Recounting, What It’s All About

Sitting in snowy London, making my way back to Chicago.

My six month internship with the United Nations Office of the Recovery Coordinator has finally come to an end. It’s been a real learning experience, with ups and downs, trials of my commitment to the industry of development and maybe a few tribulations of my altruistic, if not naive beliefs as to how to make the world a better place and improve the quality of life for everyone. Altogether though, it has been very rewarding on various fronts and I am leaving with a great breadth of knowledge about a career in development,  Acehnese society, the complexities of conflict and disaster recovery, Indonesia and the Asian continent, the world at large and, of course, myself.

The Solution Exchange project that I have been devoted to for the past 4 months has taught me so much, and we can only hope that it has that affect on the development community and decision makers of Indonesia.  A few weeks ago a response came in to the Gender Community that reminded me why this is worth it – what it’s all about – and I would like to share it with you and hope that it swells you with optimism the way it did me and my colleagues at SE.

This is how it works – a community member writes in with an issue and question looking for responses from the rest of the community in the form of advice, experiences, contacts etc. The mechanisms that make SE unique, and not just another mail group, is that because we are dealing with very heated topics, in an ultra sensitive environment with a diverse membership, we ‘moderate’ the responses. This means we work with the authors and respondents to ’sensitive’ their written contributions as well as do extra research to support the contributions with documents, links, and other useful resources. ‘Whole Answers’ I like to call them.

Anyway, to the point – here is the ‘Query’, or the question, put to the Gender Community and one response that has affectionately been named ‘The Amazing Response’ around the office. It’s lengthy, but if you take the time to skim through it’s very touching. Enjoy.

Query:

My name is Rinie, a female political activist from a nationally-based political party. I am very happy to find this online forum discussing gender and women’s issues, particularly in the Acehnese context. I have followed the discussion on the first query and it gave me a greater interest in women’s issues, specifically women and politics.

We will conduct the 2009 election in April and I will run for the ”Member of Parliament”  position at the national level representing the Aceh region. I am creating a campaign strategy that focuses on women and gender issues. I believe that the campaign period is an important time to explore and socialize women’s issues in the context of the election. Therefore, it is important to design an educative campaign to carry out women’s rights issues. Additionally, I am preparing a political agenda that accommodates women’s rights.

Indeed, I understand the importance of being aware of the specific Aceh context in designing a gender-responsive campaign program. To this end, I need advice from all members of Gender Community, which political activists could raise. Specifically,

1. What are the major issues affecting women’s rights in Aceh, and what could be some strategic entry points to address them?  Could there be synergies with existing gender programs that could be built on?

2. Also, could you share any experiences or advice about ways to use the political campaign as a vehicle to educate the community on women’ rights?

I hope that members of the forum can share their thoughts and experiences about this issue. The replies will be useful for all political activists for creating pro women’s rights agendas in the context of the 2009 election.

Thank you very much.

With warmest regards,

Rinie

A Female Political Activist

Banda Aceh

Response:

Greetings!

My name is Fitriwita, a female parliament candidate of the National Front Party (http://www.partaibarnas.org). I run for this position from the electoral region of Bogor I, Central Bogor, West Java. I am very glad to read Nila Wardani’s response in this gender forum. Using this opportunity, let me share experiences and information related to the topic on enhancing women’s rights in the context of the election.

Since the Commission of Election issued the List of Parliament Candidates (http://www.kpu-kotabogor.com/dct/6PBN.htm), I have started implementing a number of agendas to introduce myself to my potential political supporters. I present my political visions and mission as parliament candidate and my agendas if I am elected as a member of parliament. I have been doing home visits and engaging with people at the community levels. So far, I have visited 17 destinations that are part of my electoral region in district Bogor (Central Bogor and East Bogor). I also displayed my home openly to make it easier for people to know and understand me, my family and my team work. I have formed a regional based Coordinator Team. Currently, the Team consists of 26 people from 18 villages in Central Bogor and East Bogor. They give inputs and advice based on the real problems of their communities. Almost for two months now, I  have mingled with people at the community levels, women and men, to learn together about democracy and appreciation for diversities and differences. I facilitated the establishment of a youth organization called “Karya Muda” to mediate their interests and instigate participation in solving social problems around them. In the mean time, this organization is working on strengthening social sensitivity among potential participating groups, including those from governmental institutions. This is an example of their positive initiative to participate in overcoming any social problems. Indeed, this initiative hasn’t got a positive response from governmental bodies.

