Dreams Come True

On arrival in Bangkok David contacted his office in Singapore to tell them he’d found a replacement for the healthcare officer who’d given notice she was departing to take up another job in Malaysia. He reported that he had some work to do in Thailand but would be returning to Singapore in three days and to set up a board meeting to consider Nang’s appointment and he’d bring all the paperwork in support of his recommendation to the board at that time. He was bringing her to be interviewed by board members to determine her eligibility for the position which David was confident she was overqualified for.

The two then proceeded to Chiang Mai to meet with Nang’s father where David wanted to seek Dwaine’s approval as Nang and he planned for a wedding.

Nang was alarmed to find her father’s health had deteriorated since she last saw him. He was finding the constant travel a burden now and Nang noted the tender care given her father by Surapee. She hugged a surprised Surapee and whispered her thanks for care given to her father and Surapee responded that it should be no surprise as she adored Dwaine for the loving care, he’d given her people all his working life and regretted Evelyn were no longer with them.

Duane reported that he’d been considering returning to the US to retire for some time under urging from his children and had been working on the necessary visa for Surapee to accompany him as his wife who was now accepted by his children. It would take time to work through government requirements. Surapee had her PhD degree from UCSF School of Nursing California and had been headhunted by many US institutions on graduation but had chosen to return to Thailand to serve her people and was well regarded throughout Asia. She’d be easily able to get a job in the US with her international experience and American degree. Duane would be happy to settle for work in a GP clinic while he still had the desire. So, the NGO was looking for a couple of replacements when Dwaine and Surapee got the necessary permission to make the transfer to the US.

On learning David managed an NGO based in Singapore Dwaine asked if David would be interested in taking over the role which somewhat intersected with countries David was already working in. Nang could be his associate just as Surapee was with him managing the extended staff under them. This came as a surprise to David who was happy in the Singapore environment where he had some family connections and many friends. Obviously, Singapore would be a more comfortable environment than Chaing Mai with many more services so initially David rejected that possibility in his mind and Nang told him she’d go wherever he chose to live.

David returned with Nang to Singapore planning on looking into how to get a residence permit for Nang when the board had approved her appointment after interview. She’d probably have to return to Thailand temporarily and stay with her father while he sorted out the visa problem. He was surprised to find the normally supportive board was considering other alternatives. His associate who’d planned on moving to Malaysia had been urged by board members to reconsider and stay on as she was quite popular with both board and the centres this NGO served and had connections with the wealthy of the city. After being urged by board members to stay on she made her demand. She’d stay on if made the ranking officer taking David’s place. Now David was well liked and a competent manager, but he didn’t have those political connections his associate had so secretly the board had been considering what was in the best interests of the NGO in his absence. David’s best friend on the board met them at the airport as they arrived and told him what was being discussed secretly. The consensus developing was to give the management position to this woman and offer the associate position to David.

David was more hurt than angry and thanking his friend for the information he headed for his apartment with Nang and sat in discussion thinking through his options. Should he fight for his job or look for another outlet for his talents. He was well qualified and known in the NGO orbit as well as the various governments in the region. Then he remembered the offer Duane had suggested which would require a relocation to Thailand if accepted. He asked Nang to contact her father by phone and ask if there was a possibility he might be acceptable along with Nang as Duane and Surapee’s replacement. Duane said he’d immediately contact his international head office in London and see if they’d accept his recommendation and then he’d phone that response to Nang.

The board meeting in Singapore was scheduled for the next day evening and David waited anxiously for the return call from Dwaine. The afternoon of the next day a response came back that London would like to interview David at their London office his experience far exceeded those they already had on their list and there was an excellent chance he’d be chosen. They were clear on Nang as his associate as they had a long association with her from their regular visits but wanted to do a final interview with David before confirming his appointment. David decided to take a chance on the London interview rather than go through the possibility of a demotion and working under his former associate. He contacted London at the private phone number given him and made an appointment to meet at their head office there. Then went confidently to meet the board handing in his resignation as Chief Executive Officer. Board members were shocked as David made his announcement and urged him to reconsider. David was obviously the better qualified for the position and they’d only considered the alternative for political reasons. But David no longer trusted the members as while he could probably survive temporarily in the job there was no guarantee of his job in the future. He stood by his resignation and turned over his keys and cleared his office as board members reluctantly confirmed his associate as the new CEO.

