I dont like moving.  And I intend to stay fully put wherever I move to next.....Well, almost.

The packing, trying to get rid of furniture, clearing my parking tickets, finding a buyer for the car, all those issues.  A lot to deal with.  Especially when I have less than a week to go.

In spite of the naging stress headache that threatens to make my head burst, I am excited.  There are real opportunities for career growth, a chance to move back to be with all my friends, the move away from a strange city (even though I was just beginning to settle in wonderfully), but...most...importantly....I get to have a night layover in London to visit with my cousins.

I havent seen them in eight years, which I can barely believe. I just hope that meeting and being with them wont be a let down - I had a similar experience, where I was just bursting to meet the person, and they ended up being a let down.

Oh whatever.  I must have been a let down to them as well.  But these are my cousins, so it's going to be extra special.  Will let you know how it goes.

We had to work, even on a Saturday. It was a late day, but a working one none-the-less.  And I dint mind a bit.

When I first started volunteering with RO, I worked stupendous horus as well.  Especially from January until March.  As long as I like the work, I have no qualms.

Out work today was to visit an orphan project called the Rafiki Foundation.  (Google it).  They take in kids who have been left destitute, orphaned, and have no where to go, and raise them in a family of ten kids with a mother and the mother's asistant.   They also have a pre-vocational school for girls from the community who are from impoverished backgrounds

Words fail to express it.  Let it just suffice in starting to describe the project, that I did not expect to find middle America-type surburbs right outside K-city, in the pearl of Africa.  I couldnt help looking at the kids and thinking: You must be some of the luckiest kids in this country.  And these kids were happy.  You could see it!  They hugged you and wanted to hold your hand.  They were curious.  They looked at you right in the face!  They played like little kids want to play.  Yes, there is no substitute for an original mother and father; but there is a substitute to being dumped in a trash can (and some of these kids have been) or being abandoned in a hospital ward (as some of these kids had been).

The investment to start up is huge.  I cant believe it.  Industrial gas cookers with 18 pit burners, man-sized laundry machines and driers, convection tray type-holders, all the works.  Can you imagine?  The kids are taught to line up their slippers in a neat little row, to hang up their towels in the bathroom, to make their bed s when they get up....

School is right on-site.  Regular schedule, with holidays and mid-semester breaks, and all that. 

Projects are running in 10 African countries: Uganda, Nigeria, Liberia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Zambia, Tanzania, Malawi....I forget the rest.

I am trying to hook up with them so that kids from my old project can be sent there.  We have lots of kids in the community that are totally orphaned, and we are trying to support them.  One especialyl comes to mind.  About 7, with an infirmed grandmother who hates her like hell.  She could do with a good enviroment.  Maybe she will forget her traumas eventually.  The human capacity to take, survive, and then forget trauma is infinite.

Maybe a kid like her could be so lucky.

Tell me, please, someone do tell.....

What is it that makes a 40 year od woman believe that she is in competition with me?  I just want to know.  How can you have four children, a husband that is a global expert, 10 years of experience as a physician, and then be picking on a 25 year old junior colleague? 

Honestly, we have serious problems as Africans.

As I was heading out to work yesterday, early in the morning, I saw an email message in my inbox from my old boss.  Title? PEACE.  I didnt read it too closely.  She (old boss) was still talking about the assumed fact that I was supposed to leave the organization on the 24th.  So I called her up to clarify this point.  This is at 7AM in the morning. 

BIG surprise:

Her tone had changed.  Lola, I want you to understand I am HAPPY for you.  I see you as a junior Colleague.  I dont want to destroy you.  I want you to move on and be happy.  I just felt betrayed...... 

HE-LLO!! Am I in shock or what?

She continues: Please, please, please, I dont want us to end like this.  *WHAT??* I want to see you before you leave.  I havent been able to sleep since the beginning of the week.  I think it must have been the same for you.  Pleae, I will meet with you wherever you want to, on the project site or not, just dont let's end like this.

So what was the reason for the about-turn?

Let's back this baby up:  When I called The Rival and spoke to her and told her about the lawyer retention, I told her that my boss is connected to the White House, and that her husband is major connected to the folks that give our project money (referring to the old project here).  Of course, knowing her MO, Rival quickly relayed the message.  Especially since my new boss has extended her a visit to make a presentation to The US Congress.

Now they are falling all over themselves to make peace. 

I agreed to meet because of my mother.  But doesnt it make you sick the way the world works?

I had it all planned in my head....I was going to let the cat out of the bag.  i have one guiding principle.  Never let on.  I learned this from my parents.  It's very simple, this principle is: If you are having clashes with a colleague who isnt necessarily a direct boss, dont go around complaining to the over-all supervisor.

So what is the cat in the bag?  The whole rivalry with The Rival, of course!  How she once told me that I was hired to fill the position she really wanted, so I should allow her to have the position, because she is old and I am young, and she is in a special fellowship, so she really needs to have outputs....How she has told me that she could never be paid enough by the organization, so she could never hold the project coordinator job she is being trained for, for long.....How she worked with my department to make sure that they would never cooperate with me....

All of that...Shoudl I continue?....

....How she thinks that my old boss is managerially incompetent...etc

But...

We never met yesterday as we had planned, so I didnt get to say all that.

And it turned out to be great that happened.  rememebr I said I didnt read my old boss' PEACE email to closely?

Well, I finally did today.  And the lies in it were horrendous!  Stinking to highest heaven.  The Rival told my old boss that I had stolen data from the organization, used it to write abstract for an international conference, and hadnt run it through anyone in the organization. 

Apparently, this is why my old boss was so freaked out.  She thought I was stealing organization data to publish solo, which she absolutely hates.  I wasnt prepared for that.  Now I am.  When we meet on Monday, I will lay out all the issues I have had with The Rival for a year (which are many) and then print out the abstract I submitted for them both to see. 

I would like to see her face when she is painted for the liar that she truly is. 

Did I tell you that I work on Saturdays too?