Some success at last

I finally managed to get an ATM card to go with my new Indian bank about 10 days ago.  The trouble was (as I found out after several failed attempts to withdraw money) that I had to go to an Andhra Bank ATM for the first use to activate it.  The nearest one to Koraput is in Jeypore, about an hours bus ride away.  No matter, off I went on Saturday afternoon, taking the afternoon off to go and sort it out.  It's a nice ride over the hills and down into Jeypore although the bus is always crowded.  At least I managed to get a seat this time and spent half the journey being chatted up by the conductor, a young man around the same age as my son + a bunch of teenage engineering students, all keen to test out their English and finding my pitiful Oriya attempts very amusing.  I even got the conductors phone number thrust into my hands with the pledge that I can call him any time of the day and night if I need any help.  Now there's an offer.   I managed to find the Andhra Bank without too much hunting and was amazed to find the my card worked fine and issued all the cash requested.  Another tick to go onto my list of things to sort out.

While in Jeypore I decided to do a bit of shopping, the shops there are bigger and better stocked and have things not available in Koraput.  I was really pleased to find a pan shop that had a kettle (or kettlie as he called it).  Up till now I've had to boil my water in an open pan (pans don't seem to have lids here, I use a metal plate across the top as a lid).  I haven't been enjoying my tea since I got here, it just hasn't tasted right but every cup I've made using the kettle has been really nice.  Coincidence or psychological I wonder?  But a second tick on my list of things to do.

Today I went down into Koraput to go to the market for my weekly veg shopping.  On the way I spotted a shop I hadn't seen before selling furniture.  Since I arrived I've been hoping to find something more comfortable to sit on than the ubiquitous plastic chairs.  I have got a cushion and pillow to try to make it slightly more comfortable but it's hardly luxurious and my back's been aching a bit.  I've been looking for cane furniture which I thought would be cheap and looks really nice.  I'd been told that I wouldn't be able to get cane chairs here until the tribal convention in November and had resigned myself to waiting until then.  But hey presto, I found a shop that sold exactly what I've been looking for today and at a very good price.  So I now have a 3 piece suite - all I need now is friends and family to come and make use of it!  So that's another tick on my list.

I was slightly disturbed a couple of days ago when I returned home from work to find that my resident birds nest has moved. Those of you who have been following my blog may remember that I posted a photo of said nest on my Diwali blog.  It's moved about 6 inches to the left and is now on the opposite side of the recess. Has it come to life?  Is it actually some mysterious creature hibernating up there?  It must be about 12 feet up and I can't find anything tall enought to stand on to look at it more closely.  I might not like what I find anyway so maybe it's a good thing.

On a more serious note, I think I may finally be making some headway at work.  My first objective is to write policies and procedures for the NGO and then to make sure that everyone follows the procedures.  They will love me, introducing formalities and red tape.  To achieve writing said policies I need to be working quite closely with the accountant and other people in the NGO - which is fine, as a volunteer that is what I should be doing to help them to grow their skills.  However, I sometimes think that I'm viewed a bit like an auditor as I have had to look very critically at the way that they work and assess if that's an efficient/transparent/accountable way of working that would stand up to audit.  Noone likes working with auditors (apologies to any of you who are auditors) and none of us likes to feel that our work is being criticised.  It's sometimes felt a bit of an uphill struggle to get the time I need from my local colleagues.  However, I think I'm really making some progress and was really pleased to be able to pass a draft copy of the procurement policy to the accountant for his feedback and next to go willl be HR, an ominously long document as it includes lots of template letters, forms, health and safety, disability policy and a host of things that will probably never need to be used but need to be there.  I think the likelihood of needing to follow a disciplinary or grievance procedure is fairly remote but it needs to be included for completeness.  Then I'll have to return to the really hard stuff, the accounting procedures and the monitoring and evaluation stuff.  I'll get there eventually.  Writing policies and procedures is not the most riveting of pastimes but it's really important stuff.  Many NGOs operate very effectively without any of the formalities that are deemed essential in the corporate environment.  However, that may result in a lack of transparency and accountability that is essential for the donors to be able to have confidence that their sponsorship is being spent effectively and appropriately.  It would be really nice if I could finish the job and see that some of the working practices have improved and the red tape part of my colleagues job is made easier by having a methodical procedure to follow instead of trying to work out what to do every time.  I will live in hope but it's given a huge boost to my morale just to get nods of appreciation when I talked the accountant through my draft.  Let's hope I can continue on the road to success.