A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton genuinely enjoyed working in Nepal and had great commitment to improving the lives and fortunes of the people. For those working in Nepal, one could easily say, \"It was more than a job.\" I regret that I did not visit as often as I should have. UNICEF labored on with attempts to improve and expand basic services for children there. The recently declared \"Survival Goals for Children\" was welcome Not only did it help pull the national program together more cohesively, it seemed to spark a challenge of sorts in other development agencies to take on some of the same activities, a welcome notion to UNICEF. The Atoll Paradise Maldives is comprised of some 26 atolls with perhaps as many as 1,200 islets and about 250 small islands, of which fewer than 50 are populated. This is rare geography indeed. For the most part, there was but one enterprise on each island due to their small size. Thus, the airport was 51
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton on one island, the prison on another, the capital city on yet another. I took a boat from the airport to my hotel (which was on its own island) and it dropped me at the dock. As I was walking to the registration office, I passed what was obviously a bar. How could this be? My briefing notes made it clear that alcohol was banned on the inhabited islands. I asked someone about what had read and what I was seeing, and was informed that the island was not inhabited! The people on the island were visitors, not inhabitants. A good example of flexible law enforcement! The major challenges to children in Maldives were being addressed by the government with UNICEF and other assistance and had a major focus on child survival, development and protection issues. The office was dependent on the country office for Sri Lanka and had resident program officers posted in what must have been exotic and charming surroundings (given the emphasis on tourism the economy demands), but still challenging in the remoteness and vastness of the distances involved. 52
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton Supervising schools, health services and other functions was all done by boat and took a good bit of time and energy. The UNICEF people once again demonstrated imagination and practical support by designing and deploying a tactical response launch to speed the delivery of supplies and improve the monitoring of results. Special resources for the effort were obtained from the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industries and the U.K. Committee for UNICEF. My first visit coincided with the meeting of the regional committee of the World Health Organization. The opening session was held in the capital, followed by a reception at the hotel where I was staying. After the short boat trip back to my hotel, I ran into Dr. Halfdan Mahler, the director general of WHO, and we agreed to take some time apart from the reception to discuss matters of mutual interest. He was glad to get out of the function for a number of reasons, and I was happy to do so as well. We 53
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton spent the evening down near the docks with our feet in the ocean discussing primary health care, a concept he had developed and persuaded WHO (and also UNICEF) to adopt as a guiding principle of health sector programming. It was a wonderful couple of hours. It had a bonus as well. Most of the delegates who attended the reception were stricken with severe gastric distress due to some poorly processed food. Halfdan and I were among the few who fell just fine the next morning. \"Future\" Perfect With the success of the \"Berita Anak Anak\" newsletter in Indonesia as inspiration, we launched a new quarterly UNICEF publication called \"Future.\" It was the vehicle we needed to lead the effort in \"going public and making advocacy for children the core of the public discussion. We had a happy combination of the right person in the right setting. It was an immediate hit. 54
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton The editor of \"Future\" was Thomas Matthai, a well-read, deeply thoughtful man with a facility for writing; he made the publication what it became and set a high standard for public information. We introduced paid advertising and paid subscriptions. It became known in key circles throughout India and was cited in public journals and the press. The range of subjects was huge, but always focused on the need to change the thinking about children and where they really fit into society. It was dedicated to the idea that children are the objective of development, not the subject alone. The editor was relentless in the pursuit of quality articles and relevant content. Many authors had limited access to major media outlets, and \"Future\" was a major vehicle for them. The first issue came out in 1982, and the next year it won the first of many accolades, including the President of India Award for excellence in design and production, presented at a well-attended public ceremony. Subscriptions grew regularly and 55
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton advertising gradually began to cover production costs. Tom wrote many of the pieces himself and carefully chose contributing writers. We worked together on editorials and made a serious attempt not to repeat UNICEF literature, as good as that might be. Our goal was to bring new and different material to our audience. \"Future\" was one of the most successful ventures of my South Asia tenure. Along with this, thanks to an idea from Gopal Dutta of our team, the public statements we were asked to make on children's issues, development in general, and on UNICEF were collected into a book. Learning from the Past UNICEF teams in India over the years were leaders in many ventures for improved services for children and equally important, to improved technologies that made basic services more effective, less expensive and more encompassing. 56
