Changes in Latitudes

Dear Family and Friends,

 

We send you wishes for a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday Season!!  We are closing out our year of adjustment to life in Tanzania with all of the excitement, interest, adventure and frustration that it has entailed.  

 

One of the stressful aspects of our assignment here has been the uncertainty surrounding the duration of our stay, as the funding for the project that Rob has been working on has been tight at best.  We have always had the expectation that we would be able to obtain more funding to extend the activities currently underway in our grant.  Unfortunately, this has not been the case, which has meant the past several months have included consideration of options for restructuring the project in the hopes of extending things so that Land O’Lakes can keep its activities going until there might be an opportunity for more funding.

 

At the same time, there have been changes occurring in the headquarters offices, and there is a need for devoting more attention to issues concerning strategic planning for the development division, and to expand our external affairs efforts. 

 

As these things have come together, I have been asked to rejoin the management staff of the international division of Land O’Lakes working in the Washington office. I accepted this offer, and it will mean relocating back to the US at the end of January.  This is all pretty sudden, and we are madly scurrying to effect the plans that need to be done to move back home. 

 

We leave Tanzania having accomplished many of the goals that we set out to achieve: Our kids have had the experience of seeing life in the developing world; we have gone on about half a dozen safaris which are an experience of a lifetime; and we have all learned to appreciate the challenges facing people who are not as fortunate as we are.  We have also come to appreciate how fortunate we are to have the advantages of life in the US.

 

We also leave Tanzania with some regrets.  Our time here was shorter than we anticipated not really allowing us the advantages of living here in a more settled state.  We have endured the challenges of making a move here, and now within a year, we will make another move back to the US.  These relocations are not so easy.  But, we are fortunate to be moving back to our own house, back into the same school system and back to familiar surroundings with family and friends.  So, while there are mixed feelings, we view this on balance as a very positive development for us.

 

We wanted to share this news with you, and let you know that we will be hopefully seeing you soon. 

 

Please have a safe and happy holiday season, and after the start of the year we hope to be reconnecting with you.

 

Sincerely,

Rob, Barb, Madie, Wes and Austin