Keeping the ship afloat

Regular readers of this blog will know that High Commissioner Paul Madden has now left Australia. His successor will arrive here in April, meaning that I, as Deputy High Commissioner, get to spend a couple of months rejoicing in the title of “Chargé d’Affaires ad interim”. My aim in this period is to ensure that the High Commission and our Consulates across Australia continue to function as normal, without anybody noticing that we do not have a head of mission in place.

It’s been a busy first week or so, with several highlights. The first one was my attendance at a dinner for the Cross of Valour Foundation, held in Canberra. This dinner, largely organised by one of Canberra’s leading philanthropists, Richard Rolfe, was the first occasion on which all the recipients of the Australian Cross of Valour medal assembled in one place. As if this were not enough, all Australia’s living Victoria Cross holders were there as well. I had not previously been aware of the Cross of Valour, which is Australia’s highest honour for civilian bravery. The stories of the award’s holders – men who have dived into flooded sewers to save a child’s life, confronted armed robbers and chased them despite being shot, repeatedly gone in to a bomb site to save survivors from a terrorist atrocity, and braved repeated electric shocks to save a child’s life – defined heroism. It was a truly humbling event.

Also humbling, but in a different way, was England’s opening game of the Cricket World Cup. I was at the MCG, along with 84,000 other people, most of whom were supporting the home team. As a life-long follower of the England cricket team I know that they travel as much in hope as expectation, and the subsequent loss to New Zealand was sobering, but I remain optimistic that the team will hit its stride soon. As long as it is mathematically possible that both the England and Scotland teams can qualify for the quarter finals, that’s the result I will be hoping for.

Staying with the cricketing theme, one day last week I caught a couple of hours of the game in Canberra between Bangladesh and World Cup debutants Afghanistan. In a previous job, in Tanzania, I had hosted a reception for the participants in World Cricket League Division 5, which had included Afghanistan. It was an emotional experience to see them in their first World Cup match. Their journey to the sport’s peak is well documented (not least in the film and book “Out of the Ashes”, which I highly recommend), as is the excitement of their fans, who see this team as a symbol of the nation Afghanistan can be. Sitting at the Manuka Oval, surrounded by exuberant Bangladeshi and Afghan fans, was a memorable way to round off a full first week “in charge”.