GASPARD’s MUSINGS

Though I was in Rwanda only for 2 ½ days in the latter part of 2011, the genocide of 1994 came up in our conversations ever so often. Several parts of the country were affected by the horrendous conflict between the Hutus and Tutsis that claimed thousands of lives in a period of 100 days. The rivalry and tension between the two tribes goes back to several decades and conflicts were heightened from the late fifties, well into the seventies and reached its peak in the mid-nineties. Since then, several attempts have been made by the government to try and bring about peace and calm. Truth and reconciliation commissions have been set up and cases of violence against the perpetrators are being investigated including by the UN. As a stark reminder of and possibly as a deterrant to future conflicts, genocide memorials have been set up, supported by the government in many parts of the country. A national memorial day is held on 7th April each year to remind people of the dark days, reflect and pray for long lasting peace.

During my visit, we visited a village which was set up for orphans in Ntamara town of Bugasera district, and another village for widows, both groups survivors and / or victims of the genocide. It was during this visit that we went to visit a genocide memorial in Ntamara.
Gaspard, a lanky young man probably in his late twenties met us at the gate. “Francais or Anglais”, he asked. “Anglais, silvou plait”, I requested, and he smiled. “I am your guide here and I will show you around”, he started. “First, we will visit the church, which was the scene of the attack. Many women and children had taken refuge here as they thought that they were safe in a place of worship. During the violence in 1959, 1970s, 1980s and in 1991, people had sought refuge in churches and had survived. Hence, the church was considered a safe haven. It is impossible to think of how people could kill other people in this place”, he said.

“It was April 15, 1994”, Gaspard continued. “Many people had assembled in this compound. They had heard of the attackers approaching and were terrified. They sought refuge here. Soon, the attackers reached the compound. Even though they knew that most of the people in the church were women and children, (as the men were out fighting or engaged in the conflict), they did not hesitate”. And then, he continued with the narration of the attack.

As he led us into the church, the first sight that greeted us was shelves against the wall full of skulls and bones of the victims, a chilling sight. As we turned to the left, we saw a rope slung from one wall across to the other wall strewn with clothes that had stains and dirt on it. “These are the clothes of the children and women who were killed”, he said. A little further ahead were some coffins adorned with flowers and small wreaths. “These are some of the victims whose bodies were recovered in recent times”. And then he pointed out to a shelf containing an assortment of items – jerry cans, bottles, flasks, utensils, bins, mattresses, boxes, things that people had brought with them when they came to hide in the church.

Gaspard then pointed out to a large window with a ventilation grill made of cement, which was partially open. “The attackers wanted to ensure that all those inside were killed. They thus broke this ventilation and threw hand grenades”. In a corner, we saw an assortment of gruesome weapons – swords, metal chisels,daggers, sickle, steel kama, knives, axes, hammer and machetes. “Weapons used by the attackers”, he said, expressionless. A strange smell permeated the room. It was difficult to say if it was the smell of dried blood and charred remains of bodies…..after all these years. Or was I imagining it ? Certainly made me very, very uncomfortable !

As we came out of the church, he took us to a small house outside. This is where children apparently came to study and learn from the religious text. A shelf in the wall had a collection of various kinds of books in a state of disarray, with dust accumulated. “These are the books of children who were studying here and were killed”, he explained.

We then went around the church. He showed us a house which had been partially destroyed, though the basic structure was still there. “Here there was a family living. Some other people had also gathered here. The attackers came and started attacking them. They were helpless. But to ensure that they were killed, the attackers took a mattress, set it on flames and threw it on the victims. Several charred bodies were discovered in this house”, he said.

He then took us to the last building which was also a prayer room, with rows of benches for people to sit and pray. This was the most gruesome sight of the massacre. “Look there”, he said. For the first time I noticed a change of tone in Gaspard’s voice. There seemed to be a wave of emotions coming up, probably affecting his narration, which up until now seemed to be expressionless. “Can you see the dark patch on the wall there”? Yes, we did. “This is the stain of blood and hair of babies whose heads were mercilessly bashed against the walls”, he send, sending a chill down my spine. HOW could anyone possibly do that ? “They picked the children, one at a time, by their feet and bashed their heads against the wall”, he said. It was too much. I could hear the screams and wails of the children as their short lives met with such a violent end. And I wondered what state their mothers may have been, for many of them were in that room, witness to this barbaric act of cruelty. He then pointed out to a long stick with a pointed end. “This is the stick that the attackers used on women”, he said. “They pushed the sharp end of the stick into the vagina of women, and then pulled it out, which meant that the women bled to death”, he said, sending yet another chill.