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton Ventures included producing and marketing fortified foods for young children. Tests involving fortifying common salt with iron proved effective. Iodized salt efforts were started in some states. An effort to enrich the flour used in biscuits issued to children at school was successful, but did not get much traction. Experiments in various forms of water well drilling were almost a constant endeavor. Engineers from UNICEF, the Indian government and the Methodist Mission Board joined forces to design and produce a better hand pump for village use. The resulting Mark I pump was successful and its successor, the Mark II, was even better, finding a popular market inside and beyond the country, particularly in Africa. Earlier investments in converting buffalo milk to a powder that had shelf life were a huge success. The Amul Dairy Complex grew to be a dynamic and productive source of dairy products for the country. Over time, unfortunately, the cooperative expanded its line to include an infant feeding formula, in 57
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton contradiction of our goal of promoting breastfeeding. Investments in the production and packaging of vaccines paved the way beautifully for the expanding immunization program our team had in mind. 1 always regretted, though, that we did not adequately pursue an innovation program in bio-gas, horizontal drilling, community development, rural slum basic services and food fortification as much as we might have. Country Programming in India The process of preparing a country programme in India was probably one of the more elaborate operations in all of UNICEF. In fact, the process was almost a continual one from one agreement period to the next. I arrived in India in the summer of 1980 just as the programme was to be renewed with a fresh allocation of resources from the UNICEF board. 58
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton The mix of issues was large. As with all such processes, various leaders took positions that were often in variance with others. Sorting out how to blend and mix them into a cohesive position and then negotiate something sensible and acceptable to the governments was a major priority. The major issues had a range UNICEF's policy of looking at the needs of children and working out a multi-year program with national leaders took a lot of time, in some cases a year or more. We also had a policy of focusing on basic services, essentials for survival and development. It was not always easy to determine how best to apply minimal available resources equitably and efficiently. UNICEF had created a successful practice of having two main streams of revenue: unrestricted contributions to the Fund and supplementary, special-interest contributions to particular country programmes On top of this was a new high-priority focus on child survival and development issues. These were interventions like immunizations: breastfeeding: oral rehydration 59
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton therapy, and growth monitoring. All were tried and true, low-cost, extremely effective and manageable efforts to support. Part Three: Living and Working in India In general in India there was a sense of high-level political commitment to children as the object of development, in good part pressed by the prime minister with active interest on the part of the parliament. The Integrated Child Development Services was the largest government-sponsored direct intervention for children of preschool age. It was a huge decision of the government to invest in children in this fashion and UNICEF was a part of it from inception. By 1987, more than eight million children and nearly two million women were provided basic services through this network, which depended in good part on village volunteers. The Water and Environmental Sanitation Programme affected all parts of India with its 60
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton steady progression of providing villages with water wells and latrines. The government program was supported by UNICEF with large investments of foreign capital, most of it from Scandinavian countries.12 The projects were big news among leaders and local people in the villages, but didn't attract the national attention they deserved as a basic service for children. My theory about the lack of news coverage was that national politicians wouldn't have minded posing with a hand pump and children splashing clean water, but they weren't so keen on having a latrine in the picture! 12 Maggie Black, a former UNICEF information officer, and Rupert Talbot, a former water engineer on the staff in India, published an excellent book on the history and growth of this venture. See references. 61
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton It seemed to us, after some reviews by our team,13 that the national effort to immunize children was stalled and out of date. Happily for us, these conclusions coincided with Jim Grant's directive to press on with GOBI, a key part of which was child immunizations. With input from the government and the education community, we came up with a district-by-district approach based on up-to-date population and epidemiological data. The plan was complete with specific suggestions and proposals for increasing the national production of vaccines and equipment, improving the importation of vaccines and their storage and the many details of the program's implementation - staffing, accounting, transport, lab needs, computer technology and oversight systems. It also included large-scale communications efforts to present the values of protection from measles, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, tuberculosis and polio, and the dangers of not doing so. 13 Led by Rolf Carriere and John Rohde and supported by Sharad Sapra and others 62
