Well it?s been about two weeks since my arrival in Sierra Leone and some days it feels like I?ve already been here for years and some days I wonder if I just got off the boat. For those stopping here, I?ll sum it up?life in Africa is different?different than the States?different than Asia.

My first weekend here I went on a whirlwind tour of all the social life in Freetown ? Franco?s on Sussex Beach, Alex?s for a dinner on the water, and Paddy?s for the late night dancing. My colleagues hadn?t ever seen anyone jump so freely into life in Freetown but I had Logan giving me a year and a half of distance orientation to Sierra Leone so it all seemed quite familiar.

Since then though it?s been all work getting into the operations of our office and seeing where improvements need to be made. I?m a bit overwhelmed by all the things that need to be done but I am energized by the challenge and I?ve learned that as much as I love building buildings I also love building systems.

Life is a bit harder in Sierra Leone and it took me a few frustrating days to get used to this new reality. We?ve had electricity for about 5 nights since I?ve been here (generators are a booming business), the water from the shower trickles on a good day and is dry on a bad one (I need to brush up on my plumbing skills), the roads are choked with traffic (it can take 2 hours to go 10-15 kilometers), and unemployment is always in your face (tons of people just work the traffic jams selling everything you could ever want ? need to go shopping? Get stuck in traffic).

But for all the hardness of life, the people really do make Sierra Leone so appealing and welcoming. For all that these people have been through, they have every reason to be hateful and depressed, but they?re quite the opposite. I often walk between the GOAL house and our house separated by only a few hundred meters and within about 2 days I knew everyone (which is a lot of people!) who lived along that street. People wouldn?t let me pass without knowing my name, where I was from, who I was working with, how long I?ve been here, etc., etc., etc. It?s been quite fun to get to know all the faces and names.

Well the candle?s getting low and I?m getting tired so I?ll be sure to post again soon. Thanks to Dad for sending me the gentle reminder that it was time to post!

Well I write you on my second to last night in Ampara. For those paying attention you may be saying ?I thought you were leaving on the 19^th Dave!?? Yes, you are right, but I?ve learned in my old age that as soon as I write a plan down it will be swiftly scrapped for something quite different (remember the plan for Logan to come to Sri Lanka after Sierra Leone?:)

The new plan is this?I will be flying to Ireland on the 15^th or 16^th so that on the 17^th I can be at a training for my new job with GOAL, an Irish NGO. After three days of training in Galway, I?ll work my way over to Dublin for the health checks, visa stuff, and a bit more training and then as soon as my visa arrives I?ll be off to Sierra Leone. So by the end of September there is a good chance that I?ll be writing you from Sierra Leone!

You probably have a lot of questions based on this new plan and my imminent departure from Sri Lanka:

1) So when are you coming home Dave?! (I?ve heard this one a lot from my parents lately in a rather exasperated tone:)

Well I was really looking forward to that break and obviously being home, but sometimes the next thing comes calling a bit sooner than any of us expect. I didn?t think it was wise to turn down an opportunity just because it didn?t quite fit my ideal schedule, so I?m hoping that both Logan and I (together) can get home around Christmas time (you see I wrote that down so wait for it all to change?) Ohh and there was also the whole perk of seeing Logan a bit sooner:)

2) So I guess you will finally be living with your wife!?

YES! After more than a year we will be reunited under the same roof. This could be interesting and there will be a bit of readjustment I'm sure (for example she says that all the closets are full). We do know that our travel schedules will have us logging some serious miles in the air and on the roads. She?ll be splitting her time between Liberia and Sierra Leone and I?ll be splitting my time between two offices in Sierra Leone 6 to 7 hours apart, but we figure far better than our current situation and we're very much looking forward to it.

3) So what could you be doing in Sierra Leone that is more exciting than coming home to see your friends and family?

I?ll be starting out in a country logistics coordinator role basically tasked with making sure GOAL's operations run smoothly (everything from the vehicles to the purchasing) and then after a couple of months be moving into a partnership coordinator position where I?ll work to build the capacity of GOAL?s local partners working in a variety of different sectors. Upon hearing this Logan quipped that the equivalent to these two positions might be "beating your head against a wall." Despite the bleak assessment, I'll hope to soften the blow and look forward to the new challenge.

4) Will you miss Sri Lanka?

Of course. I?m struggling to answer this one in more depth than that though as I?ve had little time to reflect! There are so many things that I will miss but there is a select list of what I will not miss as you can imagine.

I know that I count my blessings every day for the opportunity to start an office in Kalmunai on the east coast. While never in the plan when I arrived, I have a hard time imagining what my Sri Lankan experience would have been like without this office. It feels a bit a child to me? frustrated and depressed by every setback and prouder than ever at every accomplishment. So I?m not looking forward to leaving it and I assure you that from the shores of Africa I?ll still be checking in.

I guess more than anything the office represents for me what can happen when you confidently and faithfully take on the feared and unknown. Almost everyone said Kalmunai was dangerous, and almost everyone said it was nearly impossible to build housing there ? two opinions that almost convinced us not to go. But when I look around at what we?ve done in the past 9 months and how I feel in the communities I have found the reality to be very different.

And finally, for the record here are all the things I can think of that I will NOT miss?the roads and especially the buses, wedding cake, tea, fixation on status and everyone else?s business but your own, Poya Day, ESPN Asia (it?s horrible), and drumroll please?watching cricket (I know this is blasphemy here but if you think baseball is slow and boring it?s like the 40 yard dash compared to cricket).

So?10 days and counting?I've told Logan to clear some closet space!

My friend and I were talking over here on our porch one evening about what makes leaders great. The whole discussion came out of a leadership and management training and discussion that I'm doing with my staff who are becoming managers day by day as I transition out of Sri Lanka (September for those wondering!).

We came to a lot of conclusions, and threw around a lot of good ideas, but overall I think we lamented more at the fact that there seems to be a real lack of great leadership in the world. Maybe we're just getting old, but in asking the "why" we came to what I would say was an important insight as the 2008 election inches towards us...

We asked when the last time our leadership asked us, implored us, or demanded from us to contribute to society or our country?

I couldn't think of any time that Bush, or to be fair, any current political leader, asked me to contribute something more than money or a vote -- rather in the case of global warming, Katrina, Minneapolis, or Iraq the mantra was and is that "we've got it all taken care of...no need to worry." I can tell you that the same type of thing happens here in Sri Lanka.

It seems an age where leaders feel they need to make promises -- about our security, our health, or our jobs -- so that rather than sacrificing or giving we can go on living our "comfortable" lives. What they don't seem to realize is that promises at their best don't inspire and certainly don't solve problems. Just think of the great leaders in our history -- they didn't promise anything and had the humbleness to ask for help because they knew they needed it.

So, the leader I'd elect in '08 is the one who demands my contribution to the problems we must confront. I'm still looking....