The UN and the Jacaranda Tree
Nairobi is happily filled with these beautiful blue trees this time of year, but only for about a month. Then we must wait another eleven. Seasons are punctuated by the short rain and the long rain. But of course with climate chaos things are changing. The skies now are so clear and bright with flowers of gold, red and white everywhere.
The Westgate massacre is still fresh in peoples' minds creating increased awareness of their movements, their whereabouts and what is going on around them. But life goes on. Children go to school. People shop, drive to work, return home, ride their bicycles in the magnificent forest - said to be the largest inside any city in the world - near the UN compound.
I am only a short ride from the UN and am grateful for the opportunity to be of service to the organization as a consultant after years as a staff member. It continues its "mission impossible" of caring for the whole world with a handful of people and a pocketful of funds. With all of its shortcoming and challenges, if we didn't have the UN we would need to invent it very quickly. Few other institutions bring together every nationality, race, culture and religion to dialogue and work for peace and development day after day in every country on Earth.
UN staff work under great stress in dangerous situations and inside a complex bureaucracy with too much to do and too few resources. Some people are posted without their families. Nevertheless people come together to make the impossible possible.
May these international civil servants be safe and happy as they serve the least, the lost and the last and protect the Earth herself.