Phew.... funding fun

So its been a hellish couple of months facing the imminent loss of our funding.  The end of our current funding came and went, and I was forced into the unenviable task of giving termination notices to 75 people who are more like a big family than a work force.  Perhaps its different when its people who are working from their hearts, counsellors and social workers who are giving of themselves in their work every day, for crappy wages, because they believe in the value of the work that they do... Perhaps it always sucks to have to fire people, regardless of who they are or what they do.   In any case these lovely people moved me with their ability to smile through their tears and stay focused on supporting each other through this personal and professional crisis.
Its been a roller coaster last few weeks with glimmers of hope regularly dashed on the rocks of economic pragmatism and realisation of our own insignificance in the bureaucracy of aid.
BUT at the last minute... we were snatched from the jaws of defeat by a sudden turn around and as of 3pm yesterday we suddenly have enough funding to keep going.  PHEW... we will lose a few staff, and things will be tight... but most of the staff will still have jobs, and most of our essential work will continue... we will even get to expand slightly in some areas.  We will restructure, be meaner and leaner, but ideally we will work better and smarter as a result.
And I am thus remaining in the tropics for my full term... another year under the palm trees... a bitter sweet prospect.  And at least I don't have to look for a job in QLD at the moment!  (PS the only silver lining in the horror of Qld slash and burn politics is that it did make me feel a little better about our funding struggles!)