“Where were you when this genocide happened”, I asked Gaspard. He must have been in his mid-teens at the most when it happened. “I was in the same area and I witnessed many of these attackers. I managed to survive. I escaped to the swamps nearby and spend two weeks there. And then I realized that I was too isolated and did not get any information on what else was happening. I did not want to come back to the village, fearing an attack. So I went to the hills where I know there were people resisting these attacks. I joined them to fight with them, but also to know what was happening”, he said. “I am a survivor of the genocide”.

There was a silence after that. We looked at him. I saw a distant look in his eyes. Surely, his mind would have wandered to those horrific sights and those terrifying experiences. His eyes or his face did not give anything away. Perhaps, he was trying to forget it all. Perhaps he was living with it every single day. Perhaps he had been overwhelmed with a feeling of numbness, having been so close to the scene. Perhaps he still had a deep rooted fear of it happening again. Or perhaps, he thought that was his destiny !

There is a nice garden in the compound. Lovely plants and trees give an air of serenity and calm. There are twenty tiles, each with thirteen names of victims who had been identified. Apparently, there are still new discoveries of bodies, or the remains and attempts are made to identify them by name, so that their family members, if they survived could at least come here and pray for them.

Today, Rwanda is hailed as the Switzerland of Africa. It aims to be a leader in industrial and agriculture development, and IT. It has a charismatic, forceful President who is keen to put Rwanda firmly on the path of progress. Chinese investments are quite apparent. The roads are squeaky clean. Kigali is glistening and beautiful city. But a look beyond the gleaming new buildings will reveal remnants of the genocide period. It somehow still affects or is part of the daily lives of people who find it difficult, nay impossible to banish the thoughts away.

Nshuti, our Team Leader, had his own personal story to see. In the aftermath of the genocide, many people fled their homes and many houses were vacant. When people returned back, they started occupying the houses that were available. Nshuti, like most others, also went an occupied a house, only to find two dead bodies of victims in the house. “I took the bodies out, buried them, cleaned the house and started living there”, he said nonchalantly. He has, since then, moved out. But those memories still linger !

STANDING UP AND SPEAKING OUT

“I was married at the age of 5. I didn’t know what it meant at that time. When I grew up and realised what it meant, I decided to walk out of my marriage. Why should I be married to a man several years older than me, against my wishes, at a time when I didn’t realise what was happening? And so, a few years later when I had the courage to take my own decision,  I decided to walk out of this marriage. My parents were furious. They said, ‘If you walk out now, you will remain unmarried for life’. I said that I would prefer it that way and instead, study and get into a career. I am now doing a degree in law and soon I will be qualified”. Poonam said that very nonchalantly, without any emotion or remorse, almost defiantly, but with a hint of pride in the corner of her eyes. I may also have noticed a little smile.

By any stretch of imagination, this would have been an amazingly defiant stand, coming from someone in her early twenties, saying this in the presence of members of her community, women and men – but even more so for someone living in a village in Haryana from a Dalit community, a region notorious for its deeply held patriarchal values, norms and culture, where atrocities against women are rampant and the sex ratio is an abysmal 831 girls to 1000 boys.

This was October 2019. I was visiting one of the villages in the state of Haryana where ActionAid supported the local community to fight discrimination, inequality and injustice. We were in the section of the village where the Dalit community lived, in the outskirts of the village. The contrast in the economic status between this community and the rest of the village was quite apparent. The local community had gathered to talk to us about their work. It was a mixed group of people with men slightly outnumbering women. Most of the women were towards the rear of the meeting room, and much of the earlier conversation was dominated by men.

As the discussion progressed well over an hour, I could sense some restlessness among some of the younger women, who tactically started moving forward towards the front rows. It was clear that they didn’t want to be passive observers, but also wanted to speak. A few of them were huddled together, perhaps making a tactical plan of how to get their voice heard.