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton The objective of the complex national scheme was to move immunization from 18 percent of the infant population and even less among women) to at least 80 percent. To accomplish this goal would require enormous and long-term government commitments and large amounts of foreign assistance (which UNICEF pledged to assist in obtaining). For the first five years, the total foreign aid component was estimated at $100 million (in 1983 U.S. dollars). The government investment was estimated at more than $750 million. It was planned over five years to cover all districts and all children and women. At the time, UNICEF only had around $7 million available and pledged. So we set about to raise the money, Jim and his team in New York were superb in their support. Working with embassies and aid missions in Delhi, we sought and obtained a pledge from the government of Canada and that was quickly followed by pledges from Sweden, Denmark and the U.S. The effort became the benchmark for addressing a national problem in a national way with a range of allied supporters. 63
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton We also approached Rotary International to see how their global polio initiative could be blended into our more comprehensive programme. Jim Grant used the occasion of addressing the organization's World Congress to introduce the idea of \"polio plus\" and eased the way for integration of efforts at the national levels in many countries, the largest being in India. Because top-level political support for our immunization programme was a sine qua non, I requested a meeting with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to set forth our case. My staff prepared me well for the meeting, but we were fully aware that some of the data we had amassed was all odds with data from Mrs. Gandhi's Ministry of Health (which had, of course, briefed her before the meeting). When I had finished my presentation, the prime minister raised her head and said, \"Mr. Haxton, in effect, this calls into question the information of my ministries.\" I held my breath a moment and replied, 64
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton \"That is not our aim, Madam, of course. It would also not be wise for me to enter your office and offer a falsehood and risk being declared persona non grata\". She stared at me and to my relief, her principal secretary, P.J. Alexander (a marvelous and shrewd man), suggested that my point was well taken. Happily, that concluded the meeting. Later that week, Mrs. Gandhi sent her people to our office to go over the information. It was not that any set of documents held the truth and all others something else. It was a matter of what was counted in what way and what was being sought. In short, this maxim was once again proved valid: Things that are counted often do not matter and things that matter are often not counted. Indira Gandhi was a remarkable woman. She was autocratic (with democratic pretensions), impatient, devious, a powerful politician, a patron of the arts. Her family was famous for its role in the independence movement. Her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, was the country's first prime minister and 65
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton she served a total of 15 years in that office. I had the good fortune to meet with her on 16 separate occasions during my time in India - more than half of them in \"sit-down\" meetings in her office, regularly at official ceremonies, and often at garden parties. At one garden party we attended, Lynn and the prime minister held what seemed a long discussion for the occasion, causing a few eyes to turn. When I asked what that was all about, Lynn said they were talking about why Mrs. Gandhi always wore long-sleeved saris! The answer given was that she had a reaction to the sun and needed to protect her arms. A Terrible Week Early on the morning of October 31, I received a call at home advising me that The Times of India was reporting that Indira Gandhi had been shot and that the alleged perpetrators were two of her Sikh security guards. It was clear that the day would be long. 66
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton The attack had occurred in her own garden just before she was to be interviewed by Peter Ustinov for an Irish television documentary. The garden was divided by a large hedge, and Ustinov and his film crew were waiting just beyond it. She was walking on the path toward them when the fuselage of gunfire broke out. Ustinov was a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF and we had helped set up that interview, Lynn and I also planned a dinner in his honor at our home that same evening so he could meet some people in the diplomatic, artistic and official community. Immediately after hearing the first news bulletins, we tried to locate him and his team, but security arrangements delayed that for some hours, Rumors were the order of the day. While no news was being issued, it was reasonable to assure that Mrs. Gandhi was dead on arrival at the hospital. All India Radio broadcast repeated messages and played music, Communication with officialdom was impossible. The government was silent. India's president was out of the country. The presumed 67
