Life in Translation: Tanzania Part 2... the Course

We have taught our main course, The 10 Principles of Leadership in all different places, for a hugely diverse audience.  Everywhere it is taught, it has an impact.  And this time, in Shinyanga, TZ it was no different. 

This was the first time we had taught this course A) Outside of Uganda and B) In translation.  It was a new experience for sure!

We had over 50 people the first day.  Of course, throughout the week we lost a few, but overall we graduated just under 50 people!  We had a fantastic team that helped with music, a wonderful venue, good food, and a reliable sound system.

John Bahati, our translator (and trip hero!) did an incredible job.  He wrote summaries of each talk in Swahili, so that the participants could have some basic notes.  The participants were engaged and very ready to learn.  It was great to have a wonderful interaction with them, even though there was a language barrier. 

Because of translation, we made some small changes to the talks.  But we were able to do well and stick to the time we had.  I had asked that we have 6 days, in case translation was very slow. But we finished in 5... so the 6^th day was able to be a big party!  Wow, they can celebrate!  So much dancing, so many photos, and a ton of excitement!  Our courses usually end well, but this one ended fantastically!

Throughout the course there were various profound experiences and moments.  The time of footwashing, which shows Servant Leadership in action, was especially beautiful, there were so many people!  We had the 3 team members from Cornerstone Veritas, and then 3 men from different Christian denominations wash feet.  In Africa, there can sometimes be a lot of tension between different Christian groups.  This was such a beautiful moment of unity! 

The course was comprised of people from every Christian expression in Tanzania.  It was incredible.  We broke them into small groups, which met every day.  This was a time to process what they were learning.  These groups were totally mixed, and you could tell that people began to really loved each other and got to know each other by the end of the course.  What an incredible opportunity to build bridges. 

Several moments while teaching were very profound as well.  When teaching about Seek First to Understand, I was speaking about not trivializing pain.  I used a random man as an example, in the group.  I said to imagine that he had lost a child, and then proceeded to teach about how we should respond to someone who had experienced something truly challenging.  I didn’t know this man, or anything about his life.  Later on, one of the men whom we spent lunch with each day, told us that the man I had randomly chosen had actually lost 3 sons.  My using him as an example was actually a moment of healing for him, because I acknowledged the pain of that loss, and didn’t just brush it away.

At one point in the session “Resourcefulness”, I was talking about the fact that life is difficult.  When we believe this, and live embracing it, then we are able to not be so caught off guard when hard or challenging things come our way.   As I taught, you could see from the people’s faces, and the atmosphere in the room that people were really understanding and that, somehow, their perspectives were being changed.  Many of them nodded and were obviously agreeing and understanding how this reality can improve our lives.

And finally, we had 2 sharing at the end of the course, one from a woman and another from a man.  Both of them were breathtaking, and overwhelmingly beautiful.  The woman shared deeply about what she had been going through, and how what she had learned that week would enable her to change her own life and come out of the previous ways she had been living.  The man who shared talked about how learned about the idea of “Covenant Relationship” had inspired him to refresh and renew his relationship first with his wife, and then to invest more time with his children!  At the end of his sharing he said “At the beginning of the week, we were told that we had tool boxes, which were going to be filled with tools.  Mine is full, and I intend to start using them to improve my life and the life of my family.”

We talk about tool boxes in our course introduction.  That’s the best description I’ve been able to come up with.  The myriad of things which we teach throughout our course; Emotional Bank Account, Paradigm Shift, the problem solving line, Personal Weekly Schedules, how to write a Vision and Mission, Circle of Influence/Circle of Concern, Think Win Win, Listening skills in Seek First to Understand, how to become resourceful and creative, how to maintain balance... all of these and more are incredible tools.  Even if only 1, 2, or 3 are actually applied, they will make a tangible difference in the life of that person and in their community.

I can see the impact of what I teach, most of all on myself.  It is so beautiful to see my life change, and to see the glimmer in a participant’s eyes when they get it... when they realize that they can change, that there is hope, and that with a little creativity and perspective, they can do something worthwhile with their lives.  That is what our course is all about.  We empower people, and those people go and change their worlds.

This is why I work in Africa.

Next TZ Post... all of our crazy adventures while in Tanzania!  ...and photos!

The last episode...

