The Princess and the Coffee Bean

One thing I never expected to do during the course of my job was meet a princess. However, Thailand has interest in Timor-Leste, and Maha Chakai Sirindhorn, the senior princess of Thailand, recently made a visit to the country. Among the things on her itinerary was a trip to a coffee plantation rehabilitation project that USAID supports, and I went to represent our office during her visit.

It was a good thing that I did because another guest didn't show, and I was asked to play a larger role than I had intended. (I would have worn a nicer shirt if I had known that I would be invited to sit with her for coffee and snacks.) She was very interested in development work and asked a lot of questions about how the rehabilitation work was organized and how the farmers benefited. This coffee project is a tremendous success for us, and Starbucks buys a lot of beans from Timor-Leste. In fact, the project has been so successful, we are able to focus on other sectors for economic growth.

In this picture, she had just given me a small gift -- some books on development she wrote and a business card holder. As she was presenting them to me, she noticed my Embassy Afghanistan lanyard and mentioned that Afghanistan is the only country in that area of Asia that she has not been to yet. I suggested that she wait a couple of years before going.