Working at last

I'm not sure who is more relieved (Duncan or I) that I have finally secured employment. Mentally I was just about at the stage where the whole 'women who lunch' thing was losing it's shine, and was a nano-second away from degenerating into the 'I'm bored' stage (which isn't pretty). When the attendant at the coffee shop in the only department store in town shouts out your order as you approach, you know it's time to get a job.

So as is always the way, after twiddling my thumbs for a month three potential jobs came along all at once and I was placed in the difficult position of choosing between them. It wasn't easy as they all would have been great, but I can announce that I'm now in my second week at IOM, or International Organisation for Migration which is part of the UN. They appealed on many levels including the fact that their core 'business' is protecting the rights of migrants, immigrants and refugees and those who know me know that these are issues I've been pretty vocal about (moi?)for a number of years! Also the opportunity to experience the UN system, and not least the job itself as HR Consultant (which is a grand sounding title for reviewing and updating all their policies and procedures and rolling out a training programme!)

I had the usual first week of meeting people (and struggling with name recall), reading loads of stuff, no-one knowing what to do with me, organising computers, phones, passes etc but yesterday things began to look up. Not because I was working on anything earth-shattering (though I do now have an interesting project), but because I completed my 'security training'. All 'mission' staff have to undergo this if they are located in a Phase 1 through to Phase 5 area. I'm in a Phase 1 area (be alert, but not alarmed) but many of the offices I'll be travelling to to train staff are in a Phase 3, so I had to undergo a 2 hour online training. Some of the cheery topics covered were; how to behave at roadblocks, how to spot landmines, what to do in the case of hijack, gunfire, kidnap and other treasures like how to converse with child soldiers. It all sounds pretty surreal, but as there is one training course for all staff, they need to cover a range of situations, from sitting pretty in an embassy somewhere to down and dirty at the coalface in downtown Kabul (or worse).

Actually I was really impressed and passed with flying colours (83% - I'm talking it up - passmark is 80%), so if any of you want to know the difference between varieties of landmines, what UXO stands for, or which levels of an apartment block are safest - just ask! Roger, bravo, top secret stuff, wilco, over and out.