Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho...

Wednesday marked the first official day of work for Scott and me. At our counterpart’s request, we have spent our first two months in Santo Antao learning the local dialect and getting to know the realities of our community. We were really grateful for the time to adjust and had begun to get comfortable in spending each day however we saw fit. It came as quite a shock, then, when a Ministry of Agriculture representative dropped by on Tuesday to announce our office hours.

Office hours!? I felt terrified. There is literally nothing in the office aside from a desk and two chairs, and almost everyone in our community spends their days working in the fields or caring for their kids and homes. The idea of being hidden inside an empty office all week sounded inappropriate and painful.

Luckily, things have gotten off to a surprisingly good start. We sat down with our counterpart to discuss his plans for us as well as our ideas for projects. I was very pleased to learn that I will be responsible for the organization and presentation of environmental education to all age groups in our community. Scott will be cataloguing and photographing plant species as well as creating a calendar of their life cycles (primarily for identification and seed harvest purposes). He is still awaiting the creation of a technical team responsible for the establishment of a new national park. The two of us will also work closely with the Rural Extension and the Ministry of Agriculture in efforts to expand/better utilize tourism. (This includes strategic planning, workforce development, English for tourism, marketing, etc.) If Scott and I were to write up ideal job descriptions for ourselves, all of the above roles would certainly be included. It almost seems too good to be true. One of our first tasks will be prioritizing projects and determining which will have the greatest positive impact in meeting the desires of our community members. I’m excited.

Scott also met the director of a United Nations Development Project promoting biodiversity and countering climate change. They may have some research for him to conduct.

So it turns out that this office hours bit is pretty flexible. Much of our work will be out in the community. I know there will be many obstacles to overcome, but for now I’m very happy with the prospects.

Our office. A calming shade of green, but a little lonely. Just the two of us.