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton heir-apparent, her son Rajiv Gandhi, was campaigning in West Bengal. Late in the afternoon, Peter Ustinov called us from his hotel and relayed what he could about what had happened. He was already in touch with his office and others in Europe. He had been with the security people, who confiscated some of his audio tapes. We offered help in arranging his travel back to London. The streets had filled with angry people, and security and safety for the Sikh community in Delhi became increasingly tenuous. The metropolitan police were not as helpful as one might expect. We offered shelter for our Sikh stall members and families because UNICEF's land and building were considered international territory. A good number of them moved in for a few days. The dozen or so chickens purchased for the now-canceled dinner party for Peter Ustinov were brought to the office for the people staying there. 68
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton We closed the office early, but some of us put in long hours to assure that all of the stall was escorted safely home. Fires, shootings and looting of Sikh property in various neighborhoods were being reported. We checked on Sikh friends in our neighborhood, and our official driver spent the night at the house so he would not have to return alone, It was reported that some 1,000 Sikhs were killed over a two-day period in Delhi. In the midst of this, we in UNICEF were reeling from a terrible personal loss, the death of our chief of section for transport, Karl Gustav Forsmark. Just the day before, we had received a call from the interior ministry saying that Karl had died in a car crash in Uttar Pradesh while participating in an auto race. His wife had left Delhi to join him in Dehra Dun at the end of the race, and it was our sad task to relay the tragic news to her. We reached her at her hotel and arranged for companionship and travel back to Delhi. Then we went to work to have Karl's body brought back to the city. For that we had the full cooperation of the Indian Air Force. His body arrived in the evening. 69
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton Mrs. Forsmark was returning by car and traveled all day on October 31. We had a watch out for her, and when she arrived, Lynn and I met her at her apartment. We could see fires in the distance: Her car had no radio and she had no inkling of what had been occurring. Meanwhile, we were arranging a funeral service for Karl. It required a bit of flexible financial incentives to open the crematorium, which had been closed for security reasons, and in getting the message out to friends, given the idiosyncrasies of the telephone system and the traffic problems. Karl's body had been delivered to the morgue at the medical college and we went there to transport it across the city to our building, where it resided until the funeral ceremony. The cremation ceremony for Mrs. Gandhi was arranged by the Foreign Office at a site in Old Delhi. The diplomatic corps and invited guests from officialdom and from abroad were gathered into a large parking center near a stadium and then ushered onto buses commandeered from 70
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton neighboring states, since the system in Delhi used mostly Sikh drivers and was out of service. Dignitaries, ambassadors, kings and others lined up, and as each bus filled it left for the cremation site. No other vehicles were permitted. Among our fellow bus passengers were Imelda Marcos of the Philippines and U.S. Sen. Patrick Moynihan, a former ambassador to India. The invitation list held two slots for the United Nations: the Development Programme's resident representative, Michael Priestley, and the regional director of UNICEF. The situation that provoked enough anger to result in the assassination of the prime minister was political in nature and a struggle for power between her and some state government leaders. But in the mix of things, earlier that year a group of well-armed insurgents from a minority group of the Sikh population in Punjab had taken the Golden Temple, the most holy site in Sikhdom. No one wanted to do damage to the temple, but after three or four days of a standoff and mounting 71
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton casualties, Mrs. Gandhi gave permission to use tanks and other armored vehicles. Much damage was inflicted and many died. Some of the armed forces on the government side were also Sikhs. While many supported Mrs. Gandhi's actions to eliminate what was considered a terrorist threat to public security, many condemned her for the violence and destruction of the holy ground. Mrs. Gandhi was a good ally of UNICEF in India and I was grateful for all the time and attention she paid to us. She was always cooperative and supportive of work for children and immensely helpful in two major efforts. When we were accelerating and scaling up the national immunization programme, she made some key political decisions to facilitate matters. And when we wanted to scale up iodine nutrition efforts, she placed calls herself to major salt producers to encourage their collaboration. After her death, we prepared a note to India's president and vice president suggesting that the immunization programme be named a \"Living Memorial to Indira Gandhi.\" 72
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton A Summit Success Undoubtedly, one of the major highlights of this period was a summit meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, a newly formed and delicately balanced grouping of nations. An intensive period of lobbying by UNICEF representatives in the seven countries that made up SAARC's membership had been persuasive. There had been regional meetings, to be sure, but not of a political group nor at the highest political level in any region of the world. To get to the summit, it was necessary to undertake some preliminary ministerial level discussions. A joint review of children's issues and services in each country was completed. Overviews from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were presented the SAARC Ministerial Conference on Children in October 1986. 73
