Back to Work

Seutui, Banda Aceh

Our boss decided to have us go home today since it’s a Friday.

I have a boss now, yes. I have started to formally work and be a part of the reconstruction and rehabilitation work here in Banda Aceh. My CV got to a small Irish NGO that’s doing rehabilitation work for sports facilities all over Aceh. I thought that was pretty cool that someone had taken the task of giving attention to these community facilities. Most of the more than five hundred NGOs here both local and international have given attention to building or rebuilding houses, clinics, hospitals, schools, and government offices. Things have just begun though so there’s that awkward, chaotic phase of trying to put things to a start. Since the project is also funded by the UNDP, so there’s that funder – contractor thing that could be quite stifling depending on how things are going. The guys that are working with us seem to be cool though – at least from the few meetings where I have met them. The first time I joined a meeting, I was quite surprised how they seemed so open, and they seemed quite sincere in providing support in coordination and ensuring a lot of feedback.

There’s supposedly a lot of field work in the sports facilities rehabilitation project. Our male colleagues however have the impression that I was hired for office work. Which is fine – there’s work that needs to be done at the office anyway – and I have opportunities to do low intensity field work, that is, “kaladkarin,” just a part of the entourage. I think I also have to understand that it’s also probably awkward to have a woman dealing with heads of villages who are men. I have yet to hear that our office is transacting with a woman village leader. I was able to attend three community meetings during the initial phase of discussions and in all those instances I was the only woman in the group and I wasn’t even in proper attire. At some point, I think that I was invisible, somehow.

I’ve had frequent walks to and from the office already. There is now a familiarity with the place and I now have my geographical comfort zones. I think, however, that I have developed a growing fear of the men in the places where I walk. I did not get used to the cat calls and whistles, uninvited hellos and the “psst-pssts” (we thought that was exclusively Filipino, we were wrong) and the ogling brought by my obvious mark as a stranger. There are many gentle men that I have met from the locals and nationals… but still, some reason, including the awareness of this culture’s bias on gender must have affected me. It’s not so bad.

I have also volunteered for a childrens’ INGO on an ECD project with the ECD advisor. Things seem interesting, especially since the end goal is to have a system in place – which makes every little task valuable. Even the filing and the researching that I’m supposed to do is worthy enough contribution to what could be a big contribution for Indonesian children. Of course, I’m probably just trying to perk myself up – give meaning to things, etc.

So there, I got myself something to do for the next three months that my husband and I are supposed to remain here. I remember a note posted in one co-worker’s desk back in the Philippines. She was hired to do some stuff with coordinating and fixing or whatever for a major program. It’s a good reminder. “Make a difference.”