Friday

I knew I needed to go into the office for a little while on Friday, but I took my time.  Like I said, mornings and I are not the best of friends.  And, it was Friday.  I headed into the office by 10:30 and delivered my friend’s anniversary gift.  He was excited, (as was his wife who I saw today... yah!).  My office was pretty focused that day, so I actually worked for a while from my desk with very little distraction, which is really rare.  Then Babu, one of the guys who works in Tanzania, and I had a meeting about the upcoming Tanzanian course the we have.  It was a great meeting.  Babu is awesome.   By 12:30 I was finished with everything office related I needed to do, and I wanted to eat lunch from home.  I had several tentative things in the evening, and having made a list of things to accomplish at home, I went back and worked from there.  I got a lot done, sent off my email update and worked on some of our manuals. 

None of my evening plans panned out...partly because I didn’t go to the BBQ I’d been invited to.  I was a little tired.  I spent the evening sitting on my living room floor (which is tiled) painting and watching Numbers.  Then at about 9 pm, I decided to watch an actual movie and watch “Limitless”. 

I also ate a lot of oreos.  They are my current kick.

So that’s a pretty productive week!  There are a lot of little things that aren’t detailed here, but over all it was a good week.  Saturday, I honestly spent most of the day laying around my house talking to my family and watching TV.  Then I went for dinner with friends and had one of the funniest conversations I’ve had in years.  Over Indian food, can’t get much better.  

A productive week, part 2....

Wednesday

Once again, I got up about 8 am.  I finally got out of bed when I heard my housekeeper knocking on the door.  I stumbled out of my room to let her in.  I don’t really do mornings...

We talked for a bit, both about what needed to be done that day, but also about life.  I had some extra time that morning, so I wrote emails and got organized for the day from home.  I usually dress professionally for work, and couldn’t decide which necklace to wear... thankfully Pheona (the housekeeper) was able to give me a good opinion.

I was excited on Wednesday.  While it would be a long day, it was scheduled to end with dinner with a long time friend from Europe!  I was excited to reconnect with someone I consider a mentor.  

I arrived at work right around 10 am, to find Frank ready and waiting for another day of work.  Right away, I sent Joshua (formerly an intern, now a junior staff member) to go and buy us receipt and accounting books.  By 10:20 we were all set up in the fellowship room, and started working.  (We don’t really have an office.  I have a desk I share with 3 people, but Cornerstone Veritas doesn’t have any designated space yet, so we use the fellowship room) 

Wednesday was Cornerstone Veritas finances.  Frank, our new staff member, was specifically brought onto our team to help with facilitating our course and managing our account.  I am not great with finances, and I needed some help to set up a usable system.  We did an overview of our 2012 budget, then all worked together on our projected budget for 2013.  It basically doubles our monthly expenditures!  We are growing really fast... not sure how we are going to pay for that growth.  

Then we did a dream budget.  If we could have any amount of money, how much would we have and what would we do with it.  This was a lot more fun than the boring yearly budget, and we were all laughing by the end of it.  At 12:30 we needed to leave, but it was lightly raining.  We decided to go in spite of getting a bit wet.  So 3 of us jumped on bodas, and went to mass.  It was the Feast of the Assumption.  We were crammed into the balcony with God only knows how many other people, but the mass was nice.  I had asked them to keep some lunch for us, so when we got back to the office we ate together.  

In the mean time our accounting books had arrived, so in the afternoon, Frank and I sat and discussed at lengths the type of system we wanted to set up.  Once we had finally come up with a good option, we went and presented it to David, Cornerstone Development’s financial controller.   He liked the plan.  I then taught Frank how to withdraw cash through our accounting system and we did our first voucher and put it into our new book.  I’m looking forward to seeing this successfully continue!  

Finally, about 4:30 we finished.  I sent Carol and Frank home, and stayed at the office to work on a few things.  Then I went to Nakumatt, a large department store, to buy light bulbs.  Can I comment that buying light bulbs is really stressful.  The last time I was there, there were no 40 watt bulbs that fit my fixture.  So I got a 60 watt, and it works.  But this time, there were only 40 watts!  Ugh!  So I bought 2 light bulbs, and when I later tried them at home only one of them worked.  And I almost broke the light fixture trying to get it in. Sigh.  Thankfully they are cheap.  I also bought a 10^th anniversary gift for 2 good friends in Cornerstone.

