8 More Days

You're probably thinking that I've lost my mind - it's 7 days to Christmas and not 8. That may be so, but at the moment, I'm not as concerned about finishing my Christmas shopping as about the 1-year anniversary of the tsunami that is coming up on December 26.

Today is the Andrew Natsios visit, a highly choreographed event with lots of press. He'll first lay some flowers at the mass grave and then have an informal (right...) discussion with the community in the mosque, followed by dedicating the not-yet-finished water processing facility we're helping to build. It's overcast at the moment, hope the rain will hold off until after the visit! I'll post pictures later today.

Next week will be another busy week - the judging and awards ceremony for the Art for Recovery event, there will also be a team from our Jakarta office here doing monitoring and evaluations, and getting ready for a survey we're conducting in the post-conflict areas. But more importantly, Christen will be here! My first official visitor will arrive on Tuesday!