First Day at Work

I arrived for my first day at the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW) to a very welcome reception from everyone at the Program Development Division (PDD). After being shown to my desk, which is one of 9 desks in a 5 x 9 metre room, I had a brief chat with the women with whom I will be working with the next 12 months. At 10am the team put on a more formal orientation in the sole meeting room of the Agency. I was provided with an overview of the work of the NCRFW, we discussed a bit about my formal work plan, we talked about what kind of expectations everyone had regarding my assistance in the office for the next year, and I was briefly introduced to the Chairperson of the NCRFW.

I was then treated to a delicious lunch with the women in the office who each had brought in a local Filipino delicacy. This included the staple of Filipino food – rice as well as:
• Adobo: pork and chicken
• Mixed Vegetables
• Whole Fish
• Mahablanca: a sweetish white thick dessert made with corn flour and corn; and
• Leche Flan: a milk flan a bit like cream caramel.

It was a really yummy lunch. In the afternoon I settled into my desk a little and became acquainted with the tiny office and the people I will be working with. There are four ‘technical officers’, what we would consider policy or program officers, and two technical staff whose role is solely administrative. The technical officers, Anna, Bernadette, Maricel and Irene (An, Dette, Marcel and I) are highly skilled, intelligent and committed women. I fell as though I will be learning more from them than them from me! I don’t know much about the support staff – Jean and Aleth, but they are also really friendly people.

posted by batik billy @ 10:59 am