After light bulb shopping, I got a boda over to where I was meeting Martin.  I was an hour early, but that was planned.  There is a beautiful little coffee shop that I love in the same complex as the restaurant we were eating at.  I ordered a soda, and did some emailing and worked on a variety of things.  At 7 pm, I headed over to the restaurant and had a lovely (and super delicious) dinner with him.  We talked all about different dynamics in Africa and it was a lovely evening.

I live all the way across town from where we ate, and I took a boda home (I was using my helmet).  The driver, to avoid traffic, took me through a back part of town.  I know the area, but it was pretty deserted.  In a particularly dark, deserted stretch, the bike starts having trouble.  All my senses went on high alert.   

It was 9 pm, and it is dark by 7 pm here... in a dodgy part of town.  There was a bike repair shop that “just happened” to be right near where we broke down.  About 7 large, somewhat dubious men were outlined by the light coming from there shop.  I jumped off the bike and was ready to run at the drop of a hat.  The driver said that the clutch wasn’t working.  Another guy started a bike and came over.  After a slightly confusing negotiation I got on the other bike and left... very thankful to be safe. 

I got home, talked to the roommate a bit, watched some West Wing, and slept. 

Thursday

We didn’t have a work day planned for Thursday, and I had to organize some accommodation for the European team which was coming in.  I woke up and wasn’t feeling well.  Somehow I managed to get out of the house by about 9:45.  I jumped a taxi and boda to the first guest house on my list.  Upon reaching, I found it was booked for Sunday night.  The man directed me to a guest house which doesn’t advertise that was just around the corner.  I went, and the place was great.  I got all the info, and told the woman I’d get back to her.

Then I got another boda into town, to check out yet another hotel.  I got all the info, then put in a call to the UK.  I bought airtime on the way home and called Phil when I reached my apartment.  We talked for a while, getting things settled and arranged.  He asked me to do some other work for him, and I agreed.  I often work from home 1-2 days a week, and Thursday was a home work day.

I called taxi drivers, finalized with accommodation people, and organized some other things.  I then did a variety of other work throughout the day, and rested a bit because I was a bit tired. That evening I had invited a missionary couple over for dinner.  They work with AIM, African Inland Mission.  We originally met in Sudan, some years ago, and Linda, the wife in the couple and I have met several other times.  We had seen each other at a play the weekend before, and I’d invited them for dinner.

So about 4:30, I went shopping at the local fruit and veg stands for a variety of veggies and fruits to use in my dinner.  I rarely eat/cook meat.  It’s expensive.  And it’s not easy to find good meat.  Veggies are so cheap and good!  I found green beans, which made me happy because it meant I could make my Chinese noodle dish.  So I chopped, cooked and made jello.  We had a simple dinner... basically stir fry with lots of soy sauce cooked with spaghetti noodles.  Then we had jello and fruit salad for dessert.  The conversation was lovely, they got me talking passionately about what I do!  We had a great discourse on several issues, and it was nice time. 

After they left, I did dishes.  My housemate had left for Gulu for a week that morning, so the house was quiet.  I was online later, and connected with a friend who is in the army in Afganistan.  He and I had been meaning to skype , and we both had time.  We skyped until 1:30 am (my time)!  He is interested in going into International Development work, so I was giving him some perspectives and thoughts on the field.  Needless to say I went right to bed.  

one more tomorrow!

A promise is a promise...

I said that I would post what a "productive" week looks like in my life.

Of course the MOST productive weeks for me are the weeks like this coming one, where I am somewhere teaching the full, 10 Principles of Leadership Course.  But, being only human, I can't do that all the time.

From May-August I was mostly in Kampala... so this little over view of one snap shot of a week will give you an idea of what life looks like some of the time for me.  Hope it doesn't make your head spin!  I'll post it in a few sections, sorry it's so late! 

So I thought I would walk you through what a productive week looks like, just to try to give you a small view into my world.  Sorry if it’s uninteresting.  Also, note:  This week had a lot more evening activities than I usually have... it was a great people week!

Monday, August 13^th

I had written up a schedule on Sunday night, which is always helpful.  I use the 7 habits of highly effective people schedule that we teach in our course.  It’s great, because it’s priority based.  So armed with my schedule, I left my house earlier than usual.  Carol and I met at 9:00 in the common room in the Cornerstone Development office to work on next year’s internship program.  By 11:15 we were finishing up, just in time to attend our office fellowship.  Our fellowship is on Monday mornings at 11:30. Sarah Ojok, our executive director’s secretary (and very good friend), talked to us about the importance of caring for our physical bodies.  A lively and insightful conversation followed, where we discussed the importance of balance in our lives.  We then got weekly updates, and went for lunch.