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton Jim Grant attended the opening session and said: \"... SAARC is the first among regional political associations anywhere seeking to build self-reliant cooperation around the highest of human values ... a reverence for life. In South Asia you have set an historic precedent by taking the decision in SAARC's first year to discuss, agree on and accelerate efforts to perfect and enhance the lives of children.\" The purpose of the ministerial conference was twofold: to elevate the priority for children in the public consciousness as well as in development planning and to stimulate mutual cooperation among the SAARC countries in directions relevant to basic human development. They agreed that a SAARC \"Covenant on Children\" would be an historic act of political leadership. The situations of children were reviewed through seven lenses: public policies, physical environment, social environment, sustained access to food, priority for nutrition and child growth, child survival 74
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton and maternal health, and learning environment. The draft proposals and negotiation strategy were prepared in Delhi and deftly carried out by a small team led by Thomas Matthai and Shob Jhie with the strong involvement of each country office. The conclusions and recommended action plans were presented to the SAARC Heads of Government meeting in Bangalore, India, on November 16-17, 1986. The SAARC \"Declaration on Children\" was issued; directing the standing committee and each government to review the situation of children in detail make adjustments and monitor progress. This led to considerable extra work for UNICEF, but improved national programming in each country. It also boosted confidence within UNICEF that political leadership could be persuaded to act on these issues, and it led directly to the Global Summit on Children attended by 71 leaders in September 1990 at U.N. headquarters. 75
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton Our Family in Flux The fact that change in life is inevitable does not make it easier. Suddenly, the children who gathered around the Christmas tree and wrestled with luggage at the airport and needed a ride here, there and everywhere weren't children at all. They were adults. Surely this discovery was not unique to us, but it felt so. David and his bride, Marcia, were able to visit us a couple of times over the Christmas holidays. Anne joined us in India as she took time off from college in Colorado, but then returned there after a year. Elizabeth and Tom were in different schools in the U.S. but we managed to get them together on holiday flights from New York to Delhi during which they tried the patience of the airline crews, Tom met Barbara Reynolds at college and most of us were able to attend their wedding in Columbia, South Carolina. 76
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton Mark, after a tough entry into India, took to it well. He graduated from the American Embassy School and went off to college, first in South Carolina to join his brother and then to Hunter College in New York and the University of Colorado. Jeanne was with us almost the entire time in India. Then she took off for college in North Carolina, where she met Merritt, who would become her husband. We found ourselves experiencing the empty nest syndrome, and Lynn had a tougher time than I. After a period, she threw herself energetically into a range of activities, perhaps hiding her feelings under the surface. She became active in a women's organization that pressed for more and better school facilities in New Delhi and volunteered at the school they sponsored two mornings a week. Lynn also got active with organizations supported by Mother Teresa, She met with the renowned humanitarian and children's advocate several times in Delhi and we both met with her twice in Calcutta. On one visit to her orphanage for abandoned 77
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton infants, before we were shown around, she met us on the upstairs balcony, picked up a chair and brought it to Lynn before either of us could get into action. Lynn also became interested in Indian cultural sites, especially significant temples in remote and exotic places, and wildlife preserves where we went bird watching and tiger-observing. I tagged along and tried to learn. It turned out to be fun to visit the \"rat temple’14 in Deshnoke and the caves of the Buddhists, among other places. Because of Lynn, I found myself sitting and observing lamas and people at temple in Ladakh in the midst of bells and incense and prayer flags... wandering the narrow streets of Old Delhi ... living on a houseboat in Kashmir while listening to the World Cup on the radio having morning tea on a 14 Constructed in the early 1900s as a tribute to the rat goddess Karni Mata, the temple is home to thousands of rats who are well cared for and treated as sacred 78
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton veranda in Sikkim in swirling morning mountain mist (a great way to start the day!). The weather of India was etched in our memory. The debilitating heat of Delhi summers, when everyone you touched was hot. The monsoon season, when it felt like the rain will never stop. The dusty period, when wind brought dust and grit from faraway dry lands to the east. We were able to visit China twice and, on one visit, continued on to Mongolia by train - giving Lynn the experience of wheel-changing at night! We crossed the vast Asian European continent by Trans-Siberian Railroad to Moscow and St Petersburg, a six-day test of togetherness in a compartment. We must have broken the family record for backgammon, keeping score in the dust on the window. This was a journey across the vast expanse of Siberia and its wide open sky and seemingly 79
