University of Calgary blogs

Touring the countryside

Kate — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:53:34 -0700

November 3, 2008

I’ve been all four provinces in the last week, meeting with the provincial directors in hopes of gainingTea plantation: A tea plantation in the central province. their much-needed support for the planned surveillance system. I expect they will have to remain enthusiastic to keep the field veterinarians participating and While Sri Lanka is a geographically small nation the nature of the roads makes travel an arduous task.

The meetings continue

Kate — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 08:21:50 -0700

October 24, 2008

In my quest to gain further support for the project I’ve had a couple of key meetings over the past week. There was of course the meeting with the DAPH staff on Thursday, which went exactly as it needed to.

Short on time

Kate — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:19:40 -0700

October 20th, 2008

Unfortunately, I am still in the midst of negotiating my way through Sri Lankan politics. The good news is that Dr. Daniel came to the DAPH on Friday and we have arranged to give a presentation to the entire department, including the director general, the associate director general, the director of animal production and health and others in the department. The meeting is scheduled for next Thursday.

A bumpy start with a beautiful view

Kate — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:13:56 -0700

October 15, 2008

Well, things aren’t going exactly according to plan. Today I arrived at the Department of Animal Production and Health (DAPH) in hopes of having a meeting with the person in charge of current animal disease surveillance programs.

One work week down

Kate — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:24:01 -0600

October 14, 2008

My first working week in Sri Lanka went off without a hitch. I spent Tuesday at the Department of Animal Production and Health (DAPH) meeting with local stakeholders, namely the Director of the department and Chandra, the newly-hired research assistant on the project.

Arrival in Kandy

Kate — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:19:27 -0600

October 12, 2008

The journey to Sri Lanka is not to be taken lightly: a nine hour flight from Calgary to London and a 10 hour flight from London to Sri Lanka along with a ten hour layover in between makes for an exhausting transit experience. Fortunately I have relatives who live less than half an hour from Heathrow and therefore I was able to go to their place during my time in London for a much needed nap (thank you Richard and Carole!).

Peshawar links

Tahir Khan — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 08:34:44 -0600

September 4, 2008

My Visiting Fellowship at UET Peshawar is coming to an end and it has been an enlightening experience to work with Pakistani colleagues and to help supervise graduate students within the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Dam problems

Tahir Khan — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:08:23 -0600

August 22, 2008

Over the last few months Pakistan has suffered from regular power outages and this has beenColorful bus particularly severe in the rural areas of the country. Therefore, an invitation to see the largest Hydro-power station in the world, the Tarbela Dam close to Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute in district Swabi came as a welcome.

Zen in Bolivia

Brendan — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 09:41:44 -0600

August 12, 2008

It seems I’ve been a bad blogger for the past little while… so I’ll try to review everything that’s happened since my last entry and update this thing more regularly in the coming weeks and months! Where to even begin?

Premier sugar mills

Tahir Khan — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:24:46 -0600

July 23, 2008

The last few days have been busy but “sweet”. With a group of researchers from Peshawar University I went to the Premier sugar mills located just on the out skirts of Mardan town. Our visit was just at the right time because maintenance of the mill was under way and Mr Sarwar Jan, the mill engineer, explained the challenges on keeping a sugar mill running throughout the season without break down.