All Roads Lead to Rome

Well I guess in my case its a flight to Rome - darn sight faster than driving!

I guess what they say about all roads leading to Rome is true, but no one told me it would be such an arduous road to travel. Last week I got told I could head off on my African Adventure and join the rest of the team on the World Food Program.

After much deliberations with the Boss he finally said I could join the rest of the World Food Program in Rome for training with the rest of the people who are going onto other WFP projects around the world. This all happened on Thursday afternoon and I am leaving for Rome on Sunday the 2nd of March.

Even as today draws to a close I still have loads to do. Panic has not really set in yet, nor have I had much time to think about what lies ahead for me. One thing I do know is what lies ahead of me will make me stronger and will change me for the good. It has already started to do so. I have already had to find a bit of inner strength in myself.

I used the word arduous just now to describe my metaphoric road that I have had to travel the past few weeks and I am still on this week. I don't kid myself that I will still be on it for the next 24 weeks as I have a lot to do and archive in them weeks. Dictionary.com has a great description of this word - Arduouse


ar·du·ous Spelled Pronunciation[ahr-joo-uhs or, especially Brit., ahr-dyoo-]
–adjective
1.Requiring great exertion; laborious; difficult: an arduous undertaking.
2.Requiring or using much energy and vigor; strenuous: making an arduous effort.
3.Hard to climb; steep: an arduous path up the hill.
4.Hard to endure; full of hardships; severe: an arduous winter.
[Origin: 1530–40]


My last few weeks have most defiantly been all of the above. I have been very lucky to have some very understanding friends and work colleagues who have helped me keep it together the past two weeks.

I have been aiming to have a project completed by the 29th but it has been plagued with problems. Just about every time I look at it I have found something amiss with it. It would seem that pressure has all manor of effects on people some more positive than others. But these pressures have also highlighted who the team players are and who is not. Its just a pity to find that the people you think you can count on are not always the ones you can. But its still nice to know I have some firm rocks I can lean against to help me when I have lost direction.

As for the project and it being completed on the 29th before I depart. I think it will be. If not it will just need a bit of smoothing off around the edges and someone else can take the glory of my hard work and roll it out for me.

I fly off to Rome on Sunday the 2nd of March then onward to South Africa the following Saturday arriving Sunday the 9th or March

I am still looking forward to getting out to South Africa and to help make a little bit of a change to many and a very big change to me.

Bloopers

Some of you may have seen my first Vblog ( Video Blog ) and some of you have commented on it. It was a lot harder to make than even I thought it would be.

A few of my friends have seen the attempts at making my first Vblog and have badgered me into posting them up on YouTube as they seem to think they are funny.

So with a bit of arm twisting I have decided to post them up.

You can find my cringe worthy attempts here. YouTube Bloopers

Update to blog - 09/02/08

Due to the nature of blogging all old posts end up at the bottom of the page and new postings at the top. Edited pages remain where they are unless you change the date on the original post so I have decided to just highlight some of the updates to my blog.

New Post - Where I live (Currently)
Posted two new video clips on YouTube ( links can be found in the "Where I live ( Currently ) "post)

Removal of my 1st Vblog video clip - it is however still on YouTube - it was only removed due to some visitors not being on hi-speed internet.

Moving the introduction post back to its original place at the bottom of the blog pages.

Where I live ( Currently )

I felt obliged to give you all a little bit of a view of where I currently live before I head off to South Africa. Then I can show you the contrast of the small village of Atherstone verse the buzzing metropolis of Johannesburg in South Africa.

I have been living in Atherstone now for just over 3 years. Its not a bad place and it has some rather interesting little quirks about it.

1st up is the Atherstone Ball game:

The Atherstone Ball game is an ancient Shrove Tuesday tradition in which people literally brawl over a large ball.

Shops are boarded up, local schools are closed and towns people of Atherstone gather in the main street at 3pm for the beginning of this 800 year old Shrove Tuesday tradition.

There is only one rule, and that rule is the ball can not be taken outside the town. Anything and everything else goes. The winner in this no holds barred contest is the person holding onto the ball at 5pm

2nd up is Dickens Night:
Dickens night is held on the last Saturday in November and is also the night that the Christmas lights are turned on in the town. Its just a nice festive fair with people dressing up in period costumes and people roasting wall nuts. Its a really nice night out with fireworks finale by one of the top piro display teams in the UK.

I have made a short film in two parts just showing you around Atherstone, TNT and the canals near where I live and work.
Part 1 can be found here
Part 2 can be found here

For more information on this quaint little town you can visit the "Atherstone Online" site and the "Atherstone Wikipedia" site for more info on the "Hat town"

Its all very real now.

