Good Things Come in Threes!

Last Monday on the heels of a horrible day in Lusaka that involved a visit to the post office (2 hours), Northmead for a meeting with other agencies over Conservation Agriculture (2 hours), Makeni [CAMCO] where I was testing a not-so-efficient rice grader whilst arguing with the manager over the lack of quality (1 hour), pulling my hair out in Mt. Makulu trying to get the prices for pre-basic (foundation) seed (1 hour), and practicing nose-breathing whilst in the car stuck in Lusaka traffic (?? hours), I came back to the office after 6 p.m. to find out that I have had a paper published in the Journal of Agricultural Sustainability that is somewhat eponymous with the URL of this site. I tip my hat to my adviser, Dr. Bill Bland, on that one ... it was his persistence that kept the paper alive. I need to get a copy to the host family back in Monze (which I just realized I haven't visited in 1.5 years ...)

Tuesday was even better ... Accenture agreed to fund phase II of the CA programme in Zambia and Malawi, doubling it's funding amounts to $3.2 million for another three years. It's really exciting as it means I have a job past February next year (*** A brief aside ... one of the worst parts of development work is that your jobs aren't neither long-tenured or secure. ***) It is the culmination of about six months of project concept notes, proposal writing, budgeting, etc., etc. Real team effort on that one between our guys in Dublin, Malawi, and here.

Sunday, I bought a rice cooker (ironically the same Sunbeam (C) model I owned in the States; purchased it from Game in Lusaka, owned by Mass-Mart, owned in turn by Wal-Mart ... flattening world indeed). That seems really blase, but it really cuts down on the soupy rice.