Margaret Mangani
15 October 2008
THEY can either be called love birds or simply workmate couple or both can suit them aptly. This is new British High commissioner Thomas Carter and Carolyn Davidson who share a diplomatic job in a unique style of companionship.
Unique in that job sharing concepts for couples in Africa are not very common but they are steadily increasing in Europe.
Culturally in Africa it is rare for a man to share an office with a soul-mate as the two are bound to clash in many aspects of life and this may be reflected in their job or at the work premises.
Couples who coincidentally work for the same firm would prefer not to operate from the same department citing various reasons.
Experiences in Europe are rather different from Africa especially with the changing times, couples are finding it conducive to share jobs and work from the same office much to their convienience and that of their fellow workmates without service delivery being affected.
Many critics would argue that job sharing concepts involving couples do not work as they are bound to affect work out-put drastically whenever partners are at loggerheads.
But with Carolyn and Thom, that has not been a big deal at all as they have done the same jobs together without much ado and the arrangement has worked out well for both of them.
In an interview recently during a media luncheon at the British High commission, 44- year-old Carolyn retorted that although job sharing ambassador is a new concept, they are delighted to be in Zambia to take up their new posting as a couple.
" It is a new thing as it is happening in Zambia for the very first time but we are delighted also to do it here particularly that late republican president Dr Levy Mwanawasa accepted the idea of us coming to work as joint High commissioners," she said.
It is commonly known that among other duties assigned to a diplomat's wife is to sort out who is sitting where at dinners or parties hosted in honour of their guests. Chat up guests at these functions no matter how boring they may be or perhaps have a go at charity work here and there.
But the extraordinary thing about Carolyn and Thom is that they would be able to share duties at work as well as at home .
Simply put they would be complementing each other in their daily activities to ensure that everything moves systematically without incurring any serious derailment.
During presentation of credentials before acting President, Rupiah Banda at State House recently, the couple expressed joy that they were warmly accepted and the fact that the Queen of England had decided to send two high commissioners was worth it.
Perhaps the question that begs for an answer is whether the couple will be accepted or not by fellow workmates or there are some who would raise eyebrows.
Ms Davidson said job sharing concepts are common in Britain especially in the foreign head-quarters in London where one person works in the morning shift while the other does the afternoon shift.
Unlike a more conventional job-share, Carolyn and Thomas will work alternately.Their work plan is such that they have opted to divide the year up into thirds, each doing a four-month stint before handing the high commission keys over.
The couple assured that there is going to be continuity in the work process and the hand over process would be very smooth so chances of experiencing any derailments along the way should not be anticipated.
For now Carolyn is running the show till January next year when her 54 year-old bespectacled husband Thom takes over the mantle for a period of four months and so this would be the trend until the couple completes its mission in Zambia.
Thom finds the role of being a spouse to a diplomat wife as challenging as that of being high commissioner itself.
So while Carolyn busies herself with being the busy diplomat, Thom will resign himself to being "simply" her spouse. Which, the pair are keen to stress, is far from a glorified house-husband role, and is a full-time job in itself.
" I will be the person at home not doing much demanding work till January next year when I take over from Carol ," said Thom.
The couple is coming to Zambia to work as dipomats after taking over from former British High commissioner Alistair Harrison who bade fare-well after serving the country for three years.
The couple envoy is also expected to serve the same period of three years in the Zambian mission.
They have been blissfully married for 11 years and boast of never encountering any professional disagreements and have two sons between them namely Matthew, eight, and Mark, 10.
All has been well so far, and their marriage has been very exciting.
Despite the ten years age gap between them, it seems to have very little bearing on their relationship. The couple first fell in love at the British embassy (where else?) in the little town of Bonn in Germany in the early 1990s.
They share a lot of things in common as could be exhibited from the cheerful conversation when both were able to spin answers at the same time.They also share the same business card, on one side are Carol's details while the flip side bears Thom's particulars.
They are the first married couple to job-share a head of mission posting at a British embassy or high commission.
It is a major development. During 1972, women were expected to give up their Foreign Office jobs when they got married. The first British woman to serve as a head of mission was Eleanor Emery, who was appointed high commissioner to Botswana in 1973. Though senior women diplomats are not so rare these days - 23 women lead British missions abroad, out of a total of 189 - the Foreign Office said Carolyn and Thom are unique.
This is the couple's second diplomatic job-share. Five years ago, they were appointed joint deputy head of mission at the British embassy in Bratislava.
The idea came about when the couple were working in Thailand in 2003. Ms Davidson was head of the British embassy's political section in Bangkok; she was working part-time in a non-diplomatic job.
"We were thinking about what we would do next. We would both have horrid days in our respective environments and Thom said, well, what about doing something where we can share?" Carol said.
From that grew the idea that the couple could apply for their next job together. Because both were at the same level, they thought they could do it as a job-share.
Nonetheless, the couple are optimistic they will still be able to enjoy free time when not being the boss. As well as spending time with their sons, both are keen to crack on with their Open University courses - the pair have opted to study for the same qualification, an MBA, which they feel will blend nicely with their daily jobs.
It is common to hear tales of unhappy diplomat spouses who are quietly resentful of what they have had to fore-go so that their partner can carry on globe-trotting - to work for the Foreign Office
In such cases one has to agree to move country every couple of years. The joy of this new arrangement, according to the couple, is that they both end up fulfilled.
"So often in Foreign Office marriages there is perhaps one less-happy partner and one very-happy partner, with the less-happy partner enduring living somewhere where they don't really want to live for their partner's sake, because they know that it's exactly what he or she wants to do," said Carolyn.
In additon she said the difficulty is that the sort of life that diplomats lead, where one is always moving around, makes it very difficult for anyone to have a career , say, an accountant or a lawyer.
"We have managed to get the best of both worlds, which is great," she said.
Given the Foreign Office's rather fusty reputation, it may come as a surprise to learn that it was very supportive of the idea.
"I think the reason our job-share got so much support from the Foreign Office was that it got many pluses," said Thom.
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