Oh hello Mr Prime Minister

I know you are dying to see what I wore to meet Krudd, so here are the official portraits:

Why Sarah, you’re funny and delightfully dressed. What an exemplary Australian.

Yes Brett, what you say is fascinating…but actually I am just too captivated by the young woman in the brown dress…

If you haven’t signed already

Another shout out to sign the petition saying no to violence against women. It’s super quick to sign.

http://saynotoviolence.org/

The more signatures collected worldwide the stronger our advocacy to bring more attention to this v.v. serious issue (that has far broader ramifications for peace and security and development goals than most of us realise).

You can read more about violence against women here.

P.S. K-Rudd told me the other day that he’d signed it already. Good boy, Prime Minister.

In Melbourne

I arrived in Melbourne this morning and it was FRIGID. It was a beautiful, crisp, sunny morning that has me thinking that winter in Melbourne is glorious and not at all gloomy and wet. Perhaps tomorrow I will be reminded of the truth.

The twins are even cuter in person and itsy bitsy teensy. I’ll be posting more photos shortly.

I had no success getting a visa at the Indonesian consulate this morning, for reasons so ridiculous I was almost rude to the woman behind the counter, so now I have to enact a plan B to get a visa before the weekend. Was too busy eating soup today to think about plan B.

Meeting with PM went well. Will report in more detail later this week or next. In short: I like the guy.

Now it’s time for sleep. Still catching up from a very late Saturday night followed by a very early Sunday morning.

more about the bloody PM

Today’s post was going to be about the rehearsal for the PM’s visit but alas…

First of all, I will finally give some details about this visit (I realise I’ve been vague about it, but I didn’t really know much about it other than ‘I’m meeting the PM!’)

So, as you’ve probably seen in the news, Kevin travelled to Japan earlier this week and today he is in Indonesia. Australia gives aid to a whole range of countries, as one could expect, and until very recently Australia gave more of its aid dollars to Papua New Guinea than any other country. But that’s recently changed. Now Australia gives more money to Indonesia than PNG. That isn’t entirely surprising considering the difference in size of the two countries, but it is quite symbolic because it means that Indonesia, out of all the countries in the world, is a priority country for Australia. One could write a very long list of reasons why this is, but you can probably think of a couple of reasons off the top of your head and they’d probably be right.

So, further to that, within the context of a large Australia aid program in Indonesia, one of the identified priority locations is Aceh. Again, I can think of a few reasons for this and they’re probably right, but there are probably more complex reasons for this that I’m not privy to. One thing I do know is that Australia is extremely proud of its work in Aceh, and it’s fairly justified. There have been many, many successes and failures in Aceh, but Australia has had a pretty good run, and there are more than a few stories that would make you feel pretty happy about how your tax dollars have been spent here. So when Prime Minister Rudd decided to go on a trip to Indonesia it makes sense that he chooses to drop into Aceh (only for a few hours) to highlight one of the jewels in the crown.

That’s where I come in. Even though I work for someone else (quiet separate from Australia and its aid program), as an AYAD I am part of Australia’s aid web. My guess is that a memo has recently gone around AusAID about increasing the visibility of the AYAD program, because after months with no contact with them at all I’ve been called to participate in two events in one week. Furthermore, although I haven’t received official confirmation, in provisional schedules the AYADs have been specifically singled out for time with the big man. Cool, but very unexpected.

I will report back on whether this eventuates or whether I end up taking a photo from across a crowded room. We were supposed to have the rehearsal this afternoon — at which I was expecting to find out more information so I could start to get nervous accordingly — but it’s been postponed to later this evening. We’ve been told to be on standby for a few hours until we get the call.*

*It turns out that if you’re organising an event with the PM you can pretty much expect people to do anything, even on a Friday night, and they will be obliging.

P.S. I found a nice dress in my housemate’s wardrobe that will be just right for meeting Kevin. Thanks to Lars for the note about the stockings in the last post. I’m going to follow your advice.

from sharia dress code to PM dress code: How men control my wardrobe.

Another PM-related crisis. I received the official invitation today and the dress code is FORMAL.

1. We’re in Aceh. If anyone brought anything formal with them it won’t look formal after being washed by being beaten against the tiles by the laundry lady.
2. It’s at 2pm on a Saturday afternoon! How can I do formal in 35 degree heat?

I have one very nice skirt that I’ve only worn maybe once or twice here (meaning that it’s too nice to wear anywhere in Aceh, which is probably what makes it suitably formal), but it only barely covers my knees.

Question 1: Do I reduce the Sharia compliance to be PM-Dress-Code-compliant?
Question 2: If I am meeting the PM that means I have to wear stockings right?

Big K and little kittens

Thanks guys for some great ideas for my meeting with Kevin 24/7. The tip about wearing deodorant was particularly useful (thanks Meags) because I just ran out this morning and hadn’t really thought about the increased chance of sweating it out when you meet the PM in a tropical setting.

An important aside. A photo of the two day old kittens that live at my friend’s house.

What would you ask the Prime Minister of Australia?

I and two other AYADs have 20 mins with the PM! 20 whole minutes! That means we have to do a lot more than shake his hand and say “yes, I am having a having a wonderful time in Aceh Prime Minister”.

So, help me out here. What would you ask the Prime Minister??

The second crisis in as many days

I just heard that our man K-Rudd is coming to visit Aceh in a couple of weeks and obviously he wants to catch up with me.

But wait…when are you coming Kevin? The same day that I fly back to Australia?? Noooooo.