note: Because I was sick last Wednesday what is supposed to be my fifth week at PSI is actually my fourth.
I was up early enough this morning to grab a copy of the NYT to read on the train. And, once I got downtown I stopped at Starbucks to get a Grande Caramel Apple Spice. I am a stereotype (albeit one that doesn't drink coffee). As my assignments were being doled out this morning at least 2 or 3 people asked me if I was feeling better - this is like .016% of the office staff, but it's nice to know they've noticed my presence, even if the security guard still doesn't recognize me.
When I walked into "my" office there was a Word document up on the screen titled "Writing Test" and then had some questions about how you would write a letter to the president, and so on. My first thought was "Jeeze, I'm only an unpaid intern. This seems like a little much." Turns out HR was using the office for what I imagine was a job-interview thing. "You can sit here, at Thidar's desk," my supervisor told me. "Oh, is Thidar not in today?" I asked. "Poor Thidar. She's stuck in Myanmar." Oh... It's not uncommon for things like that to fly around the office. Being stuck in Myanmar is kind of extreme, but at least once a day I overhear something like "No, we can't schedule it for that day. _____ is going to be in Namibia."
This morning I had to prep a bunch of files for an annual budget meeting. I was doing all of this for Luke, who heads up the Zambia and Zimbabwe departments. I can only assume this meeting was very important - there were several utterances of "I *expletive* hate these *expletive* things" and "My boss is so anal about this!" (He's still walking around, so I think it went okay). Luke put me on a timetable - "I need all of this in half an hour," - and instead of feeling flustered, pressured, or just scared of screwing something up I felt capable. I can finally make it to the media room without walking multiple laps around the 6th floor. It seems I've even begun to understand a little bit of what the hell all of the documents I'm working with are about because I've started to notice (and correct) mistakes in some of them. Basically, my confusion about PSI has lessened, and is shifting from the general (Wtf do they do here?) to the specific (What's the best thing that I can do here?).
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Day 3
I spent the morning in Zambia - not literally, unfortunately, but filewise. I was working on developing a tool (i.e. spreadsheet) to help keep the Zambia field team on track. I also organized a bunch of Activity Status Reports for Zambia and Madagascar. This kind of work involves picking through documents that have been scanned so poorly that you can barely read them, looking for a certain date or number to verify another date or number on another piece of paper. Mostly, I think this stuff is very boring (and also frustrating because you can almost never find the piece of information you need). Every so often you run across an interesting fact or figure, but still. Are there not robots? Is the computer not a robot?
I was temporarily released from the holds of budgets and contracts when my boss suggested we go to a brown bag lunch presentation on malaria in southern Sudan. Most presentations that come to PSI are, as I might have guessed, pretty business oriented. This one, however, was a photo documentary of PSI's recent (and successful) efforts to deliver 1,000,000 mosquito nets to southern Sudan. There was some NGO lingo that went over my head, but I think I got the gist of it.
The campaign was remarkable in many ways, if not just for the sheer unlikelihood of its success. Planning was held up due to several unforeseen factors, including a census that was being conducted by the government. There were also big time constraints put on the distribution by southern Sudan's rainy season, which makes mobilization almost impossible. Somehow, planning and distribution were all successfully condensed into one four month period, starting in January of 2008 and ending in April.
Frankly, I'm kind of astonished that this accomplishment hasn't recieved more press. This is the first time mosquito nets have ever been given out for free in southern Sudan (also surprising). These nets are intended to cover 2 people, and officials estimate that it will take about 6 million more nets, with 2-3 people sleeping under each one, to fully protect the population of southern Sudan. PSI hopes to complete such a distribution by 2011.