It was at that point that Poonam and a couple of women spoke up. “Let us also speak. We need to talk about our experiences”, one of them said. And that is what led to the conversation taking a different angle and Poonam’s story.

It was not just Poonam’s story and her resilience that stood out, but the confidence with which she said it in front of the male leaders of her community, which would have been unthinkable of in the context where the ‘khaap panchayats’ (traditional community groups) decided on socio-cultural norms which are steeped in patriarchal traditions and entirely dominated by men.

Poonam has no regrets. Once she gets the law degree, she hopes to lead the fight for justice, especially for women in her community. There is certainly great hope if every community can find, support and nurture their own versions of a Poonam !

BEGINNING OF THE END ?

In September 2015, world leaders adopted the Sustainable Development Goals. Goal 5 focusses on Gender Equality. One of its targets is about ending all forms of violence against women and girls in public and private spheres. This is something that is immensely laudable yet hugely challenging to achieve. Achievement of this goal requires a fundamental rethink on the social, cultural, economic and political imperatives that have a deep impact on the status of women and girls. A visit to one of our programmes in Kenya illustrated these complexities.

After a 3-hour long drive from the Kitale airstrip, through the West Pokot region, we reached Kongelai, which is part of ActionAid Kenya’s Local Rights Programme (LRP). It is difficult to spot the houses, spread sparsely across bush forests surrounded by hills. Largely inhabited by pastoralists, the rustic views can create an impression of peace and tranquillity. Yet, it masks one of the most heinous and ancient rituals that have a deep impact on young girls and women. According to one estimate, 200 million across 27 countries in Africa and Asia in the 15-49 age group have been affected.

“I always saw blood around” said Mary, a former ‘cutter’. In keeping with the local culture, Mary was a professional cutter who performed female circumcision soon after a girl enters into adolescence. A painful process conducted with scant attention to safety, it could lead to severe bleeding and even death. But as per the local culture, men would insist on marrying only those girls who had undergone FGM. For the parents, this was important as the man would pay the dowry or bride price. Younger girls who had undergone FGM would be married off to much older and much married men who can afford a higher bride price. “It was difficult. Some girls would die. But I had to perform this. Often, the parents would offer me alcohol to calm me down after the ritual”.

“I did not want to undergo FGM” said 16-year Christine. “But at the age of 13, I was forced by my parents and brother. My family threatened to kill me if I did not comply. And once I went through FGM, I was forced to marry to a much older man who already had four wives. When I resisted and pleaded, I was told that this is normal for girls in our culture. I wanted to continue my education. But I was told that once I had agreed to FGM, it also was a signal that I had agreed to marry”. Christine went to recount her ordeals after marriage. And after a couple of aborted attempts to escape, she succeeded eventually and is now pursuing her education in a centre for rescued girls. She is still not completely comfortable. Her parents and brother have signed an agreement with the local district administrative chief to allow her to study. But she feels that her family resent her because of having resisted the cultural practice.

FGM is not just a cultural rite. It is a symbol of controlling a woman’s sexuality, as Dina, an ActionAid Kenya staff who belongs to the local community, explained. Once circumcised, the vagina was sewn to allow only urine to pass. It was only at the time of her marriage being consummated that the stitches would be opened up. But sometimes, the hole was so small that it would be difficult for a man to penetrate. In such cases, an animal horn would be used to pry open the hole. And after child birth, they would be sewn again. It thus meant that the process of sewing up could be repeated several times in a woman’s life, exposing her to various forms of health risks.

It would also then create more problems at child birth. Maria recounted how she lost her child because the passage was too narrow for the child to be delivered. And after that incident, she was deserted by her husband and she has been childless ever since.

But winds of attitudinal change are blowing, thanks to the courageous work of the local women who have formed a local organisation. Their role is to make local communities aware of the risks associated with this practice and to enable girls and women to resist pressure. They also aim to target young men asking them not to insist that their future brides would have done FGM. As an ex-cutter who has resolved never to go back into her profession, Mary has inspired other cutters to stop this practice and campaign against it. With ActionAid’s support, they are also pursuing other alternative livelihood options.