After lunch I had arranged to meet with Kenneth, our Cornerstone Leadership Academy Boys Administrator.  He’s not the head master, but he’s 2^nd in command.  It was a work/friend meeting.  We went across the street and had milk shakes, enjoying the beautiful day.  We talked and shared all about what’s happening in life.  I told him about recruitment for our upcoming internship program, and filled him in on what Cornerstone Veritas is doing.  He is a stake holder in our work, and a wonderful friend.  I also was able to get photos from him from Bernard’s project, which he had used the school’s camera to take.  

After we met, I sat at my desk and worked... I am also sure I ran around a bit trying to catch different people and arrange everything from finances to upcoming events.   I sat in my office until about 6 pm, responding to emails and writing various things like internship intro letters and letters to the ministry of education.

I also was coordinating that evening’s activities throughout the day.  Monday nights we have a fellowship for expat workers, in the basement of my office.  We hadn’t met in a while, so I had offered to organize a game night.  Throughout the day, with the help of my friend Mary, had organize pizza, games and communicate with people that it was happening.

By 6:30 pm I was laying on the couches downstairs, waiting for pizza to arrive, exhausted from the day... but in a good way.  The pizza arrived, and I paid (You get paid back by the people who eat)... people started trickling in and I talked with friends for a while.  We ate around 7, and just talked for a while.  One of the people didn’t really want to play games, but the rest of us were pretty up for them.  We found a game that all of us were ok with, telephone pictioner.  If you haven’t played this game, you must.  It was a very good laugh and we all enjoyed.

By the time we finished it was close to 9 pm.  A group of us stood in indecision about whether or not to start a game of Settlers of Catan.  Eventually, it was decided that we would not.  In a strange moment of realization, it was discovered that I may not see some of the guys who attend our group again!  Their schedules are pretty crazy, as is mine, over the next few months so we might not connect again.  They leave the country in December for good. The expat community is very transient.  

I called my boda (motorcycle taxi) and rode quietly home.  My roommate, Hannah, we around so we chatted briefly about our days.  She headed to bed, and I got creative and put together a small birthday gift for her, which I left out on the table for her to see the next morning.

Tuesday:

Hannah gets up a lot earlier than I do, so by the time I rolled out of bed (at about 8) she had already left.  A small note was on the table, thanking me for the birthday gift.   I took my time and got ready for the day.  I needed to be to work by 10 am to meet my team.  I decided to go in a bit early to get some things done before we started our work day.   

When I arrived, Frank Drake, our new staff member, was already waiting for me at the office.  I showed him into our fellowship room, from where we’d be working for the day.  I ran around, doing a million different things to prep for the day, then finally settled around 10:15,  I taught Frank about how we do weekly and monthly schedules and explained what was expected of him.  Once Carol had arrived, we ordered breakfast, and got to work.  

We were planning for Tanzania that day.  This meant deciding who was giving which talks and, because of translation, what parts of the talk we were going to cut.  Frank will not be travelling to Tanzania, but it was important that he starts to learn how we organize for courses.  We worked hard, and took a break at lunch.  We came back together at about 2 pm and finished up.  I had a meeting with Tim at 3 pm, and 

Carol stayed to work on developing the Primary School Program, which is a big new part of her job. 

At 3 pm I went to see Tim.  Tim is our executive director, and a mentor to everyone in Cornerstone Development.  I had compiled a list, and Tim was in the mood to chat, so we spent an hour talking about many different things.  An hour with Tim is a great thing.  He has wonderful perspective, and deep thoughts to share.  I enjoy learning from him.  

After my meeting, I organized myself, and headed home.  It was a hard choice whether to stay around where I work, or to go home... because I had a dinner just down the street from my office at 7:30.  But I decided to head home, which was good.  I ended up doing work at home right until 7 pm, and then left with my housemate for her birthday dinner.  I didn’t know any of the people at the dinner.  It was a very diverse group!  I enjoyed some good gnocchi and conversation, but headed out by 10 pm because I was getting a bit tired.

For some unknown reason, when I got home I caught a 2^nd wind.  I ended up working until 12:30 on my most recent email update.  I don’t know why, but sometimes that happens!  I went to be, contented that we had accomplished much that day and that my housemate’s birthday had been well celebrated.

Part 2 will be posted tomorrow... :)