Are we entitled to an easier life?

I started My Development Life because there seemed to be a lack of information about the personal aspects of a career in international development/humanitarian aid.

Even though this is a career that often shapes the way our personal lives are lived (where we live and who we live with are mostly determined by our jobs), it can seem pretty indulgent to talk about your feelings when you’re supposed to be addressing the far more serious problems faced by so many people in the developing world.

But in my still limited experience I’ve seen so many people not performing well in their jobs because of a one of these ‘unimportant’ issues. Whether it’s physical, mental or emotional health, it’s going to affect how well you do the job. It also sucks that your job can make you sick.

Sometimes it’s not just about being able to give 100% while you’re in the field. I’ve also worked with a manager who was a bully and it truly sucked. Her personal life was a mess, she was abusive to staff, and she sucked as a programme manager. I hated that no one was willing to address those issues even when the development outcomes were suffering.

So I was pleased to find PostAdjust.org today.

The slogan reads: Making life easier for people making the world better. PostAdjust helps UN, NGO & Diplomatic staff adjust to life at Duty Stations across the world.

Yes, the slogan is trite, but let’s not get caught up in the semantic problems of this line of work.

PostAdjust isn’t open to everyone, and it is essentially just a Craigslist for duty stations. But if it is anything like Craigslist then maybe it will help people connect and talk and ask questions, help each other out, remember that we’re humans too.