This also involves them working with many of the local government authorities, traditional chiefs and the police as well. FGM cannot be done forcibly. The law does not permit it. Yet sometimes, the local authorities appear to be providing some implicit support as they are deeply mired in local beliefs, cultural values and practices. This is something that this group is focussing on. The women’s group has also set up helplines using mobile phones so that girls at risk can contact the community leaders.

The journey is long and tortuous as it is a complex mix of various imperatives. But in this unique partnership, ActionAid Kenya has played a huge role in supporting such women’s groups and to ensure that girls have access to continue with their education. Education and improved livelihoods is the answer alongside efforts to constantly change attitude towards women and girls, for which men and boys also have a key role to play. At the base of it, it is about a girl having her fundamental right over her body.

A NEW HORIZON

There is a perceptible sense of excitement in the air with elections around the corner, tinged with optimism and aspiration for the future. These elections are expected to be different with a more visible presence of Aung San Sui Kyi’s NLD party and her supporters, often seen wearning T-shirts with the red flag with a star and peacock in yellow or passing through open vans waving the flag of their party. This, we wee told, is rather unusual if one considered the situation just a few years ago. It is also interesting to see articles in mainstream media including some considered to be more sympathetic to the ruling USDP that covers protests and election rallies.

In the ActionAid Myanmar office too, there is immense optimism about a brighter future for the country, but for different reasons. After being in existence since 2006 (though in reality, programme operations started only around 2009), the team is bolstered by how some of the initiatives are now bearing fruit. “We had to make use of the limited opportunities that the local context provided to build confidence and trust among the local communities and the local authorities on what we are here for. We recognised that the policy space was opening up and we wanted the communities to benefit from these while also persuading the government to consider ways in which they can engage with the local communities”, says Shihab Uddin, the immensely energetic Country Director of ActionAid Myanmar who was asked to initiate the programme.

One of the proudest achievements for this team is the development of ‘Village Fellows’. “It was not a new concept for ActionAid because it had been tried in some other countries like Afghanistan, but we tailored it to the local context”, explains Shihab. The concept of Fellows is very simple. It is about identifying young volunteers who are keen to bring about change in their situation, working with local communities and engaging with the local authorities. They lead on developing village plans which are captured in detail in the ‘Village Book’. “Initially, it was not easy”, says a young woman Fellow. “The local authorities wanted to know why we are having village meetings. This was not usual. We had to be very patient and persevere, and explain that we are here to support the communities develop themselves”, explained on the Fellows. Initially, this was done in the villages that came under ActionAid supported ‘Local Rights Programme’ (LRP), six of them covering a little under 200 villages. “But now, the local authorities are so enthusiastic about it that we have trained even more Fellows”, says Orlene, one of the senior staff members. “Our Fellows now have the confidence of not just developing these detailed Village Books, but also negotiating with the local authorities to make sure that action is taken on some of the key issues, which often relate to education, electricity, water and health”. “Given the growing recognition of the importance of Village Books and how it helps local governments to plan and use their budgets effectively, this is now being taken up by many regions and states, with endorsement from the highest level including chief ministers and union ministers”, says Tauhid, the Head of Programmes. “This is a great opportunity to make sure that the process of decentralisation delivers to the local communities”, says Upendra who advises on governance issues.

Our visit to the Magway region was a great opportunity for us to meet several Fellows who have developed these plans and are using these as documents to constantly engage with the government. “This is very much framed within a rights based approach”, says Aung, who is the Regional Head for Magway regional programme of ActionAid. “These processes empower the local communities and give them the confidence to mobilise local resources and the government in their development programme”.

Another noteworthy aspect of the programme is their focus on enterprise development as a way to empower women and girls through an initiative called the Socio-Economic Development Network funded by a group of external donors. This programme creates marketing outlets for a wide range of handicraft products made by local women’s enterprise for their sustainable livelihood. An outlet in the tourist centre of Bagan, known for its archeological heritage is being further developed to take advantage of an estimated 300,000 tourists who visit Bagan. But this has also led the team to think of other opportunities. One of them is the idea of community tourism.

