Clad in linen and dripping sweat, I made it to work on day one thanks to the driver. I quickly discovered that I was to work directly under the big boss, the UNHCR Representative (hereafter Madame or The Rep) in Djibouti. Her first words upon meeting me were, “Hmmm…looks like someone’s going to get a tan”.
I liked her already.
Madame strikes me as an atypical diplomat. She is not here for the perks, the schmoozing, or the high glamour ex-pat lifestyle. She makes her purpose crystal clear and demands the same of me: never forget why you are here- it is for the refugees.
My title “reporting officer” was quickly changed to “PI Officer” (Public Information Officer), which seems to be a UN euphemism for “journalist”. In addition to writing all Geneva headquarter reports, a weekly situation report which is distributed to HQ and the region, I will be writing all content for the much underused UNHCR Djibouti website. The goal is to put Djibouti on the map. And my personal goal is to get a story on the front page of the main UNHCR webpage…so stay tuned.
I just went on a bit of a rant about the functionality of the office...but given the fact that blogs are public, I should censor myself a bit. If you are interested, I'll send you the deleted paragraph via email...just let me know!
Ok, back to work...
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