Aid worker stories
Pakistan Update 3: Last Days in Pakistan
Justine Tordoff, RedR HR Director
Time has flown by since I last wrote an update a week ago and as always when you are just about to leave somewhere, I have a slight sense of panic about whether I will get everything done before I leave.
I have spent the last week meeting lots of different people, including other international NGO’s and legal advisers, to gain the information we need to get operations underway. I have also been visiting medical facilities and completing contracts on the staff house and office. We have now employed a local Logistics Manager, who will be busy in the next couple of weeks buying furniture and equipment and arranging electricity, water, internet connections, etc.
The new Progamme Manager had an induction in London this week and will travel to Pakistan next week. We are also pleased to have confirmed the appointment of our new Country Director, a Pakistani national who is currently CEO of a local NGO and who has previously worked in Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
The security situation continues more or less as before. Thankfully the National Day public holiday passed peacefully and security checks seem to have become slightly less vigorous on the roads, although getting into our hotel sill involves going through at least three security points before you can enter the building. It is slightly disconcerting how normal this has begun to feel.
Whilst we have been very busy, we were able to take a few hours off on Sunday evening and were taken by a couple of local contacts to a restaurant in the mountains, just outside Islamabad. The view of the city was breathtaking and it was great to see local residents and their families enjoying a nice evening out together.