A couple of years ago, ActionAid supported the local community to build a small dam in this area also referred to as the Dry Zone, to serve as a water catchment. With water now available, the area has been transformed with lush green vegetation. The local community is now being supported to set up a small hotel which can host a batch of 16 tourists at a time, who will also be exposed to the local villages, their culture, traditions and food. In the first year, on a conservative estimate, they expect to raise $ 55,000 which will be used for local development funds. Of course, they also expect that the tourists will also be purchasing the SEDN projects which would mean an increased inflow of resources into the local community. They have tied up with the local Ministry of Tourism to promote this as a partnership between the government and the local community, and also with the local hotels and tour guides.

A theme that runs through very strongly through all the programmes of ActionAid Myanmar is their focus on women and girls. As part of the DFID funded ‘She Can’ project, they are implementing a programme on analysisng issues of women’s safety and using the information to negotiate with the local authorities on public services. “Men and women may have the same needs but for different reasons. We want the authorities to understand what the priorities of women are and why that is the case, as their voice is rarely heard”, says Melanie who advises on the project. Li Lwen, a team member of the women’s rights project concurs. “It is important for us to encourage women and girls to talk about some of their issues, especially the more sensitive ones around their safety and sexual abuse, and to discuss it at a community level to change attitudes of people”, she says, as she explains a community mapping project that was done in the peri urban area of Yangon to identify areas that are unsafe for women, and also identifying possible solutions to address these.

“Our work is built on developing strong relationship with the government, so that they are convinced about our approach and the rationale behind our thinking”, says Sitali, who is part of the programmes team. “It is all about relationships”, says Shihab. “In the context of Myanmar, it was not easy at all for an international NGO like ActionAid to start working. But gradually, by ensuring that our work is rooted in local communities, we have built trust, confidence and relationships. The government now sees as as a key resource as we come up with tangible solutions to addressing some key challenges. That is the reason why we also have a high credibility with a range of organisations from the NGO, international community and the private sector. And this needs to be sustained”, he says. With the energy, enthusiasm and creativity that I witnessed in the team, I am sure this will indeed be the case !

(Since then, the NLD party led by Aung San Sui Kyi has won the Myanmar elections and have formed a government)

THE NEXT STATION IS OVAL - Concluding Part

And of course, my stint with Wateraid was made all the more special with the fantastic colleagues I got to work with. In my role, I had the opportunity to work with colleagues across all our country programmes and Wateraid members. My travels meant that I could regularly meet them from time to time. And each time I met them or spent time with them, I was always struck by their passion, their energy and their optimism that change can and will happen.

 I cannot forget the animated discussion I witnessed among my Nigerian colleagues over dinner arguing passionately about sanitation policies or the East African colleagues discussing their annual plans and priorities during their morning and evening walks on the beach in Bagamoyo, Tanzania, or the fantastic 'programmatic approach' cake that the Malawian team baked with all enthusiasm during the Wateraid week, or the Bangladeshi colleagues pursuing every single opportunity to push boundaries for innovation and new funding. And whether it was the Sacosan in Kathmandu or Delhi, or the Africasan in Dakar or the Presidential water forum in Nigeria or the India WASH Summit, the manner in which our colleagues demonstrated political savvy to pursue our agenda of a higher priority for WASH was simply amazing ! 

Equally or even more amazing was how our teams put up a brave face in times of crisis - the Tsunami that affected parts of India and Bangladesh, the devastating floods in Pakistan during two subsequent years, the crippling Ebola crisis in Liberia and Sierra Leone, the Abuja bomb blast, the rebels capturing last parts of Mali, the constant insecurities faced by Pakistan,  the massive earthquake in Nepal ......all these and others tested the resolve and resilience of our teams all the time and yet, they remained so focussed and firm !

It was also great to see the huge leaps we had made on some critical challenges on the WASH sector - on sustainability, on equity and inclusion, on rights based approaches, on sector financing, on working with the health sector, on water and food security, on being more confident and collaborative in our advocacy work. 

None of this would have been possible had it not been for the unstinted support from the thousands of supporters - the general public, who stood by us through thick and thin, raising funds - by running, swimming, climbing mountains, crossing the sea, singing, dancing, jumping out of planes, wearing poo and camel costumes, signing petitions...the list can go on and on, with supporters as young as 5 and as old as 80 ! There have been volunteers some of whom having been us for over 3 decades ! And the trustees who, despite their very busy work and personal lives, always had the time for Wateraid ! 

