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The Gates Foundation’s head office in the United States is in
Seattle. It is where Microsoft is based and where Bill Gates lives. Apart
from that, they have an East Coast office in Washington. In New York,
they often work with their partners on various projects. Since I had
insisted on New York, Michael had given me a place on a Foundation
project with the United Nations. The UN world headquarters is located
in mid-town New York. On my first day to work, I walked to the 86th
Street station on Lexington Avenue. I took train number four and got
down at Grand Central Station on 42nd Street, walking half a mile to
the massive United Nations Plaza complex. After a three-layered
security process, I reached the office of the UNFPA, or the United
Nations Population Fund.
‘Mr Jha, welcome. Come in.’ A forty-year-old black man twice my
width met me in the reception area.
I entered an office filled with books and reports.
‘Olara Lokeris from Uganda. Worked with the Population Fund for
ten years. I will be your mentor.’
The Gates Foundation had granted 57 million US dollars to the
UNFPA to educate youth on preventing HIV/AIDS in African
countries. I had to make a report on the project’s progress. Of course,
I had no experience either in Africa, or in making a report.
‘I run a school in Bihar, India. I’m sorry, but this Africa ahd HIV
research is all new to me.’
Olara smiled. His white teeth glistened in his large face.
‘Don’t worry. Making reports is much easier than running an actual
school,’ he said.
Olara spent the rest of the afternoon explaining the various
databases maintained in the project to me.
‘Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania and Botswana are the four main
countries of focus,’ he said.
He briefed me on other logistical and administrative issues related