Cable internet is the BOMB I tell you!

Praise be to having cable internet at home. Why did I fight it? Well... the cost for a start! But now we have CHEAP cable internet! Gold I tell you... Pure gold...

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Entry 7 – Listen to your heart

1. How does your intuition speak to you? List some hunches you've followed. What happened?

I get gut feelings. Sometimes I follow them, sometimes I don’t. In the past few years I have followed them and it has been for the best in most of the cases. Overall my gut is pretty on the mark. Most of my hunches are related to people's true personalities and people's true characters. I get gut feelings about people - occasionally they are wrong but most of the time I see people for who they really are regardless.

2. List the times you chose not to trust your instincts. Why didn't you? What happened?

I have made numerous decisions in my life that - given hindsight - I really should have done a lot differently. I didn't follow my instincts in these cases because I didn't have any faith in my decisions, my esteem was pretty low and my confidence to trust myself was pretty crap. I have always been a pretty confident person, but there is a big difference in being confident and having confidence in yourself. Its amazing who you can fool into thinking that you are an overly confident person when inside you don't have a drop of faith in yourself.

What happended? Life continued on, life passed me by, opportunities were missed and I got to the point I am today. Everything happens for a reason, to take you onto a new path and to show you new opportunities. Just because you missed one opportunity doe snot mean another isn't inside the next room.

3. Today I…

Since it is still bright and early I haven't done too much. I jumped out of bed at 5:45am, did a load of washing, had breakfast, watched some morning news on the TV, got the train to the city, did a weights class at the gym, did half a boxing class at the gym and then made my way to work for 8:45am. The day is laid out in front of me with only a massage at lunch time booked in.

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Expat pay absorbs aid to Cambodia

Expat pay absorbs aid to Cambodia
Mark Dodd - 27 Nov 06
The Australian

HUNDREDS of thousands of dollars of Australian aid is wasted on expatriate salaries and the running costs of big Cambodian-based international aid groups, hindering assistance to 40,000 landmine victims in the war-battered country.A country director for a prominent international charity typically receives a $250,000 package that includes a spacious villa, four-wheel-drive and schooling perks.

As much as 80 per cent of aid paid to international aid organisations based in Cambodia goes straight out again in the form of high expatriate salary packages and running costs, said Chris Minko, head of the Cambodian National Volleyball League for the Disabled.

He said AusAID's reluctance to directly fund non-Australian aid organisations in Cambodia had created major inefficiencies in the disbursement of funds.

The CNVLD is a well-respected Cambodian aid organisation audited annually by KPMG and recently given a UN best practice award.

In contrast to many of the big aid groups in Phnom Penh, the CNVLD relies on volunteers, has neither a flashy office nor even a four-wheel-drive and pays modest salaries to its staff, most of whom are Cambodians. Yet it has so far been unable to receive core funding from AusAID despite its highly commended programs for landmine victims.

An AusAID spokeswoman denied the wastage claims, but confirmed 12.5 per cent of total funding for landmine victim assistance was paid to the Australian Red Cross to cover disbursement costs, leaving 87.5 per cent for "a variety of NGOs that work directly with victims".

The Howard Government is providing about $8million to help Cambodian landmine victims over the next two years.

Mr Minko called for an audit of the agencies to track the distribution of aid funding. "About 80 per cent of aid money coming into Cambodia goes straight out again as it covers expatriate and adviser costs and that has been going on for a long time," he said.

His claims are backed by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has questioned the value of large expatriate-run aid agencies based in Cambodia.

While acknowledging the key role of aid groups in helping the war-battered country out of its economic morass in the early 1990s, the International Monetary Fund is also questioning the value of foreign aid in Cambodia.

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