We had the photographer and several of the team leaders with us for the talk, and then for the Q&A session. One woman asked "Did you try to use distribution sites for other kinds of education as well because you had such large numbers of women in one place at the same time?" The answer to that was a resounding no - let people worry about their mosquito nets, don't overcomplicate things. There were also lots of questions about proper usage - had there been net-hanging lessons, what kind of follow up was being done, etc... And then one guy said "I was having a talk with someone the other day about how the people in southern Sudan use these nets on their cows because they value their livestock more than their children. Are you doing anything about that?"
Today was a whirlwind, which I maybe should have seen coming when my train got stuck behind a broken one first thing this morning. It was gratifying to see some of what PSI does in a tangible, real world context. Also, I am out of staples.
You can watch photographer Jenn Warren's photo documentary 1,000,000 Nets: Fighting Malaria in South Sudan here.
I was temporarily released from the holds of budgets and contracts when my boss suggested we go to a brown bag lunch presentation on malaria in southern Sudan. Most presentations that come to PSI are, as I might have guessed, pretty business oriented. This one, however, was a photo documentary of PSI's recent (and successful) efforts to deliver 1,000,000 mosquito nets to southern Sudan. There was some NGO lingo that went over my head, but I think I got the gist of it.
The campaign was remarkable in many ways, if not just for the sheer unlikelihood of its success. Planning was held up due to several unforeseen factors, including a census that was being conducted by the government. There were also big time constraints put on the distribution by southern Sudan's rainy season, which makes mobilization almost impossible. Somehow, planning and distribution were all successfully condensed into one four month period, starting in January of 2008 and ending in April.
Frankly, I'm kind of astonished that this accomplishment hasn't recieved more press. This is the first time mosquito nets have ever been given out for free in southern Sudan (also surprising). These nets are intended to cover 2 people, and officials estimate that it will take about 6 million more nets, with 2-3 people sleeping under each one, to fully protect the population of southern Sudan. PSI hopes to complete such a distribution by 2011.
We had the photographer and several of the team leaders with us for the talk, and then for the Q&A session. One woman asked "Did you try to use distribution sites for other kinds of education as well because you had such large numbers of women in one place at the same time?" The answer to that was a resounding no - let people worry about their mosquito nets, don't overcomplicate things. There were also lots of questions about proper usage - had there been net-hanging lessons, what kind of follow up was being done, etc... And then one guy said "I was having a talk with someone the other day about how the people in southern Sudan use these nets on their cows because they value their livestock more than their children. Are you doing anything about that?"
Today was a whirlwind, which I maybe should have seen coming when my train got stuck behind a broken one first thing this morning. It was gratifying to see some of what PSI does in a tangible, real world context. Also, I am out of staples.
You can watch photographer Jenn Warren's photo documentary 1,000,000 Nets: Fighting Malaria in South Sudan here.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Day 2
I did not know this building had a PA system. It just went off and I was rather startled. Other bits of housekeeping news include that my office now has a trash can.
My work today was all clerical - converting hard copies of timesheets and product orders and contracts to PDFs and saving them to the elusive and holy H Drive. As I walked into the media room at 9:20 (early) the IT guys were taking a computer out. Never a good sign. I had to wait a while for another one to open up, so I read through the documents I was about to scan. The finer points of business can be excruciatingly boring. I did, however, learn that our overseas staff seems to work about 44 hours per week. Not really sure when that will come in handy, but still. Today was a weird day because my site supervisor had to leave early to go on a trip, and I have apparently lost my mind seeing as the PA system just scared me again. I'm hoping that during the next few weeks I'll be able to sit in on a Southern Africa department meeting and see how those actually work.