Its all starting to hit home now that in around 4 weeks time I shall be embarking on what will probably be one of the biggest adventures I am ever likely to have.

Yesterday I got my "Welcome Pack" from Rose ( Moving the world ) and it out lined a whole load of legal and official bumph that I need to fill in fax back post back. That's when it really hit home that I am really am going to be part of something special. The excitement is starting to kick in but there is still a lot I have to do before I leave.

From a personal perspective I just really need to clean my flat and pack my bags. Oh and send off the forms etc for Rose.

From a work perspective I think that where the real challenge is going to be. I have loads to turn out before the end of Feb so I really do have my work cut out for me in that department. But I am sure I will get there in the end. Just hope I don't have too many sleepless nights over it all. I don't think I will - I will be too tied not to !

On a plus I did have a post on the blog from someone I did not know. That was quite a pleasant surprise. It was from Jaqui, a Researcher/ Coordinator, who works with Alan Whiteside. Alan is one of the co-authors of "Aids in the Twenty-First Century" a book that I got the other day. So that was quite a boost to me.

Links & Resources

Here is a list of links and resources that may be of interest.

Links

• TNT Express - The company I work for and one of the key partners in Moving the World & North Start Foundation
  

• Moving the World - The partnership between TNT and the UN

• TNT World Food Program Partnership
  

• North Star Foundation - The foundation I will be seconded to for 6 months in South Africa.

• My YouTube site - I will upload all sorts of vid clips but not all of them will get posted here so do check it out from time to time

• HEARD - Health Economics & HIV/AIDS Research Division. HEARD conducts research on the socio-economic aspect of public health, especially the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Resources

• "Aids in the Twenty-First Century" - a book by Tony Barnett and Alan Whiteside ( ISBN 978-1-4039-9768-5 ) This book was recommended to me, I have not yet started to read though it as I only got it in the post today. I ordered my book from here
  

I will be updating this from time to time as I get more resources and links to add.

Why ?

I have been asked this question a few times over the past few weeks.

"Why do you want to do this assignment ?"

Its not an easy one for me to sum up really. There are loads of reasons for it but I guess the big reasons are as follows.

I grew up in South Africa and a bit in Zimbabwe so Africa on the whole has a very special place in my heart. Its where I call home. HIV/AIDS has also started to play a bit in my life too recently. With friends and there partners and family members being affected by this virus. Whilst in South Africa I had a part in the transport industry too, so it just sort of made sense. This assignment with the North Star Foundation will give me the opportunity to give something back, to a place that I hold so dear to my heart and also to an industry that has given me this opportunity to do this.

I think Africa will always have a bit of a hold on me.

Site info

I am still getting to grips with this blogging but here is a few cool things you may like to know.

When I mention places in my blog I will where ever I can post a link to the place from Google Earth. All links are highlighted in blue like the Google Earth link I have just posted.

The same will go for links to external websites and photos etc.

I hope this will ensure that there is loads of interesting content to see.

You can also subscribe to my blog by clicking on the RSS feed icon located on your address bar.
it looks like this :


This will ensure your always up to date with what is going on.

Introduction - 1st Vblog

This is my first Vblog - even though I had typed up a script of sorts it still took my 6 attempts to get this one out ! Not use to talking to my self! Makes you all a bit self concious about your self.
I guess I better get use to it !

You can see my first Vblog on YouTube here.

I have removed it from my blog page so that people on a slow connection can if they want to view it click on the link.

Introduction

Welcome to the start of my blog site -
Hi,
I am Peter Black

Here is where I will tell you all about my African Adventure as am heading off to South Africa very soon (End of Feb/ early March) on an assignment with TNT and UN WFP (the logistics arm of the United Nations) to set up Wellness Centres to help the transport communities in southern Africa reduce the transmission of HIV. These Wellness Centres will be set up along major trucking corridors as well as border posts.

For more info on this Humanitarian project visit the " North Star Foundation" Website

This is quite an opportunity for me so I feel its quite important to let family, friends, collegues and, any one that wants to know really, what this mission is all about from my perspective. Never really been a fan of blogging but I do feel that this is quite important so I am going to blog
my African Adventure as I like to call it at the moment.

I shall be based in Johannesburg, South Africa, for 6 months from around the end of Feb/ beginning of March 08. I will be working with "North Star Foundation" to set up HIV/AIDS Wellness clinics at Beitbridge ( the boarder between South Africa and Zimbabwe) and Chirundu ( the boarder between Zimbabwe and Zambia )

I will be posting more info about my self and my preparations for me heading out to South Africa in the up coming days. I also plan to upload Vblogs to Youtube and pix to my Flickr site

So keep coming back to see the updates and please feel free to post comments.