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton limitless horizon.15 It is hard to realize that Siberia constitutes one twelfth of all land space on the globe and about 75 percent of the Soviet Union's land mass. As we traveled from east to west, the change in scenery was dramatic and spectacular. When the train stopped al byways and small stations, there was always a small crowd around the dining car as local women traded vegetables and fruits for meat. Our meals reflected the results of the barter as we neared Moscow. We went on to Poland and thoroughly enjoyed Warsaw, where the best lunch in town might be a small bottle of vodka, a loaf of fresh bread and some farmer's cheese consumed in the picnic area of a park. One glorious afternoon we enjoyed some wine and conversation at Chopin's former home in the countryside. We continued by train to Krakow and the Auschwitz Memorial Site. Lynn and I had a 15 It was the latter period of the Soviet Union, and in a way i was relatively easy to see how that system simply did not function well 80
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton hard time taking it all in and clung to each other's hands the whole time. On other travel outside India, stops in Western Europe and the Middle East were convenient. On the last trip, with Jeanne as our companion, we visited Cairo. While I was busy interviewing new staff, Lynn and Jeanne went off to Luxor by boat where a camel driver offered Lynn 10 camels for Jeanne's hand! Social life in New Delhi was vibrant. It was so because of the extraordinary openness of the Indian people and their natural hospitality, and also because it was a key capital during the Cold War where all sides could meet and mingle easily, if not always comfortably. India was the largest of UNICEF's country programmes and that assured a regular flow of visitors from New York. We enjoyed the mix and made many friends. At least once a month, Lynn and I organized a dinner for a blend of Indian friends, the foreign community and officials, and we often had informal 81
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton dinners with travelers and others between times. Having people to our home created a pleasant and convenient atmosphere for getting to know each other better, and this also made official contacts smoother in many ways. Lynn joined a number of Indian community groups and developed a wide range of acquaintances and friends among artists, writers, politicians and business people. She got to know the leprosy rehabilitation center just outside the city that supported itself by selling poultry. Some of our guests were startled when she casually mentioned where the good-tasting chicken they had just eaten came from. The highlight each year, of course, was having the children join us for Christmas. Lynn always organized a trip outside the city for as many days as possible. Bharatpur, the famous bird and wildlife sanctuary in Rajasthan, was a regular destination. Jaipur also became a favorite place to visit. We made a New Year's trip to Varanasi to walk the old city streets and wonder at the centuries old 82
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton practices in this holy place. The ceremonies at the cremation sites along the Ganges River were memorable but took getting used to. Walking the streets was one adventure; seeing the city from a small boat in the Ganges was a commanding experience. Destination India A visit to India was high on many world leaders to-do list. It was a major unaligned country. It was the world's largest democracy. It was the focus of major international development processes and an important participant in trade, nuclear and strategic global discussions. Not to mention, it was a vibrant place to be and to visit. We were fortunate to meet many of the visitors and we admired how the government coped with so many with such frequency. On Pope John Paul II's visit, the heads of foreign missions were invited to meet him at the airport, Spouses were not included. Lynn took exception to 83
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton this and called our friend in the Nunciature, Monsignor Michael Courtney, a frequent bridge partner. The following day, the monsignor called to advise that all foreign missions in Delhi would receive an invitation for spouses to meet His Holiness in a private reception. The picture of Lynn being received by the Pope is a very fond memory and a token of her success with the bureaucracy from outside of it!16 Our guestbook reminds me of the many people we had the privilege of offering some home hospitality while they tended to their official duties. One was Prince Talal of Saudi Arabia, whom Jim Grant had appointed an honorary ambassador for UNICEF in 1980. The prince traveled a good bit to look at ways he and his considerable foundation could make things better, often traveling in his own airplane. On one visit to India, I accompanied him to Hyderabad 16 Michael was transferred to Rome some months later, then lo Cuba, back to Rome and to Burundi where in 2003, he was murdered in his car by rebellious thugs. 84
