Back to Work - the Hectic Life

So I got my first paid job in Zimbabwe - well, first formal contractual work anyway. A 7-day assignment to write a proposal for CARE. I submitted a first draft today, and the work will be all over by the end of this week.

Getting back to work has been on my mind since I stopped working for SC, November 2009. I had decided that I wouldn't start working until after the summer trip home in 2010 - let the family get settled in Zim, find a house, help the kids transition, etc.

Then I got involved in the Parent Teacher Organization which is really just me and this other lady and an enormous agenda. I told myself: this volunteer work was my chance to put into practice what I'd been preaching all those years as a community organizer and aid worker devoted to improving education through increased parental involvement, blah, blah.

Still, I know about myself that I am most content when I am employed. I get a lot of satisfaction from work - the productivity of it, the my-world aspect, the legitimacy, the title-identity, the cash that I earn, the daily creative process, the high heeled outfits, the connection to the "real" world, the travel, the relationships with colleagues, the intellectual growth, the focused attention on projects, the perks...

But I really don't like taking work home or working long hours. So, a certain kind of part-time work - that is just challenging enough to keep me interested but not so challenging that it requires 100% of my attention - is ideal.

That's why writing proposals is not ideal. There are so many reasons why I should write proposals, one of which is that I could always find work. But it is exactly that 110%, keep working in the evening type of work that becomes more pain than pleasure.

Not that I'm complaining! If anything, this crazy, hectic week has convinced me that I really should make more of an effort to find a job. A regular, part-time job. That's extremely flexible. And allows a 2-month holiday in the summer.

Then there's the First Annual Harare International School Golf Tournament, Friday, 25 Feb. Buy your tickets now! Secure your tee-off times!


25 teams of 4. Rolling tee-off times starting at 11:30 a.m. 20+ sponsors - one for every hole, plus gifts and prizes. There's lunch on the green and "gin tents" and an award ceremony and a dinner and a band and dancing.


As usual, I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I suggested we do this. Me and Tendayi, the PTO. (Granted, the chair of the event is really Binta. But she had to go out of town. Twice. Last week and this week.) Luckily Tendayi is one of those extremely productive, well-connected people who makes things happen.


But it's all a grand experiment really. Have a bunch of people invest a lot of money in something and just hope you can pull it off to their satisfaction. It's for a good cause.