This is our former Director of Management & Budget Don Uram. About a month ago, Don left the City of Eden Prairie after 18 faithful years of employment to accept a position with a private non-profit organization called Research Triangle, Inc. (RTI). Don’s first assignment with RTI was to go to Iraq and help them rebuild their national governmental financial infrastructure. Quite an assignment, indeed!
We recevied word from Don this weeked along with the attached photos. It’s good to hear from Don, and we’re glad he’s safe. Here’s what he had to say:
“Sorry it has taken so long to communicate but e-mail has been difficult since I feel like I have traveled all over the country. Initially I was told that I would be assigned to Basrah but I have since moved to Samawah. So far my travels have taken me from Minneapolis to Amman, Jordan via Frankfurt, Germany. From Amman I flew into Baghdad and spent 5 days there. Next we drove to al Hillah and then on to Basra. This is about a 6 � 8 hour drive across the desert (harsh environment). See attached pictures. The mosque is in Baghdad. The pool picture is in Amman. I spent the next 5 days in Basrah and now I am in Samawah. Finally started to do some work on the new government. Fortunately the team leader here has a lot of experience in international development because I am starting out at ground zero (clueless). I have to admit that it is hard being here coming from Eden Prairie. The culture, weather (I can�t describe how hot it is here), living conditions, food (no low-fat yogurt or vanilla ice-cream), health and security all make it hard. Plus being isolated doesn�t help. Right now we are working about 6.5 days a week and about 10 hours a day. Our team leader (Alistair Blunt � British) summed it up by saying 1 day of work here is like a week in other places. I have only been here two weeks. Can�t wait to see how I feel in a month.”
That’s all from Don for now. I’ll share more from him as he updates us.
