Cameron Noble, assistant on peace-building issues to the CEO of the Japanese nongovernmental organization Peace Winds, is in a state of shock. He has just been told he can say goodbye to desk work for at least six months.
"I'm being sent into the field, to manage our ongoing local programs from Jakarta and to look into setting up new programs in more regional areas, possibly in Ambon, Malaku Province -- one of the so-called thousand spice islands in east Indonesia."
Founded in 1996 as a response to what was happening in Iraq, Peace Winds is one of Japan's largest NGOs. "We began with relief activities to help the Kurds." Since then Peace Winds has expanded gradually into Mongolia, Kosovo, Indonesia, East Timor, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Iran, China, India and, with renewed vigor, Iraq.