However, it is not easy to conduct these agendas. I encountered a number of challenges. Gender based biases are one of the biggest obstacles. As a female candidate, it is usually only the women who pay serious attention to my political programs, while men’s groups often times close their eyes when I present my visions and mission as a parliament candidate. Hence, I view that female parliament candidates have to work hard to convince them by showing our capacity and integrity. A traditional view that “men are leaders over women” still overwhelms gender perspectives of the people and presents hard challenges in our work a female parliament candidates. Furthermore, money politics in our political habits is another big problem for parliament candidates who want to be consistent in delivering “good politics.” I believe that female candidates have a key role in working on throwing money politics out from our political arenas by using political campaigns to build political integrity, especially among women’s groups.

I understand that a real problem living in our society are the needs of food. In fact, politicians and parliament candidates often manipulate this situation to operate negative political campaigns, including money politics. They give people cash or a package of food, an instant program that does not necessarily solve the substantial problem. It is important that as female parliament candidates, we utilize the event of the election to educate people and protect them from such political traps. Of course, this is a huge challenge that requires hard work and strong commitment to awaken people’s political integrity so that they have self defense and control of the custom of money politics.

I’m used to living with the dilemma of keeping my idealism and feeling guilty when I look at people’s situation of living under poverty and lack of food. I try supporting them in building political integrity and self defense mechanisms against negative political movements like money politics because this is a lasting contribution. In this regard, it is my view that a priority agenda in the context of the election is a campaign for economic independence by establishing small businesses and developing public infrastructures and facilities.

It is not rare that I face a fit-and-comply situation trapping me to follow the norms of money politics. I just work hard on keeping my commitment to appreciate our humanity as human beings. I do learn not to be manipulated by a vested political interest from politicians who use the power of money to buy people’s voices. I have a principle that as a female parliament candidate, “I have to be a role model for my political constituents in terms of political integrity. I have to honor them before I insist they honor me.” In this context, it is invaluable that female parliament candidates are required to remind their female fellows not to follow negative political campaigns.

Another challenging obstacle is the tendency of using religious teachings and activities as political campaigns to attract people’s sympathy. I experienced this situation when I once conducted socialization, I was advised to go to religious circles and use them to introduce my political visions and missions as a parliament candidate. I strongly rejected this idea since I did not want to “manipulate” my religion for the sake of my political goals. It is necessary that parliament candidates have to open themselves honestly, both good and bad sides, in front of their supporters. Using religious attributes in a political campaign will possibly hide our real identity as politicians. I do not agree with the tendency of mixing political interests with religious teachings and practices; politics should be separated from religion.

Furthermore, as a parliament candidate, I need to use my own capacity to convince my political constituents. I do not agree with the way some politicians attach themselves to a big-name/figure to boom the numbers of political supporters. I want people to vote for me because in their eyes I have qualifications as a member of parliament. It is important for us as female parliament candidates to use the event of the election as a medium of public education to contagiously spread integrity in our political stages. My point here is that the effort of changing people’s mind-set toward good political habits has to begin with ourselves. The bravery of expressing this idea in public spaces, including in this forum, is part of a political contract; hence, people could control my actions and behaviors during the campaign periods and my assignment as a parliament member if I am finally elected.

This is all the information and experience that I can share with members of this forum for now. I hope it is useful, particularly for the fellow female parliament candidates, including those in Aceh, who are working hard not only to be elected, but, more importantly, to build a more democratic political culture in our beloved country.

Thank you very much,

Fitriwita

The National Guard Party

Bogor, West Java

Top Ten Reasons You Know You’re Working at an Aid Organization Headquarters

This may give a little insight into the life I lead (even though I’m not at a headquarters). Hope you find this funny too but I don’t know if humanitarian humor translates, or if you just have to be there . . . .

Top Ten Reasons You Know You’re Working at an Aid Organization Headquarters

- According to David Letterman (The Late Show on CBS)

1. You just had a pre-meeting to discuss your strategy planning session for

the new initiative to reduce poverty by increasing access to safe

water/credit/food/health care through fair and equitable distribution to

those with the right to said good or service through engagement with duty

bearers in the government and other stakeholders and civil society

organizations.

