OK, OK, OK, I'll Talk About Work
I can sum things up in five words: "We are ready to go!" What that should tell you is that I still have no materials to distribute, but first things first.
Staff Changes: I am now officially in charge of Los Palos. Greg is working the Dili side of things, and a new guy Jeff or Steve or something like that is working in Oekusi (I haven't actually met him yet, and really haven't heard anything about him.) Jennifer is working in Dili to coordinate the whole crew, and Johanna has switched from the bed net program to shelter to help coordinate the work in Oekusi. Greg's contract is ending at the end of February and IRC has decided not to let him extend or renew in East Timor because of his bad track record with Dengi. So Jennifer is busy looking for someone to replace him.
On the local side: The Los Palos crew has changed a few times since I wrote. I fired Custodio and Joquim because they tended to disappear for long periods of time. I've since hired Jose and Pedro and they are doing great; however Jennifer is transferring both of them to Dili to be closer to their immediate families. Jose left on Monday and Pedro is going to stay on in Los Palos until I find a few more replacements. Greg is supposedly sending me a few good folks this week. We also have two new three-ton trucks here in Los Palos driven by two new drivers Paulus and Edmundo. We are expecting a five-ton truck to arrive next week and Profilio, who right now just washes my truck and watches the house when I'm away, will drive that. They also gave me a new truck with a back seat so that all these guys don't have to sit in the bed with a tarp over their head whenever we go anywhere. Nice of them, huh!
Budget: The budget has been approved at least up until June. Since I'm supposed to go home in May that means I'm pretty much set. It also means that we were able to order all the trucks listed above. It also means that we should be "ready to go," which we are.
CNRT Switch-up: The CNRT (the local leadership group working in coordination with UNTAET) has got itself sorted out and organized and has been very helpful in getting us "ready to go." This week, however, they are electing new village heads. So far it seems to be going rather smoothly except for the no show by the new Kepala Desa for Rasa at a meeting we were supposed to have today.
Warehousing: UNHCR has finally got the beginnings of a warehouse built at Com. Com port is where the ships will arrive to drop the materials. Com port is little more than a deep-water pier. Actually besides the pier there was nothing in Com port but a few rotting shacks. So UNHCR planned on throwing up a few rub halls (a rub hall is essentially a big tent that can be used for temporary warehouse). What they ended up ordering, however, were semi-permanent pre-fab like structures which no one knew how to put together (the correct bolts for the things were just delivered last week.) They ended up hiring some Australian logistics company to come and put the whole thing together. Right now one is complete, the second will be done before the end of the week and who knows when number three will be done. What is important is that we have a place for the cement when it arrives, which we do.
As for our warehouse here in Los Palos - you remember the gymnasium that I was trying to fix up? The one that should have been no problem to occupy because it was controlled by UNTAET, and UNTAET said it should be no problem? Well, it was a problem. The UNTAET office in Los Palos said we should just go ahead and occupy the space, but when UNTAET national finally gets it's act together we would be changed rent. We said "fine, we have warehouse rent in our budget. How much will they charge us? We can't begin repairs, move in, or do anything until we know if the rent will fit in our budget. If it doesn't fit the budget we can't use it." They had no idea. Here is the deal: to find out how much they will charge us, UNTAET national figured it would have to hire an independent agency to conduct an assessment of all the public buildings in East Timor. That agency would have to look at the size and condition of all these buildings, compare them to what is available in Indonesia, factor in the needs of the East Timorese people, set up a trust fund, do a safety inspection of every building, and then pull a number out of their a** that they feel is fair and appropriate.
I asked them if they felt they could do that in one month, because that is when I would need to use that warehouse. "Sure," they said "that should be no problem." I didn't believe them for a moment. So, I began the repairs anyway. I also worked out a "Plan B" to bypass the need for a warehouse facility in Los Palos all together. Right now I've got all the materials needed except the roofing bolts to keep the rest of the roof from blowing away, I've got the door frames all constructed and ready to put up, I've got photographs of the original condition of the structure just in case UNTAET's guys ever do come around to do an assessment, and I've got yet another problem. The problem is that they started talking about backdating the rent to the point of occupation. If I start the repairs on the actual building, I have to hire guards to guard the new materials I'm using to upgrade the building. If I hire guards, I'm now occupying the building, which I can't do because I still don't know how much the rent is going to be. Confused yet?
Well it is now one month later, and UNTAET national has come to the realization that it will be a cold day in hell before they ever get their assessments completed. So they have given the responsibility back to the local UNTAET offices, which brings us right back to where we started. I'm now trying to work out a contract with the Los Palos office in which a rental amount that fits within our budget will be agreed upon, in which we will be able to deduct from the rent the cost of any repairs made to the building, and finally in which we will agree to put the money back into rehabilitation of the building so that the East Timorese will have a fully functional basket ball gymnasium when we pull out. I think it will be a good thing all around. That is if I can convince our office in Dili that my "Plan B" is not the better plan. They really liked "Plan B."
Materials: I saved the big one till the end. It is now February 7th and the materials still have not arrived. As I write this, the latest estimate says that the ship will arrive in Com on the 10th of February. I will believe it when I see it. When I got here in November they were saying that materials would arrive in Dili for sure on the 18th of December and would be getting into Com no more than a week after that. Since that time the arrival date has changed too many times to remember. It's so bad now that if these materials do not arrive in three days time, I'm contemplating taking off for Dili for fear of my safety. The only thing that worries me about that plan is that I would have to drive through Rasa (one of the two villages expecting materials) to get there. I am serious, however, when I say that I will not return to either Rasa or Assaliano until I have something to show for myself.
As always, wish me luck!