It is an honour today to feature Ronald Mackay's fourth entry in the 2018 Travel Highlights Competition.
Jet-lag Doesn’t Exist
Our organization forbad it.
We worked, then on to Schiphol. We returned, from where barely mentioned.
“Your task! Audit the EU initiative to reintroduce nutritious grains.”
“Eastern Europe?”
“Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. Quinoa, amaranth.”
“That’s it?”
“Millet in India and Nepal.”
“How long?”
“Twenty days. Then a report To FAO in Rome.”
“Right!”
No direct flights link India with Latin America. I chose Toronto as my hub.
Done!
Twenty-one separate flights; 4,200 Ks of trucking to villages. Looking, listening, asking, reading. Analysing, calculating, writing, confirming and rewriting.
Sleeping? Barely! But alert. The evaluator is always alert.
Jet-lag does not exist.
Our organization forbad it.
We worked, then on to Schiphol. We returned, from where barely mentioned.
“Your task! Audit the EU initiative to reintroduce nutritious grains.”
“Eastern Europe?”
“Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. Quinoa, amaranth.”
“That’s it?”
“Millet in India and Nepal.”
“How long?”
“Twenty days. Then a report To FAO in Rome.”
“Right!”
No direct flights link India with Latin America. I chose Toronto as my hub.
Done!
Twenty-one separate flights; 4,200 Ks of trucking to villages. Looking, listening, asking, reading. Analysing, calculating, writing, confirming and rewriting.
Sleeping? Barely! But alert. The evaluator is always alert.
Jet-lag does not exist.
Ronald Mackay
| For much of his professional life, Ronald Mackay planned, managed and evaluated projects throughout the developing world. Slowly, he learned a great deal about how to live comfortably in very different cultures. Now he and his wife live a quiet life on the shores of Rice Lake in Ontario, Canada. |  |