2. You just repeatedly slammed your head into your keyboard after spending

the last 20 minutes trying to get your Skype conference call between Port

au Prince, West Bank/Gaza, Delhi, Nairobi and New York to work only to fail

miserably.

3. You realize that you can no longer squeeze into your cubicle past that

cool hand-woven cloth from Mali, the wooden mask from Congo, the elephant

figurine from Thailand and the rug from Afghanistan.

4. You just completed an annual report to your donor explaining that you’re

very sorry that you only managed to accomplish 2 of your 14 objectives due

to sudden onset of war, drought or an invasion of futuristic nano-robots.

5. You just finished explaining to the donor that you are likely to need a

two-year extension and an extra $200,000 to hire an independent consulting

company to come up with a plan to fight off the nano-robots, carry out said

plan and then finish up the original activities.

6. You realize that you just used cheers, karibu, Insh’Allah or namaste in

casual conversation despite the fact that you are neither English, Kenyan,

Arab or Indian.

7. You realize that your favorite and most frequented cafe is located in

Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam.

8. You just finished depressing a volunteer caller from the Red Cross for

the 12th time this year who reluctantly agreed that you are not eligible to

donate blood because you just got back from <fill in malarial region here>.

9. You’re pumped with antibiotics more frequently than a cow in a

concentrated feeding operation

10. You tell yourself it’s not failure if you turn it into a

lessons-learned document.

Satu Minggu . . .

So I’ve got one more week in Aceh before I leave indefinitely. However, I am planning my return.

I am scouting out work opportunities and feel relatively optimist. I’m looking with some of the larger NGOs and international organizations – various Red Crosses (American, Federation, Norwegian thought they might have something for me . . .), MercyCorps, Save the Children, Coffey, IOM, and other UN agencies, as well as continuing to work on my supervisors here at UNORC to figure out a way around contract restrictions in order to keep me on with Solution Exchange. I would dare to say, they want to keep me, as I have proven my worth as a Project Coordinator and Editor, but the catch is that they are not allowed to hire an intern until 6 months after finishing their internship. There is talk of shorting this period to only 3 months in which case I would be taken on as Editor when the project is passed from UNORC to the UN Country Team in Jakarta. This is a great prospect because I know the work inside and out, am interested in the concept of Solution Exchange, and would get an actual consultancy with the UN (and get paid!). The down side is that I would have to move to Jakarta! It’s a minor issue, well it is a fact that I will swallow if I am offered the position of course (its a job, and a job with the UN!) but, on a day to day basis the idea of residing in Jakarta makes me miserable. I’ve only been there briefly but it was so congested and polluted. Life in Jakarta is driving from one over lit air conditioned building (mall, office or mall) to a most probably other character-less air conditioned space which would be called home. Yikes, that’s grim. I do have some good friends in Jakarta, my friend Rizki and some other great people who have recently moved there now that many development workers from Aceh are being transferred back to headquarters because the major works are closing in Aceh province.

Anyway, musings about undecided futures.

For now, the last week is chalk full with finishing up multiple responsibilities with Solution Exchange and passing on my knowledge to a few new interns who I will shift the burden to when I leave. My boss, Hawi, and I have affectionately named it the “knowledge asset transfer process”. (I am officially a development dork because that’s probably not humorous to anyone else reading this . . . sigh . . . )

Things to do this week:

• Finalize content for new Solution Exchange website
• Finalize SE brochures with head’s edits, format with Marcus and translate into Bahasa with Maya
• Collect 5 relevant resource portals/docs from each CoP
• Save and Test all editing to Eleanor for “knowledge transfer”
• Complete and PDF Quarterly SE Report
• Complete and PDF Quarterly CoP Reports

. . . . Just a taste of what I should be doing rather than writing on my blog (though this is important too for my supporters!)

There is also a full list of personal things to do before I leave but I will have time for those this weekend.

Back to work . . .

Ta

The boss man, Hawi

My release into Asia

Back from my 10 day vacation which was AMAZING and extremely appreciated. I finally got to see a bit of the rest of Asia, satisfying my own curiosity and helping to put Acehnese culture in context. I visited Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand on my trip, covering cities, markets, heritage sites, temples, beaches, socialism, modernism, tourism, hot, cold, rain, sun burns, noodles, sushi, fruit, frappucinos, embasseys, trains, stairs, more noodles, waves, taxi’s of many colors and a whole lot of Air Asia.