There have been great fun times too - during summer and Xmas parties, the staff summer games, during regional management team meetings, the various birthday celebration (with cake), the singing and dancing with communities and amongst ourselves, the various drinks in the pubs, the dinners and the constant snacking (yes, I gained 10 kgs in 10 years !).

All this is just a snapshot of my amazing decade with Wateraid. I could go on and on, but this was not meant to be a narrative about my time in Wateraid - it was more about trying to articulate why Wateraid has been so special for me and why the past decade will rank as my most professionally satisfying, nay, enriching decade of my life !

The icing on the cake was the last 50 days of my life with Wateraid. I tendered my resignation on June 1, 2015 (coincidentally, it was on this day in 2005 that I took on my role as Director of International Progammes), and my last day was July 20. And while 50 days did seem a long time on June 1, there was a sense of finiteness to my time with Wateraid, which was enough to get me into a denial mode. And that proved to be very difficult. I was not prepared to be overwhelmed by a huge number of absolutely amazing and touching messages I received from all over the organisation, across all the countries we work in. The lunches, dinners and drinks that followed had a strong undercurrent of emotions that I found it difficult to express, yet was very acutely conscious of. Leaving an organisation after a decade was never going to be easy, but I never imagined it to be so difficult. 

I have been reflecting on what made it so difficult. It was most certainly the fantastic colleagues and the thought of leaving them, accentuated further with the wonderful messages and wishes that I received from them during my last 50 days. But it was also about walking away from all the privileges that I enjoyed and experienced, just because I was with Wateraid. And that is what I have tried to capture in my blog post - the privileges of being a Wateraid person !

I will forever miss Wateraid and I can only thank all those who make this wonderful organisation for having provided me with this opportunity !

THE NEXT STATION IS OVAL - Part 2

But the most inspiring and enriching part of my life at WaterAid was the opportunity to meet with communities living in remote areas of their respective countries or in highly uninhabitable urban settlements. What was most inspiring about meeting them was how they saw hope for a better life, just because of access to water, sanitation and hygiene. 

There are several incidents that I can recount. There was a woman in Ethiopia who said that when she delivered her child during one of her routine 7 kms walk to fetch water by the wayside, for a fraction of a moment, she wondered if she should take the child home or the water as her three young children were waiting home for the water and she could not possibly carry both, the water and her new born kid ; an old and blind woman in Mali who had been living on the fringes of her village who said that her dignity had been restored because she now had access to water and threw aside her walking stick to sing and dance for us, just to appreciate our effort ; the nearly eighty year old blind woman chief in a village in Zambia who was delighted that once all houses had toilets, she had not seen a recurrence of diarrhoea or diarrhoeal deaths in her village ; of the bright teenager Dolly in the informal settlement in Korail, home to a million people in Dhaka who was running an enterprise with her young friends selling sanitary napkins and other itmes, who dreamed of a better education and career; of people living in an unauthorised slum in Kampala who said that they knew their rights and can negotiate with their municipalities; of a woman in Malawi who said that she wanted her children to know what rights are and how to hold their governments to account.

There were amazing leaders as well - the woman leader Jane in Accra, Ghana who transformed her neighbourhood with sanitation provision and was dedicated to pursue this even though she had lost a local election; a young couple who enthusiastically promoted ecosan in Malawi as means to promote better agriculture; of wheelchair user Amrita in Nepal who poignant story of her struggle with accessing education and basic facilities like sanitation reverberated through the conference venue in Kathmandu during the South Asian Conference on Sanitation ! And even some gender stereotypes that were challenged as in the case of a male teacher in Uganda who actively got adolescent boys to be engaged with promoting menstrual hygiene.

For that, I will forever be indebted to our various partner organisations, over 500 of them, who connected us to these communities through their programmes. Many of the partner staff belonged to the local communities and hence had a very strong rapport with them. Their knowledge of the lives, the culture, the traditions and the local history was so enriching and informative ! Most partners worked in very challenging circumstances - faced with hostile environments, inaccessible communities, poor infrastructure, difficultly in recruiting and retaining staff - yet, they chose to persevere and make progress !

