darfur materialism

Coffee, miraculous coffee!! My coffee has finally, FINALLY arrived from Khartoum. I had left a box of things (mostly food, coffee, books and other comfort items) in the office in Khartoum to be forwarded to me via cargo on a WFP flight. Anyway, after a few weeks of waiting I got these items today.

Now I have never considered myself to be a very materialistic person, but it is amazing how a few more possessions has cheered me up significantly. Sure, I am living in the midst of a humanitarian crisis…but that doesn’t mean that I can’t have coffee! I imagine my co-workers will also appreciate this newly arrived item, as it might make me a little more perky in the office in the morning.

In addition to my coffee, I have brought a Starbucks mug that a friend gave me as well. She bought a thermos that can be “personalized” and put a bunch of pictures of us and inspirational messages on it. Anyway I use it now everyday and think of her. However, these types of personalized mugs are unheard of in Sudan and seeing my image on the cup prompted one of my logisticians to say, “Leslie, that woman on your cup bears a great resemblance to you!”, to which I responded, “The woman on the cup is me.” They really laughed about that one.

Currently, everyone is out of the office except me. All of my bosses are either 1) out of the country on r&r or 2) in Khartoum for meetings related to our next OFDA proposal. This has left me to be in charge for about a week or so…and I feel like I have no idea what I am doing. This is a very common feeling I have here, trying to adjust to the fact that I am way out of my comfort zone. You also learn really quickly that it is so much easier to be critical of managers when you are not the one who is managing.  I imagine that is a lesson that will continue to come around to me.