A New Week

The weekend has come to an end and Monday is in full force... A force that is always bearable after a relaxing weekend. I started the weekend early with the other PC vols. Starting the weekend early includes cold beer, pizza and fried chicken and chips at Florida restaurant on Friday evening. We had a dinner party on Saturday and enjoyed some roasted chicken, a carrot, sweet potato and ginger mash, basil and tomato salad and a cabbage and papaya salad with lime. All washed down with Ruthia's homemade oatmeal cookies. Delicious. I'm still amazed at how much food plays a part in making or breaking my days, weeks, and months. Yesterday, I was able to catch up on some reading, continue my job search and even get to PakBat (the Pakisatni battilion base) for a lunch of chickpeas and chipati with the head of my office. No complaints.
Today I am working on typing up some directions for the WFP reporting forms all of the clinics need to fill out on a monthly basis. While doing the trainings in Grand Gedeh and Sinoe, I realized that this was the most confusing and, yet, the most important part of the program. If they don't send correct reports to the main WFP office, the donors won't have any way of knowing if we are using the food properly (Read: they will stop sending food). I'd like to say the forms are pretty starightforward, but I can see how they get confusing. The hardest part is writing up clear and easy to read directions... I don't want to make things even more confusing! It's something I look forward to leaving behind for future volunteers and other WFP offices to use and distribute.
This afternoon I have a meeting at the hospital. Our goal is to define clear referral pathways for the community health volunteers and clinic staff to use when they see a malnourished person in their community. It's important to get the right people to the right place at the right time for the right treatment. Easier said than done. But, we'll give it a shot.
Tomorrow I am off to Monrovia...against my will. I am desperately trying to find a ride with a UN agency, but to no avail. Most UN people are smart and take the flight on Mondays! Should be interesting.