Archives (9th June 2018): Swamped with work

01/12/18 03:27

End of May and beginning of June have overwhelmed me with work. As rains are intensifying, the race to prepare the refugee community to the consequences of it continues. The challenges are overwhelming… you can perhaps appreciate them, by reading/watching Ben Solomon’s interactive presentation at the New York’s Time (excellent work). Our bit of the contribution to meet the challenges is to make sure that we channel all available funds that we have to agencies that work on the ground - in the quickest and the most accountable manner possible. As we are dealing with substantial amount of money, there is plenty to do!

It seems that I will carry on being involved in Bangladesh programmes for a while, that is until we manage to recruit a new person for whose position I am filling in (Head of Office for Bangladesh). That may take additional 6 weeks or so - meaning that I will spend considerable amount of time in Dhaka and Cox’s Bazar - with some short trips to Bangkok (to make sure that I provide a minimum attention to my ‘usual’ tasks in Thailand, and that I check on Tahir).

Talking of my responsibilities in Thailand, I am travelling to Bangkok on 12th June, so that I can participate in a panel discussion that is going to be arranged by UNHCR on the situation of the refugees in Bangkok and other cities of the country. The discussion will arranged for members of the Thai government, international community, and civil society organisations. The idea is that we will try to open up discussions that we would like to end up in a massive changes of legal framework in Thailand that would legalise the asylum seekers/refugees in the country in one or another way. While this is a professional engagement, the issue is very dear to me because of Tahir. It is Tahir that made me understand and appreciate how incredibly difficult on every level the lives of refugees in Thailand are… and it is him who motivates me to push for the needed changes in the way that I can from my own professional and personal perspective. I will report on the event next week.

Tahir is in the middle of his medical check-ups/vaccinating. He is now ready with the investigations, but still needs to receive some vaccines. He is scheduled to finish all on 20th June. Once all is completed, his medical file will be sent to the Canadian authorities for their evaluation. Then we will be waiting for the final decision on his resettlement, and hopefully for the date of his travel to Canada!

I look forward to hearing from you in one or another way. You may always reach me via this email: webmaster@romanmajcher.eu, in case you wish to do that!

Updates and news

Archives (9th June 2018): Swamped with work