All in all is was tiring, exciting, beautiful and just what I needed!

Kuala Lumpur: First thing I did in the city – satisfy the sushi craving and have a glass of decent wine

Petronas Towers in KL – the tallest twin buildings and office building in the world

On the boat in Ha Long Bay, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Vietnam

Chilly but refreshing in Hanoi for Christmas

Cat, my roommate and travel buddy, and I enjoying a break from the tropical heat of Aceh

Rainy but still rainbows in Hanoi

Devotees at the temple in the lake, leaving gifts of oranges, flowers and roast chicken

Just lil’ ol’ me . . .

Hanoi is a beautiful, bustling city that I would consider living in – as long as I don’t have to learn the language! No idea where to begin!

Uncle Ho’s influence lives on and is thriving!

Ok, on to Thailand . . . .

Pad thai on the street – lessons on Bangkok with local Sarah Fortuna!

Tuk tuks and that amazing yellow-orange color!

Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho in Bangkok

The roofs of Wat Pho Temple

Dried squid galore! Yum?

To market to market – everything elephants and buddhas, my favorites!

Fresh foods and . . .

Fried foods!

And a weekend of beach time. Welcome to Phuket for New Year’s Eve!

My friend Alex, another travel mate, catching a wave at Kata Noi beach

Orchids and a tan, pretty please with a cherry on top!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

I am going on a little adventure outside of Aceh and I am very much looking forward to the break from work and life here. I will write and post pictures when I get back and enter my SIXTH month of work with UNORC.

Lots of love and tropical warmth for you all in the snow!

Me at an Achenese wedding party a few days ago . . . just a cool, or hot, picture!

Holidays and thoughts on the concept of time

So it’s December, and everyone is making plans to go somewhere. Being away from home this time of year is always very hard – its cheesy, but I love that holiday feeling in the snowy city, with my friends and family, lights in the trees and more holiday parties than you can attend. I’ve spent a few Christmas’ away – one in Spain my first year of uni, and then one in Tunisia with mom and this one I will spend in Hanoi, Vietnam.

I’m heading out with my Banda roommate Cat, and we will meet up with our friend Sarah, who recently relocated to Bangkok but we met her here. I’m excited to get out and see ASIA. Banda Aceh and my brief days in Jakarta are my only experience of Asian culture, and people tell me that Aceh is very, very different from the rest of the continent. I’m sure it is and eager for it! After Hanoi, we will go back to Thailand with Sarah and see her life there. I know I will love Bangkok, I’ve just got this feeling about it! We are also meeting up with some other friends for New Year’s Eve so, although I’m sad to not be in the snow with my family, I’ve definitely got something to look forward too!

Also, I’m broaching my 5 months in Aceh anniversary and 7 months abroad anniversary. Looking back (because this is what we do at this time of year, even if you’re sitting under a palm tree on your laptop), I’ve been away from my family and friends in Chicago for about 1 1/2 years now, including Kripalu, but luckily with two 1 month long visits in to keep me grounded. The thing is, I feel like I just left. It’s like a strange time warp this life I make for myself; moving around every 6 months or so makes the time melt into a strange shape; some lonely days passing painfully slow and then weeks wizzing by before I can planwhat to do next. If anything, there is just a lot of planning involved. Maybe planning never stops – planning where to work, where to live, where to eat, what to do, should I eat that?  Once all that gets figured out, as in, when we have one home and one job and one life, then do we just start planning smaller things (micromanaging) or do we stop? I know for me, at least this far in my life, I start planning when to leave again. I guess it’s just my nature for now, whether that nature loves the challenge of the unplannable or just hates having to plan the little things. So, on that tangent, my time in Aceh is running out – the end of January is the end of my 6 month contract with the UN. What’s next?

To be continued . . .

In honor of Vali Wieczorek

I was saddend to hear of the death of my cousin Vali on Tuesday, December 2, 2008.

A thought of peace and love in honor of Vali.

All our love for her husband Al and the rest of the family who now enters this time of transition.

Just some more pics . . .

Mesjid Raya – The Grand Mosque

Still hosting dinner parties no matter where I am

Lots of fresh seafood, one of the blessings of Aceh

Eating durian ice cream at a wedding party

Kate and I eating mie Indo at the beach

Our mode of tranportation

In the hammock at Freddy’s in Pulau Weh

OBAMA OR BUST!

