A Day in the life of an A Administrator at MS Zambia

Yesterday I woke up to the sound of guards changing shifts. No, I do not live near Buckingham palace, so the guards are not bearing tall, fuzzy flamboyant hats that royalty is made of. The five minutes I spent eating breakfast, I simultaneously spent stroking the dog with my right foot whilst eating a bowl of cereal and fruit. That is his quota of affection for the day. As always I practiced my off road driving skills on Lusaka’s Lunar back roads, to avoid the traffic tight spots, and got to the office before the storm.

I like to start my day by checking my e-mails. There was a letter from my sister to assist the morning coffee’s job of perking me up. This time of year there are a lot of crucial tasks at the office. The budget revision is the biggest cloud hanging over my head. Just as I am about to get stuck into it, DW-Katrine pops her head in to my office. I tell her about the time of arrival for the new DW’s and remember that I need to draw up an introduction programme for them. Since she has recent memories of her start in the country I ask if she has any opinions. She does, and before long we have a customized programme, ready for examination by those we have implicated.

At 10 Glory and I have a meeting with the Auditors. It is time to get our accounts thoroughly scrutinized by their eagle eyes. We agree on the time frame, which is not surprisingly the same as last year, and they leave us with a long list of what we need to prepare for their next visit. Another list, just what I need!

Today is a good lunch day. There is another signing ceremony going on, so Zebra Guest-house has prepared a tasty lunch, which I am invited to share with the partners and programme team.

“Relieved, and yet apprehensive that

we have done it correctly I press

the send button.”

The director calls me into the office for some quick consultations, and before I know it an hour has passed discussing the way forward for the new flexible development workers and any other pressing issues that pop into our minds.

I get back to my office to find my inbox filled up. I delete the spam urging me to buy prescription drugs on line, and see a mail from the Administration department in Copenhagen. It is reminding us of the deadline for inputs to the new Danida Frame funding for 2005. Oh yes, I am on top of that one at least. I run around from the director’s office to the programme office, coaxing the last inputs. Relieved, and yet apprehensive that we have done it correctly I press the send button.

I  realize that the office hours are nearing an end, and I have not actually made any head way with the budget revision, just as I pick it up the accountant appears with an ominously large black file with vouchers to be authorized and posted.

One hour later I sign the last voucher and make the last notes for clarification tomorrow, when I see an apprehensive face peering around my door. It is a partner who has just discovered that his dinner has not been organized. I pop down to Long-acres, trying to put together a menu from the just before closing time shelves.

Finally I reach home, and wander through the dark garden to the front door. I pop by the kitchen scrounging the fridge for anything edible, tripping over the cat on the way to the TV. Not coincidentally I am just in time for a trip to Horizon Deep and the intrigues of Isidingo - one routine task that never seems to become a chore. That is more or less my life day in and day out.