A Day at the Office

Now I have been here a week I can give you a quick overview of my day at work.

I get up around 7am for the usual morning routine before sitting down for breakfast. This varies and can range from boiled potatoes, boiled cassava, boiled green bananas, boiled arrow root with sesame seeds and roasted ground nuts, thick pancakes the size of your palm, boiled eggs, and bread which are all accompanied by a mug of chai. I’ve also managed to sneak in a tub of marmite – there are some things that are hard to restrain from.

We then drive into town to start work at around 9am. I meet with Jack (programme director) and/or Jackline (accountant) to discuss any issues and continue the work agreed at the start of the assignment. I am looking at number of areas including:

•Review of the Mango spread sheet accounting system recently adopted
•Review of the cash flow forecast and how this is monitored
•Board governance – especially how financial information is reported to the board including management accounts and the cash flow forecast
•Risk management – I am helping devise a risk management framework
•Operational plan – drafting an operational 3 year plan (a bit like a business plan)
•Draft a planning, monitoring, learning and evaluation (PMLE) policy document (basically an overview of their governance structure from the board down to the farmer group level)
•Generate ideas for future fundraising initiatives

There is quite a lot to do but it’s been really interesting looking more at the strategic side of SMART’s operations and how financial capacity can be built with the board of trustees.

The mornings are quite long and we do not have lunch until about 2-3pm. It takes a bit of time to get used to but we do not eat until 9-10pm in the evening so a late lunch seems to work. After lunch it’s a trip to the internet café to catch up with e mails, post my blog and do any research for my work. We then work until about 7pm before heading home, have a cup of chai and catch up with the family. Cuka, the youngest at 4, is an avid artist so likes to show me his pictures. His favourite activity is to get me to draw around his hand – his scrap book is now full of hand drawings.



If there is time I like to watch the worst soap I’veever seen called “Hidden Passion”. The acting and dubbing (I think it’s either a Brazilian or other South American soap) is so bad it is hilarious. This is followed by supper between 9-10pm and comes as a type of African tapas. It can be anything from rice, ugali (ground maize – a bit like polenta), sometimes goat, chicken or beef (the goat has come as nyama choma or barbecued) green grams (lentils),kales, night shade and/or spider plant (types of greens) a type of spinach, potatoes, matoke (boiled green bananas which have been mashed)and chapatis. Desert is usually one of oranges, mango or pineapple. So overall an extremely healthy diet.