About...

Where the heart goes, there follows a meandering mind…

Being gainfully employed as an engineer paid the bills for thirty years. Well, it also paid for scuba lessons, and dive trips, a lot of them, and more lessons till I became a certified scuba instructor. At the same time, I also like to think of myself as a creative writer type who can string a few sentences together...

So, somehow, along the way, “The Decom Stop” was born.

It was on the cusp of the 21^st century, that we (as in Esther & I) felt it was time for a change. So Esther upped and moved, and I joined her a few years later. When I did, I decided it was time for a change; I wanted to do something that could satisfy my meandering mind; which has not stilled to this day. I felt creative writing would fit the bill, allowing the mind to wander in a more structured and disciplined way (or maybe that’s the engineering side of me speaking?). I was accepted into the Creative Writing program in Flinders University and undertook three years of undergraduate studies in the discipline. I graduated winning the prize for fiction and non-fiction. In the process, I also got a Graduate Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) – the meandering mind at work again.

I was encouraged to consider academia for a career change but I decided on a short stint as a staff writer with The Adelaide Zoo. It was short because I decided to take up a 2-year voluntary assignment with the Catholic Diocese of Daru-Kiunga in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea.

It was here that I felt I came into my own. As the Diocesan Human Resource Manager, I was tasked with establishing proper Policies and Procedures (P&P) for the transparent administration of diocesan operations and services. My meandering mind, honed by my training as a writer, took flight as I delved into Vatican law, local labour statutes, customs and practices to develop a P&P Manual for the Diocese. Operational manuals were also developed for Diocesan and Parish committees too.

One thing led to another after that. PNG was followed by another 2-year voluntary position as an Organisational Development Advisor for an NGO and the Diocese of Maliana in Timor-Leste. And more recently a one year stint in Fiji as a Volunteer Organisational Development Mentor. And in all cases, I had to produce P&P Manuals and/or operational manuals and handbooks as required. It was really a case of being in the right place at the right time: the NGOs were being pressured by their funders, or prospective funders, for transparent policies and procedures; the modern funding landscape has changed, funders now demand transparency and accountability from recipients. And having a P&P manual is taken as a testament to this.

In all, I authored seven systems and processes manuals for four NGOs and conducted implementation and training exercises for them during my six years of voluntary service in PNG, Timor-Leste and Fiji.

Writing: Purposeful Meandering?

My meandering mind needs a creative focus, and needing to write something specific gave it that. I supposed it allowed me to do some... purposeful meandering?

Evidently, purposeful meandering was what I have been doing for years. This has also resulted in a collection of writings accumulated over those same years. Something I’m now sharing for I have no idea what else to do with them...

Enjoy!

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