Life on the move

“From a very young age what really fascinated me was that the world was different countries, different cultures. I was always really interested in geography.” Paul Brummell positioned himself to explore that world.The new British High Commissioner to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean told the Weekend Nation: “As a small boy I would draw really detailed maps of the coasts of the different continents around the world and that really stayed with me, and I knew that I wanted to study geography at university (Cambridge). “When I was getting ready to leave university, I knew, too, that what I wanted to do with my career was a job that involved not just a lot of travel but actually living in different countries, learning about different cultures, and one of the jobs I applied for was the Foreign Office and was lucky to get it.”He has spent the last 23 years with Britain’s Foreign Ministry – some in London, five overseas postings  to Pakistan, Italy and Central Asia. The position as deputy head of the Geographical Department in London dealing with the former Soviet Union countries prepared him for assignments in the former Soviet Socialist republics of Turkmenistan and Kajikstan, his two previous postings before coming to Barbados.“Coming from there to Barbados, there are striking immediate and obvious differences.” Kajikstan is the ninth largest independent country in the world, and since independence it has been among the most successful of the Central Asian countries, with its vast oil and minerals wealth.” The former Soviet Union broke up in 1991. What had until then been a vast area governed from Moscow, suddenly became a host of new countries of Central Asia opening up to the world. By the time Brummell took up his  post as British Ambassador to Turkmenistan, the country was already settling down to being independent.“I found the assignment a very interesting one, being able to be part of the process of engaging with these young countries and establishing their foreign policies, encouraging the countries towards democratic paths, also issues such as support for British companies, particularly in the oil and gas sector,” he said.  Turkmenistan is very rich in gas, Kajikstan in oil. In Turkmenistan, Brummell received a hearty welcome from a people with very strong traditions of hospitality and a nomadic history.“I was always being invited for tea, and a tea invitation often meant a meal”, – invariably meat-based.Brummell often enjoyed a meal of Turkmenistan plov, one of the great national dishes, similar to the pilau rice of South Asia, with meat and carrots, bread made in tamdyrs (clay ovens) and a variety of fruits, especially melon, the nationally recognised fruit. So much so, there is even a national melon day, with concerts featuring melon-related songs.Brummell readily threw himself into the life of the country. As he explained to the Weekend Nation: “I think you have to engage. Part of the role of a diplomat is engaging in communities on an individual basis and that is also part of the attraction of the job. I think everybody around the world is different and we have got to celebrate that difference.”For recreation in Turkmenistan he would head off to see the little explored cities of the old silk roads, including the city of Merv, once one of the most important cities of the Islamic world. The majority of Turkmans lived in rural communities where the British Embassy did a lot of development work. This inevitably took Brummell out and about in those communities.After three years as head of mission in Turkmenistan, he was transferred to Kajikistan,  and faced the immediate challenge of relocating the British Embassy. Again he found a “very welcoming people” in this new posting, the only hostility being in the “very long and very cold” winters with snow cover for seven months of the year. Brummell adapted.Fluent in Russian, Italian and French, he is now enjoying his first posting in an English-speaking country, and remarks on the vast difference between this and his Central Asia experience.“In less obvious terms, one big difference is the extent and history of the UK’s links with the region. In the case of Turkmenistan and Kajikistan, the  UK‘s relationship was new . . . the relationships with Central Asia were “extremely weak” during the Soviet period.“With Barbados, there is a huge depth in historical ties – the colonial period, shared language, shared values, a huge Barbadian diaspora community in the UK.”Because of such strong connections, and the more familiar lifestyle of “Little England”, Paul Brummell has already settled down to the job of further developing those links between Barbados and the UK.