My work today was all clerical - converting hard copies of timesheets and product orders and contracts to PDFs and saving them to the elusive and holy H Drive. As I walked into the media room at 9:20 (early) the IT guys were taking a computer out. Never a good sign. I had to wait a while for another one to open up, so I read through the documents I was about to scan. The finer points of business can be excruciatingly boring. I did, however, learn that our overseas staff seems to work about 44 hours per week. Not really sure when that will come in handy, but still. Today was a weird day because my site supervisor had to leave early to go on a trip, and I have apparently lost my mind seeing as the PA system just scared me again. I'm hoping that during the next few weeks I'll be able to sit in on a Southern Africa department meeting and see how those actually work.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Day 1
Today was my first day at PSI and although I generally try to avoid waking up this early (a 9 AM start time meant a 7AM alarm) I have to say it was worthwhile. Today was all about learning the ropes and getting situated. I am sitting in the corner office, which has huge windows and views of the business district. The extra office is nicer than the cubes the actually important people are crammed into, and I feel kind of guilty about it. The morning started off with my site supervisor, Townley, introducing me around the office as "the new Southern Africa intern." Everyone I met was incredibly welcoming.
I did a lot of reading today. I have a fancy color copy of the "Southern Africa Organizational Chart" which is kind of a pictoral hierarchy of the staff both here at the DC office and in Southern Africa. It looks sort of like a family tree. I also have a list of 255 acronyms that seem to be a standard part of office lingo. These vary from LUB (lubricants) to IS (iodized salt) to MPPT (malaria pre-packaged treatment), and the 252 others that come before, after, and in between. I've also been given a chart that explains which sections of PSI receive LAD (large anonymous donor) money. I don't really understand the whole LAD concept yet, but I do know that it is big and very important money and it means that the computer system is insanely secure. Or something. I also read a bunch of research articles on the benefits of male circumcision and HIV transmission reduction in sub-Saharan Africa.
I also spent some time familiarizing myself with the computer filing system, and learning how to scan documents to create PDFs. The office is really just a big circle, or several floors of big circles, and I inevitably end up doing a lap or two around before I figure out where I need to be. I did manage to put the outgoing mail in the correct box. I think.
I'd originally imagined PSI to be smaller than it is. Townley told me that there are more than 160 people in this office, and I think I remember reading in some document that there are actually 189. Not a small NGO! I was also a little surprised by the vast age range of the staff; I've met a few employees who are only a few years older than me, and one girl who originally started as an intern.
Although today was definitely a "first day" with lots of logistics to sort out and paperwork to do, I still found it really exciting to be here. While I was riding the metro to Farragut North with all of the morning commuters I felt like I was playing a game of dress-up-and-pretend-to-work-in-an-office. After 6 hours of actually being at PSI, it's starting to feel a little more real.
I did a lot of reading today. I have a fancy color copy of the "Southern Africa Organizational Chart" which is kind of a pictoral hierarchy of the staff both here at the DC office and in Southern Africa. It looks sort of like a family tree. I also have a list of 255 acronyms that seem to be a standard part of office lingo. These vary from LUB (lubricants) to IS (iodized salt) to MPPT (malaria pre-packaged treatment), and the 252 others that come before, after, and in between. I've also been given a chart that explains which sections of PSI receive LAD (large anonymous donor) money. I don't really understand the whole LAD concept yet, but I do know that it is big and very important money and it means that the computer system is insanely secure. Or something. I also read a bunch of research articles on the benefits of male circumcision and HIV transmission reduction in sub-Saharan Africa.
I also spent some time familiarizing myself with the computer filing system, and learning how to scan documents to create PDFs. The office is really just a big circle, or several floors of big circles, and I inevitably end up doing a lap or two around before I figure out where I need to be. I did manage to put the outgoing mail in the correct box. I think.
I'd originally imagined PSI to be smaller than it is. Townley told me that there are more than 160 people in this office, and I think I remember reading in some document that there are actually 189. Not a small NGO! I was also a little surprised by the vast age range of the staff; I've met a few employees who are only a few years older than me, and one girl who originally started as an intern.
Although today was definitely a "first day" with lots of logistics to sort out and paperwork to do, I still found it really exciting to be here. While I was riding the metro to Farragut North with all of the morning commuters I felt like I was playing a game of dress-up-and-pretend-to-work-in-an-office. After 6 hours of actually being at PSI, it's starting to feel a little more real.
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