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton and Madras and we hosted a garden party for him. Attendees expecting to see an Arab prince in flowing robes instead got the chance to meet him in his smartly tailored British suit. At the behest of the U.S. Embassy, we also played host to Coretta Scott King, widow of the civil rights leader, and her delegation. New Delhi was the site of the global premiere of Gandhi, the blockbuster movie of 1982, and UNICEF was asked to be the host. The premiere assured that the director, Sir Richard Attenborough, and the stars of the movie would make appearances at the Vigyan Bhavan with both the president and prime minister of India in attendance. The event raised more than $105,000 in ticket sales for UNICEF and the Gandhi Memorial Leprosy Foundation. Information Management Jim Grant was persuaded to look at how information for management flowed through the 85
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton organization - how it was generated, transmitted, used, stored, consumed - and he asked me to lead the team in this global review. It was one of the most challenging and intriguing assignments of my career, I wondered if he knew how computer ignorant I really was! The team met in confidence for six weeks in New York and in field offices in Bangkok, Delhi, Brasilia, Bogota, Amman and Cairo. The report we gave the executive director contained eight macro recommendations with some provisos that called for additional attention. In our cover letter, we made note that while we traced each process in the vast organization and how it flowed through and connected with other processes in the various divisions and sections, the main goal was to also focus on how managers of each major unit sought, produced and used information for management.\" This meant interviewing each manager and getting their responses to some basic questions. Some were open and enthusiastic and looking for ways to modernize UNICEF's organization; others were 86
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton hesitant. It seemed that the most difficult question to answer was: \"To do your assignment, what information do you need, when do you need it ... in what form?\" In any event, the executive director accepted all of our recommendations and acted promptly to begin making changes. It was our collective view that the future of UNICEF - in addition to providing supplies, equipment, budget and staff support - would have a major mission to provide solid information on what works and how to get things done swiftly and economically. In short, UNICEF was to become the \"go-to\" organization for the world's children. Just after we had completed our work, we were surprised to read a thinly veiled criticism of it in Newsweek. The piece was written by Tarzie Vittachi, UNICEF's deputy executive director for external relations who wrote a regular column for the magazine. In it, he characterized people associated with \"how-to\" management books as tedious, less than collaborative and usually not pleasant, especially any chair of a review group. 87
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton We saw the column for what it was: an attempt to put down our team and the process and, not incidentally chastise me. Tarzie was an all-round pleasant and interesting person as well as a distinguished author and editor, and I often told him that I found the column to be well-written! Most important, it did nothing to slow progress on improving the management of information. Winding down a Bit As our retirement date loomed just over the horizon, Lynn and I began taking steps to alleviate the shock of departure and ease our way back into life in a country where we had not lived for nearly 30 years. But first we had to make sure it was where we wanted to go, All of the children were beginning their own lives after college or just completing college work. David was married and in Brazil. Anne was studying and working in Colorado. Liz had just completed college 88
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton in St. Augustine, Florida. Tom had completed college, returned to India for a short period and was now working in New York. Mark has shifted from Hunter College to the University of Colorado, determined to become a teacher. Jeanne was about to enter professional life after finishing school in North Carolina. We had no home in the U.S. I was not overly concerned about staying busy or occupied, nor was Lynn. Both of us had more or less the same attitude: Let's seek out good things to do and a nice place to live and try hard to continue learning and remain curious. It was an interesting time for reflection and planning. During previous years, talk of retirement had seemed confined to questions of \"What shall we do?\" \"Where shall we do it?\" \"What is retirement?\" \"What will it be like to be 'matriarchal' and 'patriarchal with a far-flung family that will surely grow?\" 89
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton But always, the time was later.\" Now \"later\" had become \"in the next few months!\" So Lynn began to think of a place to live and what we should ship home and what we should leave. I began filling out papers required by the U.N. to retire and apply for the pension and other after-service support. We talked about Brazil as a possibility, but concluded it would pose a travel hardship as time passed and people aged. Plus, most of our family now lived in North America. Winnipeg and St. Louis would always be a part of us, but neither city held appeal. We made a list of things we wanted in a retirement location and a list of things we did not. We did not want a capital city of any sort. We had had our fill of living in cities whose major industry was government. We did not need another official cocktail party! Factoring in the expense of housing and living costs, we also ruled out large cities like New York despite its many alluring features, We wanted a city with good health services, reasonable real-estate costs, sufficient cultural attractions to keep the mind 90