Of course, there was lots of dancing and singing as well, which was part of the visits to communities, as their way of wholeheartedly welcoming visitors to their village. So whether it was Tanzania or Malawi or Burkina Faso, dancing was an absolute must - of course, I was always high on enthusiasm and low on talent ! Or the memorable experience in Timor Leste when a group of three middle aged women accompanied us all throughout our village visit playing the local musical instruments - a version of a girl band ! Nigeria always had to do things in a very special way. I was quite overwhelmed (and slightly embarrassed) with a couple of formal and rather grand welcomes that had been organised with professional dancing troupes who performed traditional dances from various parts of the country. One country where I did not dare to dance much was Ethiopia - it was too difficult to try any of their body moves without risking serious neck and back injuries ! My comfort zone was obviously in India, singing and dancing to Bollywood tunes !!!


(To be concluded....)

THE NEXT STATION IS OVAL - Part 1

'The next station is Oval' - the announcement on the tube was the one that I was used to for several years now. And as was my habit, I opened my bag to put back my copy of The Economist. Nothing unusual about that - but that, it was rather unusual. Though I had my copy of The Economist and even as I read articles and flipped the pages, my mind was elsewhere. There was a sense of surrealism about that day, that travel, that announcement - which, on that day, seemed to have a ring of finality about it, a definiteness, a finiteness. And it had to be - that was my last day with WaterAid after over a decade working and operating out of itsVauxhall office. 

As I got out of the tube, that one last time when I would go up on the escalator as a WaterAid employee and out of the tube station, I glanced at the 'Thought of the Day' at the Oval station, the plants, the books and stepped out to a rather bright and warm summer day. And as I started making my way, slowly, and a tad reluctantly to my last day with WaterAid, I thought of that rather cold and grim February morning of 2005 when I landed at Heathrow to join the London office of WaterAid after my one month induction with the Delhi office. I had a small temporary accommodation arranged by my colleague Oliver Jones at Wimbledon. By that afternoon, I was making my way to Vauxhall, having boarded the Waterloo bound South West trains to Vauxhall, walked up to the Prince Consort House to report. And what a journey it had been since then !

Crossing the pedestrian crossing at the main entrance to the historic Oval cricket stadium, I walked past it, and glanced to peer through the gates to see the lush outfield and the pitch, which was covered - again, a routine that I had got used to. And today, I knew I will be missing this walk past the iconic cricket stadium !

There was so much that I did during this decade that I had not done before. With a canvas stretching across sub Saharan Africa and South Asia, I had the remit of 22 countries, all of which I had the privilege of visiting (except Lesotho) at least once, and in some cases, 4-5 times. I had travelled to our offices in America, Australia and Sweden. I had also visited Timor Leste which was managed by our Australian office. In addition, work had taken me to Mexico, Belgium, Switzerland and Portugal. I was travelling to most of these countries for the first time, but more importantly, I had the opportunity to travelling to the interiors of many of those countries and see the real country, going beyond the state capital, a true lesson in culture and people and history. I had probably logged over a million miles in the air during this period and thousands of miles on road and some miles even by boats, not to forget the unique experience of travelling by a sea plane in Bangladesh  !

I had done some extra ordinary things - meeting the Presidents of Mali and Liberia, senior ministers in most of the African and Asian countries I had visited, civil society leaders, heads of international organisations, senior corporate leaders. I had the opportunity of meeting Prince Charles on three occasions, and seated next to him for a dinner on one occasion. I had met the Queen in the Buckingham Palace, and been to a garden party as well at the Palace. I had spoken at the UN on two occasions and on one of them, I had shared the panel with the Secretary General himself. I had met several tribal chiefs in some African countries. I also had some interactions with some celebrities and sports stars. All these were part of my regular work. 

Never before had I done a TV interview and here I was, being interviewed by CNN in their studios, live, during prime time news. And then there were others with BBC World and Sky as well to follow (one with Al Jazeera did not materialise !). There were many others, including an interview in Johnnesburg in the studios of SABC TV and a live radio show in Liberia. 

(To be concluded......)