Lessons at work....

I suppose I shall have to tell about my recent faux-pais here at work, though I don’t do so very proudly.. My boss was gone virtually the whole first week and my job was to find out about the current projects of various international and local actors in 5 regions of Georgia (Kvemo Kartli, Samegrelo Zemo-Svaneti etc etc--great names). I was also revising UNICEF’s framework for regional monitoring of child rights. In this event, I wrote an email to the Global Fund to inquire what they are doing in all areas of development in the given regions, as I was not able to find the information online. My email was forwarded to the wife of the President of Georgia. She responded with confusion, as it so happens that she is working with the Global Fund and UNICEF on projects that deal with Malaria and TB. Little did I know that UNICEF was working with them already...

One of my colleagues came to me and said “Kristel, do you know what happened?” She told me the story and what were they to do about this incident. I apologized profusely, saying that I should have investigated further before writing the email etc. I left work feeling really bad, but after talking to my friend here on the phone, I felt better, and like my dad said, I am only an intern... I made a mistake but it wasn't irrevocable. It required sending an email back to the people, apologizing and explaining that I was new and just figuring out the territory. This was done this morning and everything should be okay. Now I just hope they don’t find out what other emails I have sent out... ;) just kidding. Almost.