Archive for March, 2007

My (very late) first entry

Saturday, March 24th, 2007

I have arrived in Dhaka (the capital of Bangladesh) on a Saturday, which is the second day of the weekend here. Thank god for small favours. And while it is early evening for everyone around me, my body clock is fairly sure it is 9 AM. It seems that the jet lag I was so very cocky about having avoided on the trip to Amsterdam (8 hours difference from Vancouver) is flying in full force now that I have passed through more than half of the time zones on the planet. It is 13 hours difference, 14 if you don’t count the hour we all jumped ahead in the early ‘spring forward’ before I left home. So needless to say, I feel a little trashed.

But perhaps I should say more about myself than the fact that I have a strong internal clock. I have come to Bangladesh to act as the Financial and Human Resources Coordinator, a job which I am quite excited about. This is now my second mission with MSF Holland (which is now referred to as Operational Centre Amsterdam, or OCA to the kids). My first gig was throughout 2006 (I left Vancouver at high noon on the 1st of January which ensured a very mellow New Year’s Eve) as a Finance and Human Resources Administrator. I spent 12 months in Sudan, based in the capital Khartoum supporting mostly the Darfur programs, but I did a little bit of support for the South as well. I left K-town in mid-December and got home just in time for Christmas and then a week later, got married. And then, by the end of January I was recruited for this posting here in Bangladesh.

So now, three months after deserting the dusty, dry city of Khartoum and the insecure, incredibly huge programs of Darfur, I am settling in to the hot and humid metropolis of Dhaka, where very soon there will be but one program running in the country. But what a program it is… in case you missed the press release on the main page, here it is:
http://www.msf.ca/en/news/newsreleases/2007/031207_rohingya.html

Posted in Bangladesh, Financial and Human Resources Coordinator, Healthcare provision | 3 Comments »

Bio

Friday, March 23rd, 2007

Julia PaysonJulia Payson is a Financial and Human Resources Coordinator, on her 2nd
mission with MSF, stationed in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

In 2006, Julia started her MSF adventures in the quiet country of Sudan as a Finance & Human Resources Administrator where she quickly fell in love with the work. Before heading to Khartoum, she had worked for various (deliberately) non-profit organisations in Canada, and had volunteered overseas with a human rights organisation. After being denied ballet lessons by her parents, Julia decided to get a degree in gender studies and international relations. She is still known to break out in dance in her current office in Dhaka, Bangladesh and her co-workers all wish her parents had shelled out for the lessons.

She is also known to be a tad sarcastic.

Posted in Bangladesh, Financial and Human Resources Coordinator, Healthcare provision | No Comments »