Current Work Update

I don’t seem to blog much about my work, which is sad really. I’m part of GREAT work here in Uganda and I work amongst some really great people. Funny too .

Last August and all of this month I have been preparing for the annual planning meetings for the translation department. I mainly just sat in on them last year but this year I am fully responsible for all of the translation planning for this next year, which includes five different teams now! Our great and fearless leader, the Language Programs Manager, had to bid us farewell in July so I feel like I’m really on my own (Ella still talks fondly of this guy. How weird is that? Kid’s are not supposed to become attached to their parent’s boss…). Time to start using your head, Grace!!

The office where I work

The planning meetings are in less than two weeks –the 23rd and 24th. The plans have been set – I know what needs to be translated and checked next year, who will do it and when, for all five teams. I need to convey this as well as a bunch of other stuff to the teams during their two days here. I will be introducing them to our newly written Uganda Translation Handbook that I had a hand in creating, which explains the policies and procedures that we follow here in Uganda. It took quite a while to put together and it’s very rewarding to find it so useful in my work already! I actually have used a lot of it’s content in preparing for these upcoming meetings. There’s no way you could remember all of this stuff without having it all written down somewhere. This is the only time each year where all the teams are together at once so I don’t want to miss anything. Especially since there is one more new team and another new translator in a different project this year.

My incredibly tidy working space :)

I really love the people who I work with. The numbers of those of us who work out of the offices in Entebbe are dwindling, as all but one of the translators have moved back out to their language areas. Maybe that’s why I get along so well with everyone – there aren’t many of us left! Another factor, which I sort of hate to admit, even to my myself, is that there are hardly any expats left, either. Somehow I just never really fit in with the other missionaries in this organization – and it’s not like I don’t like them or didn’t try. Granted maybe I didn’t try very hard, but still… I don’t think they’ve ever really known what to do with me. The missionary culture is a rather odd one, and has been difficult for me to get used to, even after 3.5 years. They can hurt you the most too, which I found out last year!

Ella, giving her "Jaja" Jennifer a hand in the finance office. Ella likes to run in there and get money :) Smart girl, that Ella...

Anyway, with the dwindling number of people in the office it seems like I’m getting to know the ones that are left better. Ella has helped this a LOT, especially since a couple of them have children around the same ages. All the kids go to Sunday School together and Ella is invited to their birthday parties, which is nice. And we all like talking about our kids together, which is fun .