New job

I have worked for CODEC (Cooperation for the Development of Cambodia) now for a week, and am still rather bemused by it all. The CODEC office is located in the middle of nowhere (actually about 1.5 kms from my house), and the office facilities are very basic. However, I have had an interesting and varied first week:

• On Monday, I attended a workshop organised by the Fisheries Department in a village 10 kms away, attended by local fishermen, police and other stakeholders, where the recently ratified Fishing Sub-Decree was explained (in Khmer, of course!). The meeting took place outside under a canopy, and there were lots of speeches.

• On Tuesday I went into the CODEC office, arranged selection interviews for my translator post, held the interviews and appointed on the same day, with my new translator, Tha, starting the next day!! Some things happen much quicker here! Also, the electricity went off at 3 p.m., but the staff all still stayed at the office until 5.00 p.m., even though they couldn’t do anything.

• On Wednesday morning, I inducted Tha (!!!although no one’s inducted me yet!), and in the afternoon took him to his first formal translation “gig”, at the very grand Provincial Hall where Bram, Rachel and I were introduced to the Provincial Governor.

• On Thursday morning, there was nothing much going on in the office, so Tha came with me to help me open a bank account. In the afternoon, I met my main colleague, Mr Yim Lam, for the first time, and he landed me with my first task – resolving a conflict between CODEC and the Fisheries Department!!! Apparently only VSO can sort out a disagreement about fishing lot allocations!! My friend, Rachel, has just started working in the Fisheries Department, so I went to her office and held a meeting with all of their staff, and tried to soothe ruffled feathers. We have now arranged a further meeting between all the CODEC bosses and the Fisheries department at the end of December to finally resolve the problem (I hope!!). And I still haven’t been inducted!
• On Friday, as part of it’s health programme, CODEC organised a big march through Kompong Thom in aid of the white ribbon campaign against domestic violence: “We respect men who respect women”. I sat through more speeches, and then marched with about 100 people (mostly high school kids), giving out white ribbons and leaflets to everyone we saw. Great fun!

My working hours are 8-11.30 and 2-5 Monday to Friday, although I am expected to be flexible, and I’m enjoying having long somrak (break) in the middle of the day. The CODEC staff seem very nice, and I hope to find out a bit more about my role soon.