Madara was my first couchsurfing host in
Sri Lanka. We communicated through emails before my arrival and she told me to
head to her office from the airport directly so that we could head to her home
together. She gave me her office address in details without mentioning the name
of the organization, I slowly found my way there by taking different buses in
the heavy rain. Without expecting what organization she was working at, I ended
up in a business area with a familiar logo on the front gate of a big office. Wasn’t
it the UN logo? How come Madara didn’t mention it when she told me the office
address, I was wondering. Wearing a giant backpack on my back, and another
backpack in the front, I felt the security staff at the gate must be so in
doubt who I was, hopefully not terrorist, wanted to get into such a sensitive
international place at a rainy evening night.
United Nation, was once my dream to work
at. However, the dream was too big for me and I gave it up later as I realized
I was just not the person they needed. When I found out my host Madara was a
staff there, I was so keen to know how she made her way there.
Madara, 26, shared with me she was
actually having 3 dreams at the moment. She remember she wanted to get in to UN
13 years ago when she was only 15. One day, a social worker went to the class and
asked them what they wanna do in the future, then she started thinking other
than being a better person. She felt she could always empathize to people and
helped others out in school, she thought she could work in the charity sector,
and working in the United Nation became her goal since then.
After leaving high school, Madara started
working when she was doing her University degree at the same time. During her
past 6 years of work experience, she worked in different NGOs to pave her path
to the UN, including 2 years of work experience in the Sri Lanka youth
parliament. She has been interested in the HIV field and spent some time in it
too. She just finished her Master Education on Development Studies, and is
finishing off her thesis on Economics and Social Re-integration of HIV positive
women.
Madara shared her work life was not
really that smooth. After the civil war ended, 700-800 NGOs shut down. She
thought may be the path didn’t work for her. She quitted her job and waited at
home half a year to figure out what she wanted. Finally she got into her dream
job in Feb 2014.
She wanted to learn as much as possible
in the UN, especially in the foreign sectors. She may spend 4-5 years here, and
try working in different sectors other than HIV if possible.
Her next dream is to be a foreign career
diplomat under the government. She wanted to represent Sri Lanka and be an
ambassador and got posted in different countries. She wanted to get in by
choice, not by political appointed. This dream had been in her mind along with
her UN dream. She will also need to pass an exam on Sri Lanka and foreign
issues.
Her next dream is to be part of the
global Century Club, where members have traveled more than 100 countries. It is
a good networking place to meet friends. These people are either traveling, working
overseas or living abroad.
At the moment, she could only do short
travels between her work holidays. She is the only daughter so she needs to
take care of her parents. She love to travel alone and enjoy life in her own
pace, she doesn’t go to famous places, but whatever catch her eyes. She doesn’t
like to do things everybody else does. She likes to mingle with people and see
the world. She is happy with her life achieving goals set for herself. Even if
she dies the next day, she is a happy person.
She shared her favorite quote, “Your joy
is your sorrow unmasked”, from the book “The Prophet”, written by Kahlil
Gibran, a Lebanese-American poet and writer.
If you embrace your sorrow with a belief that
it’s fleeting, it passes and joy emerges.
Madara gave me a
heart shaped jade as the present in exchange. It is a ritualistic healing stone
she got from a good friend of her who shared the same birthday. It has the magical
power to drive away evil and cleanse off the bad thing. However, being an atheist,
she wish to pass it to somebody who believes and will take the power instead.
夢想專訪7 – 斯里蘭卡女生的大夢想
「能夠向著自己訂立的目標走，她覺得很快樂，就算明天離世了，她也死而無憾了。」
Madara是我在斯里蘭卡第一位借宿主人，在我抵埗前我們是靠電郵通訊的，她建議我直接從機場到她辦公室，然後我們可以一起回家，她還給了我辦公室的地址，但卻沒有提及公司的名字。在滂沱大雨的傍晚時分，我轉乘了好幾部巴士，慢慢找尋她工作的地方，在完全沒有頭緒的情況下，我來到一個商業區，一個大型總部的大閘門口，上面掛著一個大大的徽章，那，不是聯合國的標誌嗎？為甚麼她告訴我公司地址的時候不一塊兒說呢？我，後面背著一個大背包，前包掛著一個小背包，大閘入口處的保安人員一定心想我到底想幹甚麼，一個滂沱大雨的晚上來到一個那麼敏感的國際組織，希望他們不要以為我是恐怖分子吧。
聯合國，曾經是一個我夢寐以求入職工作的地方，但是，這個夢想實在太大太遙不可及，於是我最終還是放棄了，因為我發覺自己並不是他們所需要的人。當發覺借宿主人竟然在聯合國工作，我立即對她的故事產生了興趣，很想知道她到底是怎麼入職的。
聯合國助人夢
Madara 今年26歲，現在她總共有三個夢想。還記得十五歲的時候，她已經下決心要入職聯合國了。有一天，一位社工到班上來問大家將來有甚麼夢想，她開始思索，除了要當一個好人外，到底還能幹甚麼呢？她想，自己在學校時常幫助弱勢社群，充滿同理心，不如就在慈善組織工作吧。於是，入職聯合國成為了她的夢想。
離開中學之後，她開始了工作的生涯，她選擇一面讀大學一面工作。過去六年，她在不同的慈善組織工作，其中兩年更是在斯里蘭卡青年議會。她對愛滋病議題有興趣，也做過相關工作，剛剛更完成了一個發展研究碩士課程，畢業論文以患有愛滋病的婦女為議題，只剩下最後一點點修改便能正式畢業了。
不過，她的工作生涯其實並不是那麼順境。內戰結束後有七八百間慈善組織倒閉，她辭職呆在家中半年去思考自己到底想要甚麼，也想過可能那不是她要走的路。最終在今年二月，她終於成功入職她夢寐以求的聯合國工作。現在她希望能在聯合國花四五年時間學最多的東西，除了在愛滋病部門外，也希望能夠嘗試在不同的部門工作，尤其是外交部的。
外交旅遊夢
可一個目標，Madara想當一個外交官，代表斯里蘭卡政府出國做訪問，她想當那種自願性的，不是政治委任的。這個夢想一點也不容易，因為很多人競爭，她首先要完成一個斯里蘭卡外交事宜考試並取得好的成績才能向前進發。
第三個夢想，她想成為「全球世紀會」(Global Century Club)的成員，入會資格是，必須曾到訪至少一百個國家。她覺得那會是一個很好的社交圈，因為成員都遊歷經驗豐富，都是在外地工作或生活的人。
現在，她間中會在工餘時作短期旅行，因為是獨女要照顧父母，所以不能出國太久。她喜歡一個人旅行，按著自己的速度走，她不喜歡到名勝古蹟，反而喜歡到有感覺的地方，別人愛做的她都不愛做就是了。她還喜歡跟來自世界各地的人接觸。能夠向著自己訂立的目標走，她覺得很快樂，就算明天離世了，她也死而無憾了。
Madara跟我分享她最愛的座佑銘，「把你的悲傷脫下面具，其實就是你的喜悅」(Your joy is your sorrow unmasked)，是出自一位美籍黎巴嫩詩人作家的小說The Prophet，意思是若果能夠擁抱悲傷，懷著信念它會過去的，喜悅便會出現。
最後，她給我送了一顆心型玉石作交換禮物，那是一顆有治療力量的玉石，是一位和她同日生日的好友送的，它有趕走邪惡和淨化的神奇力量。可是，作為一個無神論者，她希望能夠把玉石轉送給一位相信並能夠使用那些力量的人。
