Dear fellow male spouses,

Welcome to DC!

My name is Robert Marson and I am the new Male Member Coordinator at the World Bank Family Network. If you are getting bored in a city where you do not know anybody, if you are feeling lonely or lost, if you have burning issues linked to your relocation, I am the person you should turn to. I am here to make your transition as smooth as possible. My idea is that we, men, can have fun together since we understand each other. Please come to me with any questions, ideas or suggestions that could help make our lives as newcomers better and easier.

In Madagascar, my home country, I had been working as a Human Resources Manager for twelve years. This work gave me the opportunity to meet a lot of people, to organize a few events for staff members (team building activities, happy hour …) and to help new people find their way inside the company. I feel I have the same missions with this Male Member Coordinator duty.

Life in the DC area is not always easy, especially for those who have just arrived without knowing anything about the city and have no contacts or friends.

Sometimes at the beginning, we tend to think about what we left behind and ask ourselves: “Did I make the best decision by coming here?”

I perfectly understand this situation because I have been there. We arrived in DC in January 2009 with my wife and our two sons (three and one and a half-year old). My kids used to have the same nanny since they were born, I used to lead a very active professional and social lifestyle in Madagascar and my wife used to have helpers at our house for the main chores. So even though we took the decision together and felt really happy with our choice to come here, we found that the challenges brought by this big change in our lives were quite tough. Luckily, we met wonderful people who helped us a lot. Believe me my friends, the best way to overcome this situation is to go out and open up to people. I know that from my own experience.

Let us all meet from time to time for a coffee, or for a soccer game; why not go and visit museums, debate about a specific topic, have picnic with families…..you name it! I am open to new ideas and proposals. Just keep in mind that we will have fun, make friends and share experience.

For a start, let us meet on Monday, September 14, at 10am in the WBFN Office (Room H2-200, 600 19TH St, NW Washington DC). Join us and let’s have fun, we are the males after all…

Looking forward to seeing all of you there!

Robert Marson

robmarson@hotmail.com
202-299-4555