I’m sure that justifying the rational behind quitting a well paid job diplomatic job for life with all sorts of perks, that allowed me to do all the research I wanted, while living in Rome, arguably one of the most beautiful and important cities in history would be quite difficult... even for me, that i just did that....
Where to start?
I have looked up with admiration at the FAO logo, since I was trained by a programme from the Fisheries Department as an 18 years old fisherman.
That training gave me good knowledge, but most importantly, incentives.... it allowed me to start a path, which since then, has taken my life beyond any expectation I ever had.
Being chosen for a job here, to replace one of those who trained me so many years ago, was like closing a dream circle... I don’t know if FAO changes the world, but definitively changes people’s lives, it did it twice for me.
Rome is just unique... drowned in history and fantastic food, great weather and inner city parks and treasures... she is very charming in its own way... but she asks a price out of you... if you are happy to pay it.... then she is all yours forever.
FAO FI is a good old solid boat, she is the one and only of its kind, but as any boat, it needs some refitting, new engines... she spend to much fuel just to stay afloat, ergo she can’t put much into doing its job... she has a lot of very good crew, but as well some people that past their use by date....
And again, as in any boat... the ultimate responsibility lies in the skipper, for good or bad. The skipper should have done something long time ago.
FAO is sailing in rough waters and rocky bottom, and I really hope that the skipper (or anew one) can find his course to better grounds.
In any case FAO is a great employer, working there has perks that have disappeared in the rest of the world ages ago (just as one example: sugar rations!), plus good tax free salaries and the right to a minimal pension after only 5 years work.... In combination with Rome, is not hard to see why people stay there for ever...
Diving into that world is at first a culture shock, that varies in intensity depending of where you come from... but as every one tells you... you get used to it...
I absolutely see why some people would not change it for anything else, most cities of the world offer way less than FAO/Rome in any way you like to compare it, from security o weather... ergo attracting from african to scandinavians...
So why I quit after a year and a bit of work, after being chosen among over 100 candidates?
I guess is no other answer than because I’m Francisco.... A couple of things bugged me.
I’m a village boy, and having the option, I like my children to grow up in a small place too, walking down the beach after school, having lots of places to run around school for free, knowing that if they have a problem, 99% of the people that may get in touch with, will really try to help them...
Life in a big city is way different.... and even if you are in the position I was; good money, diplomatic status, medical coverage, influences, etc. Something in my guts was telling me it was not right for them.
Hopefully life does not prove me wrong, but i believe no money can’t buy the goodness of been in a beautiful and safe place when you are a kid. I had that opportunity and, what is even better, i have the chance to offer that even scarcer luxury today to my children.
Italy... even if by working at the UN you are in some sort of island absent from political realities, the place is quite fucked up... just read the newspapers in terms of economic performance, birth rate, migration policies, etc, etc... from the prime minister (particularly him) all the way down the chain... there is a massive contempt for the law and the basic rights from people... no one on the top really gives a shit about anyone or anything below them...
Mussolini said: governing italians is not impossible, is just useless. Some of the things that happen there... do not happen anywhere else in Europe, Saviano’s Gomorra best seller and movie are just an example...Yeaah... well, may be charming for a while, but I grow up in a society like that... where your personal efforts alone don’t cut the cake, but rather “who” you know and the “connections” you have, where politicians and other powerful types live above the rules that apply to the rest of mortals... where exterior looks are way more important that what you really do.
And I really despised that, I grow up in rebellion to that. for example: I remember spending 4 years working as a scientist for Argentina's national fisheries institute with a cleaner’s contract (and salary) while less qualified people, got way higher post because they had a “uncle” in some ministry. I remember being constantly tag by whoever security idiot was in charge of any place, because my dreads... but overall the frustration of knowing that you could really don’t do anything against it...
And while we (Vib and I) will manage to fend off some of those influences on my children... I really don’t want them to grow up in a place like this if I have an option...
And I’ll repeat my already cliche argument about NZ... nowhere else a 29 years old guy with 300 USD as its life saving would be able to start a new life like I did... Never I was asked which political party I was, which private school I went, who “recommends” me... do you job, do it right and you get ahead... those are the values I want them to know still exist in some places.
So yeap... there it is... partly family... partly me...
Did I get positives away from FAO? Yes definitively, and I believe I wrote about them before
At professional level, I interacted with some real “popes” in very specific fields of fisheries, I worked with some VERY clever people and having those contacts would help me all my life.
At social level, well... I found my tribe.... transient, border-less, with twisted racial origins, doing for a living things that most of people don’t even think that someone does... I made instant friends... that I going to miss dearly.
But finally I think my biggest gain is at personal level... I got to work with the UN!
May not mean a lot for most people, but means a lot to me. I did not (neither anyone else around me) had big expectation about my life , and somehow I achieved what for many would not even be dare to dream. I got a VERY good recommendation from my bosses and a open door to come back.
But most importantly, it confirmed that you can achieve things under you own rules, if you are consistent and respectful. It somehow makes me change my opinion that sometimes, even if you never wear a tie, speak very diplomatically or do not have powerful “recommenders”, you still make it... and if just that is the outcome of my time at FAO, well... thank you and my respect forever.
by the way... below is a picture from the beach at home
