New Year Greetings!
Happy, bright and beautiful
New Year to you and your loved ones! I hope this finds you well
and enjoying the first few days of 2014 so far. Reflecting on 2013, I am
grateful for the opportunities I have had to work, rest and play and spend
quality time with family and friends.
Rest and relaxation
Last year I saw in the New
Year with John, who had come all the way from Down Under to spend Christmas and
New Year with me and my family. We had met a few months previously in Port
Moresby, while we were both working in Papua New Guinea and hit it off. After a
restful few days over Christmas in Long
Itchington and exploring the sites of
Warwickshire, we returned to the bustling metropolis to enjoy the Christmas
lights, shows and spectacular fireworks that heralded in 2013. All too soon it
was time for him to return to Sydney.
I enjoyed an extended period
of rest in January and February following my hectic, productive and very
interesting mission on behalf of the Protection Standby Capacity Project (ProCap), seconded
to UNHCR in Papua
New Guinea in 2012. I needed to recharge
my batteries, sort out a shoulder injury and contemplate my next steps as I
realised that it is becoming increasingly important for me to be at home in the
UK for periods of time and regain a decent work/life balance. During those
months of rest I took up pilates,
enjoyed some deep tissue massages at Lavender
Heal and had some physio for my
shoulder, all of which worked a treat and I felt as good as new! In addition I joined a
100-day co-creating our reality challenge, which was a fun way to set some intentions for a 100
day period, work towards them and video blog (vlogging) about the experience
along the way. I have never vlogged before but I had a go and learned how to
make movies on my MacBook with iMovie.
Itchy feet and road trips
In March I took up a UK based
job as a Programme Specialist on Child Protection and Education for UNICEF UK, a national committee affiliated to UNICEF. This entity is primarily geared up for fundraising
for and communicating about UNICEF’s work internationally and on the domestic
front. While in the International Programme Advisory team, I provided technical
programme input into pitches to corporate partners – a whole new universe for
me! Remaining chained to a desk and a computer somewhere in the City of London
was a challenge. Unable to sit still for too long, I visited my friend Nejla in
Sweden for a long weekend in May and we toured around the ‘Köpings’ – Nyköping, Norrköping, Linköping, Soderköping and Gamla
Linköping. It was good to catch up
and explore a lovely part of Sweden in the springtime.
As you know I do so love to
travel and fortunately I didn’t have to wait long until my next adventure. In
July I ventured Down Under to visit John and meet his folks. We packed a lot
into two weeks. We started off with a few days exploring the Hawkesbury
River and Blue Mountains, followed by urban walks in Sydney discovering the best the city has to offer including
the harbour, opera house, Botanic Gardens and historic centre as well as
venturing into the surrounding beaches and headlands including Palm Beach, Barrenjoey Head,
Bondi by
night, the Gap, Bobbin Head
and Appletree Bay.
We then embarked on an epic road trip up the coast into Queensland and on to Fraser
Island to wend our way along the
beaches and into the rainforest. What a trip! All being well we plan to meet up
again soon.
On her Majesty's service
After a few months at UNICEF
UK I realised the role wasn’t for me as it wasn’t challenging, strategic or
fulfilling enough, particularly compared to recent roles with NGOs and UN
agencies. I made the decision to move on and in September I took up a
Humanitarian Adviser role at Crown Agents.
Crown Agents provides a range of services to Her Majesty’s Government including
the Department for International Development. I’m based in CHASE OT (Conflict, Humanitarian and
Security Operations Team) which sits within DFID, at Whitehall. Since I began
my new job in September I’ve been on a range of induction training courses such
as Working with Ministers (a bit like “Yes Minister”) and Hostile Environments
Awareness Training. As the name suggests, this training covered dealing with
threats such as ambushes, mines and unexploded ordinances, armed groups and
potential hostage situations, and learning first aid including responding to
traumatic field injuries. Some of the training was familiar and a refresher and
other parts were new to me so well worthwhile.
Following that I was seconded to
the Syria Crisis
Unit for a few weeks, where I was doing a piece of work relating to the needs
of children affected by the ongoing conflict, both inside Syria and in
neighbouring countries to inform DFID’s programme design for the Secretary of
State’s Lost Generation Initiative. Subsequently, as it was typhoon season, I
assisted colleagues with ongoing monitoring of natural hazards and since
November I have been providing technical support to the Typhoon Haiyan response in the Philippines.
As we begin 2014 the conflict
in Syria shows no sign of abating leaving 6.8 million people in need, 4.2
million people displaced from their homes and 2.3 million people who have fled
Syria into neighbouring countries. I hope and pray for an end to the conflict
soon. In the Philippines the typhoon has affected 14.1 million people and
displaced over 4 million people from their homes. The international response
has been good so far and donors and agencies are working with the Government
and local communities to support the recovery process.
Creativity
Aside from work and travel, I
have been deepening my reiki practice for the wellbeing of friends, family and
myself and participating in reiki shares, where I have enjoyed meeting
reiki-lovers in my local area and sharing experiences and practice. Also, I
experimented with drawing mandalas,
which I find to be meditative and colourful.
Creative writing continues to
be a joy when I sit down and make time to put pen to paper or finger to
keyboard. I endeavour to post musings up on two blogs. Blonde Bombshell in Crises
takes a tongue-in-cheek view of humanitarians and the humanitarian world and this blog, Shalomsplinters which reflects on creativity, spirituality and wellbeing. I
may not be the most prolific of writers but I do enjoy the creative process and
receiving feedback from friends and occasionally random strangers. In December
my line manager, Ian, gave me an interesting mission, to write a script for the
CHASE OT’s Christmas pantomime for the end of year review and party. Each team
within DFID CHASE were required to put on a mini-panto and Ian was keen for
CHASE OT not to be outdone. Mission Impossible? Horrified by the task I turned
to partners in crime in the team, Barbara and Andy who agreed to co-write the
material with me and also galvanise willing actors. I am happy to report that
we won first prize! This marked my first foray into comedy script writing and I
could develop a taste for doing more of it in future. Watch this space! Feeling the creative pull back to music, I bought a ukulele and I have been teaching myself the basics. In addition, I returned to the live music circuit having been persuaded by my friend Luc Floreani, to perform at local open mic nights in Larrik Inn in Fulham and The Anchor pub in Battersea. I plan to do more of this throughout 2014 and I might perform with my uke and jam with friends. Perhaps I might even do song writing again!
Family
At the moment I’m grateful
for being the UK and not roaming too far afield as both my Aunt and Mum have
been going through health problems. My Auntie Josie has been recovering from a
stroke during the past 12 months and is now doing very well. Mum is undergoing
all sorts of tests and has been in hospital a couple of times. I go to visit
them as often as I can and I accompany Mum to her numerous hospital appointments.
I spent a quiet Christmas and New Year in Long Itchington. Mum and Auntie Josie
and I had a lovely Christmas Day together. Unfortunately, a few days later mum
had to go into hospital on New Year’s Eve for a biopsy. I am thankful that I
could be there to support her through it and will be going up to Long
Itchington on a regular basis. I hope and pray for healing for both in the
coming months. It is, especially, at times like these when I truly appreciate
my loving family and the kind support of friends and neighbours.
On that note, I wish you and
your loved ones peace, love and light throughout the year and always.
Much love,
Sarah xxx