The next day Nang returned to Thailand to spend time with her father while David investigated renting his Singapore apartment and boarded a flight for London to be interviewed as a replacement for Duane. Two days later David phoned Nang to report his appointment had been confirmed, and he’d start looking into the necessary visa issues to transfer to Thailand. He suggested when he arrived in Chiang Mai, they should plan on getting married and they’d choose a place for their honeymoon before visiting all the projects Duane was now working to familiarize himself with work in progress. As soon as they returned to take up their appointment together Dwaine would retire from NGO work but was willing to help as needed while they waited for all the regulatory work to be completed for Surapee’s approved entrance into the US as a resident. In the meantime, Surapee would return to the university in Chiang Mai as a lecturer while she waited for that permission to enter the US.

Duane’s son James Johnson had been working with his siblings to jointly contribute funds to surprise their father with deposit on a home to live in retirement Duane had been researching where he’d like to locate where it would give him reasonable access to his children but taking into account Surapee would not react well to a cold climate after living her life in a warmer climate apart from her time in California in higher studies. His children were scattered around the US with their families now so it would have to be in one of the states scattered across the southern borders of the US that had a relatively humid warm climate. California was one option and the eastern coast southern states another possibility. Florida was attractive but not the hurricanes that too often swept over that part of the country. Surapee would feel more comfortable where there was a significant Asian population within the community she could mix with. That could narrow down the search as California had the highest population of Asians. So, they began to focus on Southern California.

James lived in Texas and Anna Sue lived in Virginia, but the rest had located on the west coast Charles in Sacramento and David in Seattle. They were all successful in their chosen professions so could easily afford between them to help their father get settled. Duane had indicated he was looking at California as his retirement destination and had no knowledge his children were planning to contribute toward purchasing a house when he settled on his final choice of location.

Surapee remembered visiting relatives in Monterey and the beautiful scenery around land and sea and wondered if they might consider locating there in retirement as she had relatives there. There were several nursing educational institutions in that area where she may be able to get lecturing work if she wanted to work. Her aged parents had an import and export business based in Bangkok and though now retired had made a distribution of their wealth on retirement to their children, so Surapee was well off and her parents had lavished money on their children in gaining an education abroad in the professions of their choice. Her retirement money was in the bank account she’d opened in California during her graduate education days. Between her and Duane they could afford a home in that area, but they were unaware the Johnson children were accumulating money to gift their father on his return home. Duane would continue in GP practice while he was still inclined to work.

David was now excited about taking on responsibilities for a new NGO but even more excited about his coming marriage to Nang. His knowledge of Thai and Lao were very rudimentary just enough to tell the taxi drivers where he wanted to go and what he wanted to eat but he knew he needed to add first Thai conversational language to the few languages he had limited language skills in beside his native tongue Mandarin. He asked Nang to arrange for a tutor so he could improve his ability to communicate now his base would be Chiang Mai. Nang would be an effective interpreter, but it was important he as the director of this regional branch headquarters of the London office should be able to communicate more effectively.

With his marriage complete now and the honeymoon in Indonesia with Nang finalized he settled into his new job and Duane gratefully handed over the reigns of directorship to him and Nang was oriented by Surapee to the job she did in the villages running health programs for the villagers and empowerment classes for the women of those villages. It was a natural fit for Surapee as a nurse but Nang with qualifications as a doctor looked at mirroring the work Duane had done as a doctor in clinic and hospital visits along with what Surapee and Evelyn had done.

The NGO in London did raise considerable funds from public sources but their main source of funding for individual projects came from the various governments around the world who had to be sold on an investment in projects that would enhance their profile in Asia. David’s job as the director was to go into villages in his territory and meet with village elders to find out what kind of projects would help them improve the quality of life there. It was an assortment of requests that came back from these meetings.

