Sylvia's Journal

A night full of dreams that were dense and a bit somber. I think they were that way because I am a little bit anxious about today. It is all one big experiment yet I am supposed to know what I am doing. I do in some ways and I don’t in others. I have no idea how well our hosts today are prepared for this unusual kind of visit, a learning visit rather than an inspection visit. There is no model for this. People understand it intellectually but will they get it in the heat of the moment? I will be going to a small NGO called Lumière Action with only two other people. We have asked to accompany some of their field workers. More about that tomorrow.

I stayed up late last night in the hotel’s lounge because that’s where I can get the wireless, not in my room. It is already more than I had expected so I am grateful for this service that would have been inconceivable when I was last in Cote d’Ivoire, 15 years ago; especially in a three star hotel outside the capital city.

I was alone in the lobby lounge that is made to look like a living room with a large plasma TV that is permanently on, showing one American movie after another, with mouths that speak English while the words come out French. The films are of the action type genre that I can only tolerate when doing something else or on a plane with the sound turned off. When it gets really late the X-Files come on; also dubbed in French. The only other person watching was the receptionist. I suppose it is one way to pass the lonely evening in the empty lobby.

A small gadget mounted on the wall puffs out, at set intervals, a tiny cloud of some chemical compound meant to make the room smell ‘fresh.’ The smell is strong and overpowering, especially since the thing puffs rather frequently. I believe these gadgets are meant for bathrooms, but here someone had a bright idea. This morning I discover the same gadget is mounted on the wall of our conference room. It makes a soft squeaky sound each time it releases a puff; it continues to catch me by surprise, and then I remember.

We started the workshop in a rather tentative way. Only one third of the invited members and their alternates were in the room at the appointed time after lunch. Right there we had the entire ‘problematique’ of a voluntary body before our eyes; if you want to test it, start on a Sunday afternoon, during school vacation, in a place 40 km away on a congested road that makes the distance appear twice as long. It is actually amazing that we had about half the people in the room by the time we ended the day, and all but 5 at night time.

Launching a workshop is like taking a plane up into the air. You have to get to a certain speed and get the weight and balances organized right. You can calculate much of this in advance (and you should); you have to trim the plane just right, all the while watching the various instruments that provide information you need to take into account. And then there are those things you cannot change such as wind and temperature but you better be prepared to adjust your wings.

That is exactly what we did. Oumar and I were well prepared and we adjusted our program when it became clear it needed adjustments, given who had shown up, or rather how many had not. Oumar, in his masterful way, used the example of this adjustment to teach our local counterparts a few lessons about leadership on the fly.

One of the members of the CCM was also a student in the last of MSH’s publicly offered leadership course that I taught in Dakar in 2001 with Bula-Bula from the DRC, one of Francophone Africa’s all time master trainers. We co-facilitated many workshops in the 1990s. But Bula did not take good care of himself (leadership lesson #1: Stay alive!) and died of a heart attack quite suddenly and much too early. I sometimes think that Oumar channels Bula.

For dinner we went to the same place as yesterday but this time with an order placed ahead of time; it was waiting for us on the table. Back at the hotel, close to 10 PM, we found our local counterparts fully engaged in practicing their session of tomorrow, as we had suggested. I realized that I had overestimated the skill level of at least one so the practice was important. We spent the next hour coaching, practicing, more coaching and slipping in a few tidbits about adult education that were missing. I am encouraged by their engagement and enthusiasm. This includes Flore the local MSH admin assistant who is giddy with excitement about her good luck to be allowed to attend the workshop. I think I see a budding facilitator and coach. While Oumar and I were having dinner she replaced us, without being asked, as audience for our practicing colleagues. She gave them feedback and support that was much appreciated and very perceptive. Sometimes talent hides in surprising places.