Barry needed to visit a number of remote schools, but as he was not very young and as the mountains where they were located are steep, he needed to use the most appropriate means of transport – mule – which can be very uncomfortable. When chatting about this with me, he indicated that it was essential to travel with an appropriate analgesic to attenuate the pain of riding on mules. It was only later that I discovered that his choice of analgesic was the local XXX rum. I never dared ask how he claimed travel expenses: did they include hay for the mules and analgesic for himself, or was it simply a lumpsum DSA ?
The UNICEF, Bhutan, Education Officer noted that Barry was diabetic but addicted to French fries and used to say "these are non-fattening" and continue to eat them. Thus his dietary choices left something to be desired.
*****
During this period in Bhutan, I was charged with writing three of the chapters for the Bhutan State of the County’s Children. One of those chapters dealt with ‘Women’ (was I uniquely qualified to write about the subject, I wonder ?). During the writing of this chapter, I became worried about whether I should use the term ‘sex-ratio’ or ‘gender-ratio’ because political correctness was alive and well and I had had enough problems in a previous posting that I didn’t want further to stir the muddy waters.Barry – despite being an Australian - had an excellent grasp of writing in English and we would banter about some of the curiosities of the language from time to time. Who better to ask which of the sex- or gender-ratios would be the more appropriate ? When I went in search of him, he’d already left for lunch, so I scribbled a short note and left it on his desk, asking whether I should use ‘sex-ratio’ or ‘gender-ratio’ in the document. By the time that he returned from lunch, I had already left the office to attend some government meeting on sanitation, I think it was. Barry strolled over to where I had a desk and, finding that I was not there, he left his own scribbled note which read thus:
Gender is ‘in’; sex is ‘in-and-out’.
Who ever said that working for UNICEF could be dull ?
*****
Sadly, Barry never made it to retirement. His post with UNICEF, ROSA, which was to be his swan-song, proved a step too far as he died from a massive heart attack, alone, in his room in Kathmandu.Those with whom he worked will all remember him with a smile. Ask any of them.
I remember Barry very well - when I was Chief of Education in India we brought him in for a consultancy to try and shake things up a bit which he certainly did, although he did not go down too well with some of the education authorities who thought his approach was "too simplictic" ...When you have semi-derelict classrooms, absentee teachers, virtually no teaching aids, how can you expect education to take place in poorer areas? He knew the solution to India's education problems at the time were not to develop fancy new curricula: they were much more basic. He certainly helped to shape our approach to Universal Primary Education and Education for All and the child-frendly schools approach. He passed away too soon but, to be perfectly honest, we were not surprised when we heard of his passing, given his dietery and beverage choices. I expect he's been shaking things up in heaven the last few years!
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