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My long time colleague Trinh Tri Muoi continued to send me regularly packages of stamps issued by Viet Nam. Mrs.Muoi had joined UNICEF just before my arrival to Hanoi in January 1980 as the youngest and newest of our local staff. She started doing clerical work in the admin. and supply functions and quickly found her niche in the office setup. She jokingly referred to herself as,"the small potato", and was the first Viet Namese staffer who did not work in French. All previous staff seconded to UNICEF from the government's Service Bureau were Francophones. Muoi went on to become a National Officer and retired in 2014/2015. Many considered her the "Grand Dame" of the UNICEF staff contingent in Hanoi.
Sin Cam Un, Chi Muoi !
The two stamps were issued to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the CRC.
Another of my VietNam colleagues, Christof Conrad, was our team's Education Officer. He also handled social welfare services and activities during the period of my tenure as Representative in Hanoi. He has worked in Bangkok, and Abidjan, as well as with other UN bodies in other duty stations. Christof retired first in Thailand, then moved to Sri Lanka and to Germany, before returning to Sri Lanka where two of his daughters are also working. He recently sent me a batch of German stamps to add to my collection.
Danke Schon Herr Doktor!
This stamp from Germany was issued to commemorate 500 years of the Sistine Madonna and Child.
Leo Goulet also worked with me in Viet Nam. He was our WATSAN officer and is responsible for putting into place the first water and sanitation project assisted by UNICEF in Viet Nam. Initially located mainly in three southern provinces, water activities were eventually expanded to other provinces throughout the country.Leo had worked with UNICEF in Nepal before Hanoi, and after leaving UNICEF continued doing consultancies for UNDP and other donors in the Indochina penninsula, mainly in Cambodia. Leo is currently retired in Montreal..in fact he lives on Nun's Island, a short distance from our apartment. We continue to maintain close contact.
Merci beaucoup Leo !
These three stamps from Cambodia were issued to commemorate "Friendship Among the Children of the World".
Habib Hammam and I have known each other from the day Habib joined UNICEF in 1969, to replace me in the post of NO Programme Offcer in the Beirut Area Office. We also have in common our alma mater, the American University in Beirut. Habib joined me in NYHQ when I became Chief, Middle East Section and we had a few years serving the region. He was appointed Representative to Yemen; also served as Representative in Nepal, and we again were together in NYHQ when I became Chief, Africa Section and Director DOP. After my retirement I was asked by the MENA regional office to assist Habib in organizing his office for a large World Bank education project which UNICEF Sanaa was to implement (he was Representative in Sanaa a second time, probably a first and only time in UNICEF history).
Shukran jazeelan, HH !!
The envelope was issued to commemorate UNICEF@50.
David Parker worked with me as the economist of the Bamako Initiative Management Unit when I headed it in 1988-1989. We lost contact for a few years as I retired and David pursued his career in UNICEF. In recent times we have reconnected, particularly during the process leading to the publication of the XUNICEF June Quarterly where an important chapter referred to the UNICEF position and actions regarding "Adjustment with a Human Face". for which David contributed.
Kap Kum Kap, Dave !
This First Day Cover issued by the UN Postal Administration has a WFUNA cachet and commemorates the Universal Immunization Campaign of the 1985-1990 period.
I first met Paula Claycomb when I was Chief of Africa Section and she was working with the US National Committee. We initiated and implemented for a while an activity whereby UNICEF programme staff with field experience would attend regional groupings of the US NatCom. and speak to the participants with a "voice directly from the field". Later when I was in DOP Paula had joined UNICEF in PFO and we reconnected again. I encouraged her to go to the field and she served in a number of offices starting in Maputo. Afterwards she had missions in Sudan, Afghanistan, Pakistan,among others. She returned to NYHQ and was in charge of the section dealing with small arms..During a mission to Viet Nam she was kind enough to send me some stamps from there.
Thank you Paula!
This is an attractive stamp commemorating Universal Children's Day issued in 1996.
When I took over Africa Section in Programme Field Services Division in 1983, Jim Mayrides had already served as Programme Officer with Dixon Nkembo.We worked closely together during my tenure and continued with his appointment as Deputy Regional Director in ESARO, with Mary Racelis. In Nairobi Jim played an important role in the strengthening of the programmes, funds and staffing of the region as UNICEF was implementing the "Pivot to Africa" that the Executive Board had requested.
Muchas Grazias, Jim!
This 20 stamp sheet from Guatemala issued in 21 May 1997 was to commemorate UNICEF@50.
One of the colleagues who early on was kind enough to give me more stamps was Horst Cerni. He had learned of my hobby from an article in Staff News and contacted me saying he had materials he could send for my collection. We had known each other in NYHQ where he was dealing with UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors, among other issues.His early years were spent in Latin America where he was working in communication and information.
Vielen Dank Horst!
This envelope addressed to Isabel Cerni in Santiago, Chile has 5 twin stamps issued by Bolivia to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Inter-American Institute for Children.
Quite by coincidence I had learned that my colleague Steve Umemoto was also a stamp collector, and that he had been collecting materials related to UNICEF as did I. After some correspondence between him in London and myself in Montreal we decided that we could both benefit by exchanging stamps that the other did not possess. On a trip that we later made to London , Steve and I spent an enjoyable afternoon exchanging stamps and learning of each other's collections. We had many useful and interesting professional exchanges when he was Regional Planning Officer in EAPRO and I was Representative in Viet Nam.
Much appreciated , Steve !
This stamp from the Republic of Tonga is one of a series issued to commemorate UNICEF@25 which I obtained from Steve.
My XUNICEF colleague and co-editor Detlef Palm is one more friend who kindly provided me with additional stamps for my collection. While we had not worked together and only met when he joined UNICEF, I knew of him from his work with Operation Lifeline Sudan. We have since become quite close working on the XUNICEF editorial team, and I owe him special thanks for his technical help in publishing this weekly column. Recently Detlef informed me that he had inherited some stamps from an uncle and since he was not interested in philately, would I like to have them. I was quite pleasantly surprised when a few packages started arriving in my postal box in Montreal...Detlef was mailing me a rather large number of mostly German stamps, many of which filled gaps in my own sizable German collection.
Faleminderit Detlef!
This stamp was issued by Federal Republic of Germany on 24 October 1955 to commemorate UN Day.
Ju jeni mire pritur!
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteComing from "Outside the Bubble", it is much appreciated.