Well, a June start date (thankfully!) has become early August as plans have been slowly nailed down and now we both have assignments to go to at the National Agricultural Research Institute in Lae.
Steve will be mentoring scientists, helping them with publication of research, and I will be helping develop and implement training programs and resources. It is all about strengthening capacity in agricultural production and reducing rural poverty. We are doing this as part of the Australian Volunteers Program - your taxes at work!
We have completed our training and security briefings - not as daunting as we'd initially thought - and are now waiting on details of where we'll be living so we'll know what we need to take. We have 5 weeks to get ourselves organised!
We are so lucky to have a permanent house sitter - Toby keeps the home fires burning while we are away - and supportive family and friends who stay in touch and express interest in what we are doing. They also often have contacts who are able to give us extra advice that will help in our assignments - it can come from the most unexpected places.
See if you can find us in this group of Australian Volunteers - the PNG flag will be a giveaway. The flag is 50 years old in September and I'm so excited that we'll be in PNG for the important milestone of the 50th anniversary of independence.
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Love from Jenny
