little things

It’s amazing how much validation the luxury of truly being listened to and heard clearly is. There’s something incredible about being able to speak and have someone understand EXACTLY what you’re saying. I haven’t experienced that feeling in weeks.

The escalating problems in communication came to a head yesterday in the form of what many would call a first world problem. For every three months of toil and strife, a field employee is supposed to receive ten or so days of vacation. They even pay for the flight. Pretty good deal if you ask me. However, the problem came when I and my vacation companion, the Pharmacist, elected to utilize the booking services offered by MSF. Why not, right? We asked the administrator if we could get a quote. The quote came back with a good price, but the wrong dates. We were more specific including dates, times, airport codes and flight numbers. We got a snarky email back saying that yes, they could fix it, but that they were not a travel agency. Wait a minute. Isn’t there a travel agent somewhere booking this? The answer was yes there is. Could we communicate directly with them? The answer was no. ???? So we continued the long drawn out game of travel telephone for a few more days. Somewhere in the colossal mix-up that followed, the administrator told them to go ahead and book the original flight. A mistake he now says is mine entirely because I told him that those flights were ok. Yeah. Right. So now we’re being charged a change fee for a flight we never authorized in the first place. Oy vey.

You’d think blatant starvation and violence against helpless women and children would upset me daily and it of course it does, but this is the last straw. The one thing I actually can control – my holiday – is already messed up. Ugh. Malnutrition, rape and malaria I cannot stop, but getting a flight to the right place I thought was within my reach. I guess nothing, even a restful week off, is certain in this place. 

"What are you changin'? Who do you think you're changin'? You can't change things. We're all stuck in our ways."

-Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins, Rise Up With Fists