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton alive, and adequate other facilities to keep the body active. Although I was an interested party to be sure, I held that it should be Lynn's choice more than mine since she had acquiesced to the many moves we made over the years. She had recently made a trip to visit Jeanne at the University of North Carolina and had been impressed with a nearby city. Our list of cities gradually dwindled to one. It wasn't a bad time to leave India. The country programme was perking along the team was functioning well, relations with the government were at an all-time high. The government and diplomats we had worked with were warm and generous in their hospitality as the date of departure neared. I made a trip around the region to say goodbye to officials and to stall, spending just a few days in each capital. We moved into the India International Centre for the remaining week after our furniture was packed and shipped. 91
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton We loved living where we did in Delhi, in the Friends Colony. A bit away from the rest of the resident foreigners, it was filled with narrow roads and good places to walk. We knew we would miss the birds, dozens of which gathered in the trees at sundown chattering and shuffling until gradually settling down for the night We would also miss the itinerant rug merchant - though our bank account would be happy about that! We would miss the wonderful autumn and winter weather, though not the other seasons so much. We ate our way to the airport with farewells by Indian friends and colleagues, flew to New York, turned in our U.N. passport, filed our retirement papers and traveled to Greensboro. References Annual reports from India, UNICEF regional office, 1980-1987 to the executive director and executive board 92
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton \"Situation of Children in India,\" UNICEF regional office, New Delhi, 1981, 1984... Statements by the author to the UNICEF Executive Board. 1980-1988. India after Gandhi, Ramachandra Guha, HarperCollins, New York, 2007, “Future,\" a UNICEF regional office publication, 1982-1988. Bhutan: Land of the Peaceful Dragon, G.N. Mehra, Vikas Publishing, New Delhi, 1974, Bhutan, a Kingdom of the Eastern Himalayas, Guy van Strydonck, Editions OLIZANE, Geneva, 1984 93
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton The Modern History of Mongolia, C.R. Bawden, Kegan Paul International, London, 1968. Annual Reports: Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Mongolia, UNICEF representatives, 1987 A Brief History of Afghanistan, Shaista Wahab and Barry Youngerman, Facts on File, New York, 2007 Out of Afghanistan: The Inside Story of the Soviet Withdrawal, Diego Cordovez and Selig S. Harrison, Oxford University Press, 1995. \"Children First,\" Report of the SAARC Conference on South Asian Children, New Delhi, October 27-29, 1986, published by UNICEF and the SAARC Secretariat. 94
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton A History of Nepal, John Whelpton, Cambridge University Press, Edinburgh, 2005 \"The Child in Asia,\" David P. Haxton, UNICEF, New Delhi, 1987. \"Rajiv Gandhi: A Tribute and Memorial,\" K. Natwar Singh and H.Y. Sharada Prasad Indira, editors, Gandhi Memorial Trust, New Delhi, 1992. Water, A Matter of Life and Health: Water Supply and Sanitation in Village India, Maggie Black with Rupert Talbot, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2005. Post Note Above all treasured memories of our time in India, our friends rank high. But the staff with which I had 95
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton the pleasure and privilege to work with made the effort intellectually challenging, professionally satisfying and contributed to my personal growth in more ways that I can enumerate. I cannot list all of them, but Harry Lucker, Steve Umemoto, Alex Tosh, Bent Rasmssen, Suat Cobanoglu, Shob Jhie, Roll Carriere, Jon Rohde, Bill Cousins, Dan 0 Dell, Alan Everest, Indira Roy, Cres Fernandez, Dev Chopra, Annupama Rao, Razia Ismael, Bertie Mendez, Rupert Talbot, Sharad Sapra, among others gave underpinning to the global reputation for excellence the team had and made the near impossible look relatively easy. In addition to the international officers who served there, a strong contingent of national officers was not only vital to UNICEF but to development for children in India. And the story would not be complete without mentioning the Stall Association in India. National officers, 1980-1988: Razia Ismail Abbassi, S. Abraham, David Ahimaz, Naseem Ahmed, D.K. Asthana, Geeta Athreya, S.R. Bahl, P. Balasubramanian, G.R. Baru, Suresh Bhargava, R.C. Bhatnagar A.L. Bhuyan, Subhash 96
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton Chandra, Dev Chopra, Sam Dalal, Debasis Sen Gupta, Subhash Das Gupta, Ramnath Dore, Gopal Dutia, Sumita Gangly, Renu Ghosh, R.K. Gulati. K.S. Gupta, Srilakshmi Gururaja, S. Hussain, M.N.A lyer, Harish Jain. Annanna Joseph, Dr. Suresh Joshi, T. Kanagarajar, K.B. Kothari, M.N. Kulkarni, R. Mahalingam, S.K. Malhotra, Y.D, Mathur, Thomas Matthai, Kamal Mehra, Martha Menezes, Gopinath T. Menon, G.S. Mulgaonkar, V. Muthuswami, K.S. Naidu, V.R.P. Nair, Geeta Nambiar, T.S. Narayanaswamy, R. Padmini, Peter Cheri, Sindhu Phadki, Gerry Pinto, Nutan Prakash, V. Radhakrishnan, S. Souri Rajan, R.K.Ram. K.B. Ramachandran, R. Ramadoss, J. Raman, K.S. Raman, A.V. Ramaswamy. Kamla Rana, N. Rangaswarny, Annupama Rao, G. Surya Rao, Kamala Gopal Rao, RK Rath, Sarla Rao, S.K. Seth, M.P. Sinha, G.S. Srinivasan, K.S. Sundaresan. N.R. Vaidyanathan, A.J. Valith, G.S. Venkararaman, R.G. Venkatarman, Vishalakshi 97
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton Venkatraman, G Vertran, Sheila Vir, N.K. Viswanathan, Veena Waddhwani, Y.G.Wesley. 98
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