I love how time flies when your in a mission. I called my mom last night to

wish her happy mother's day, and I suddenly couldn't think of what the

weather would be like in BC.  I left in the winter, so it is perpetually

snowy and cold when I think of home.  As well, as the weather here varies

only in the sense that it is hot or hotter, non-cyclone warning or cyclone

warnings, it can be hard to mark the passage of time as I would in

Vancouver (rainy season, dark and rainy season, non-rainy season, and misty rainy

season).

And I already apologized for the lateness of my field trip reports, but

they are coming slowly along.  I'm only just starting to emerge from the madness

that is the 4M.  Quite boring probably for everyone, but I'll explain

anyway.  Emergency medical aid does not lend itself to easy planning.  We

make budgets and plans every year, but inevitably, those plans are

interrupted, redirected or just simply tossed upside down and stomped on.

If we could predict all of our programming for the year, we'd be a

development agency, not an emergency medical relief organization.  So as

conflicts break out, refugees move, epidemics rage, and cyclones hit, we

have to be flexible.  That means that every 4 months, we have to ensure we

are still requesting the resources that we'll need.  So the country

management team in the field works like mad to produce up to date budgets

and strategies that are based on what was originally anticipated (in

October), what has actually happened (in the first 4 months), how those two

items differ or don't, what we'll need in the future (the next 8 months).

Thrilling, I know.  But, yes, important I realize.  This way we have

opportunities to react and adjust as required by the work we do.  And now I

am very happy, because for now, our part is done.