Hi everyone,

I know its been a while since my last update but I have been extremely busy at work.

More importantly: HOORAY YIPPEE THE WORLD IS SAVED!

Obama is our President Elect.

I knew he would win but I was nervous that some terrible thing would befall Barack or a greedy, control hungry conspiracy would sabotage our democratic efforts.

Phew.

For us over here, who are all very excited about his election – expats and nationals alike (many Indonesians seem to have a friend who’s brother went to school with Obama during the brief 3 years he lived in Indo). The polls started closing at 7:00 on Wednesday morning. We had a breakfast election party before work at Allison’s house with CNN coverage to start the day. There was a lunch to celebrate and gatherings all evening to watch more coverage and share in the spirit of pride and glee with other Americans.

I had a very personal moment with President Obama during his acceptance speech. I was huddled in my office, swearing at the internet connection, tears streaming down my cheeks while listening to NPR radio streaming coverage. As some of you may have heard, when thanking all those who were listening from here to there he specified “to all those listening to the radio in the lost corners of the world,” (or something along those lines) and I thought “THATS ME! HES TALKING TO ME AND HE KNOWS I’M OUT HERE!”. Somehow that man always speaks right to my heart.

Designed By Elise Gourguechon

ORANGUTAN AND GAJAH

Last week was the end of Ramadan. This was celebrated by a week of feasting and visiting friends and family centered around the days of Idul Fitri (October 1st and 2nd this year). I used these two vacation days to go on a trip with Marcus and Mary Beth to North Sumatra to do some jungle trekking! We flew into Medan and immediately drove down to Bukit Lawang, a village on the edge of the Gunung Leuser National Park and also site of an orangutan rehabilitation center started by WWF in the 80s (I think). There we stayed at Jungle Inn for 2 nights and went out with a guide for a 1 1/2 days of trekking and orangutan viewing.

Favorite fact: Orangutan means Forest person. The word Orang in Indonesian means Person and the word Hutan means Forest.

My room, the waterfall room, at Jungle Inn – perfect place for napping . . .

I’m not sure what, if any, is the difference between trekking and hiking, but I am a big fan of such activity and I thoroughly enjoy maneuvering over roots and boulders. The value added by climbing through the jungle and looking for animals, with a real promise of seeing them, is immense!!! There is a number of semi-wild orangutans, that have been moved there for protection in the park. The guides know them all, keep track of where they are congregating and who is in charge while they tempt them down with bananas for the handle full of tourists that come these days. Bukit Lawang used to be a ‘booming’ (relatively) tourist town on a rushing river. In 2003 there was a flash flood that killed 400 people, devastating the small village and its tourist industry. Its slowly getting back on its feet and is well worth a visit if you like monkeys, rainforest, and rafting down cool, fresh rivers! Actually there is a lot more than orangutans to see – we saw Thomas Leaf monkeys, Gibbons, Macacao and a jungle peacock with makes a crazy loud sound!

Yes, BABY orangutan! Oh goodness . . . .

From Bukit Lawang, we rode by motorbike over what we quickly realized was a dried up riverbed being called a very bumpy road leading to Tankajan village. Two hours of abusing our cocyx bones and we arrived at the tiny village that host an elephant refuge and two hotels. We stayed at Mega Inn – a really beautiful place that the owner, Mega, built himself. Mega Inn and Tankajan was a perfect little jungle refuge for us – charming clean bungalows on the cliff across the river from the main town of about 5 buildings. We went on an elephant trek, riding elephants through the jungle and river. I was so excited that I have a huge dumb smile in every photo we took! As soon as the elephants lumbered up to us through the river I jumped up on the lead girl – Ahrdana. We bonded immediately. Simply put, one of the coolest things I’ve done ever.

And for those concerned about elephant taming tactics (I investigated before we went on the ride because I don’t want to support antequated animal treatment), the trainers seem to be very respectful of the elephants. They have about 12 elephants at Tankajan, brought there from Aceh because of the human-elephant conflict that occurs when farming in the jungle. So there is a respectful relationship between the trainers and the animals because the trainers enjoy working and living off nature, so they protect it (sustainable development!)

And now its back to work! Solution Exchange Aceh and Nias is keeping me very busy and we have our big training next week with the team from India. This is the make it or brake it moment so I’m holding my breath until the end of next week. Check out the Solution Exchange page for more info: www.unorc.or.id/solutionexchange