In some cases, accessing clean water was a big request, in others it could be how to increase crop yields or provide skills in business ventures at village level. Sometimes it was the provision of preventative health, and the list would go on. With these requests settled David would approach governments seeking influence in Asia with project proposals which would be finely vetted to see outcomes would be achieved and the money would not disappear into a few pockets. Governments had audit agents who ranged the world to audit these outcomes and see money was not misappropriated. To prevent embarrassment one of David’s jobs was to do internal audits of funds used as he travelled around this territory to see he was not embarrassed on government audits.

Where specialized people were needed and those skills were not available in the regional office London would send qualified persons on temporary assignment to complete the project. Many of these specialists were retirees who gave their services temporarily for free because of its charitable nature.

The reality of government audit was bought into close focus six months into David’s new job. He was surprised to receive an urgent phone call from the chairman of the board of the NGO he’d previously been CEO of in Singapore. That NGO had been heavily supported in their project implementation in various Southeast Asia countries by member countries of the European Union and the US Government and Japan. David had been scrupulously strict in the financing of projects taken on by that NGO and demanded continuous accountability for funds spent to date. It was rare in David’s time for a project to come in above budget and where that happened David made full disclosure in minute detail to the funding government and they’d often finance the shortfall if that project was important to their aim for political influence in the countries served. David was trusted.

The Singapore NGO had a recent US team visit for a surprise audit on a project they were financing in Kalimantan related to improving the health of villagers. Money had disappeared and David’s replacement as CEO was not able to explain where that money had gone. She was not under suspicion herself, but no adequate controls had been implemented over that project expenditure since Davids’s departure, so the US government conducted an in-depth audit of other projects they’d financed and discovered local management controls had been relaxed since David’s departure there too. The CEO resigned in embarrassment and flew to Malaysia hoping to find work in her home country. They needed David at the helm immediately as the audit team were castigating the board for letting him go and threatening to shift their funding to the NGO he was now serving. The board chairman worked on David telling his this was an embarrassment to his country, and he had the responsibility to defend the country’s reputation by returning to take his old job back again and sort things out with the Americans.

David assured the board chairman his loyalty to Singapore was undiminished, but he was under contract to another NGO now and that contract must be respected. There were only a few areas where the two NGOs intersected with their projects and David was not in competition to take over their projects. They had made a political choice in their selection of their departing CEO rather than honouring the service he’d given them for many years, and he was not able to help them now.  Perhaps sometime in the future when his current contract expired, they could approach him, but he would have to think carefully if he could trust them again.

After that telephone call he went to find Nang and reported on what had happened in Singapore telling her how important it was to watch how the money was spent. He was glad Duane had been of a similar mind and valued the fact his father-in-law was still willing to do the project internal audits free of charge leaving David and Nang to concentrate on the expanding hands-on work for each project in multiple countries under their direction now.

Nang looked at her husband with pride. He was a man of integrity, and she felt it an honour to serve by his side. She thought of that plane trip to Nairobi where she’d hoped that no one would come to occupy that aisle seat next to her and the disappointment when David suddenly appeared and started to engage her in conversation. She remembered the excitement of finding commonality in their interests almost immediately and engaging in interesting conversation until tiredness took over. She remembered waking up in embarrassment from a deep sleep on his shoulder and her apologies. She remembered him inviting her to curl up and sleep on his lap sympathetic after finding out she was terrified about the decision she’d made to take an appointment in Mombasa. She remembered him proposing to her and the shock of a stranger making such a declaration. She smiled inwardly as she remembered how she’d responded to that stranger in a way, she’d never have thought possible for a conservative Asian woman. She remembered the thrill of the convention at his financial expense and her declaration she’d go wherever he chose to take her in marriage. He’d not been reimbursed for that convention’s expenses for her attendance due to his resignation in Singapore. Now it had all worked out that she was back in harmony with her adopted family and particularly her father who was with her now. She knew her marriage would be one of happiness and fulfillment, and she was surprised and delighted to know they’d be working together in this part of the world she loved so dearly. She turned to her husband.

“I’ve never imagined in my growing up years I could be this happy in life David. Thank you for rescuing me and giving me fulfillment and a love I did not realize could exist between two people.”       

Conclusion.

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