Sylvia's Journal

We are preparing for a conference during which we want to showcase the leadership program and the results of a study that seems to indicate some link between our leadership development program and improved coverage of one or another of the priority health services.

Presenting the results in house triggered a heated response from my colleagues – suddenly, after a long period of non interest everyone had an opinion. I had to bite my tongue at times. I took down notes of everything people thought wrong and will use it as part of our preparation for the more public sharing. I am glad I am not a researcher – I have seen similar reactions when other studies were presented. Maybe you have to hang out in academia to be immune to such reactions.

We are starting to prepare for the second workshop of the leadership program with the midwives. It is about six months behind schedule, for a variety of reasons, and falls during the last days of my upcoming trip to India. And so I will this time not sit in the back and coach/advise M and S who are the rookie facilitators – they will thus be thrown into the deep. I am working with them over the next few days to make sure they will do well – I know they can.

There was another explosion, a bomb thrown into a government office not far from our office at the Demazhang traffic circle at the end of our road. It was a minor thing compared to the spectacular Intercon attack but no less worrisome; I didn’t even hear it, just noticed people busy on cell phones responding to worried inquiries or re-assuring family members.

I delivered a small suitcase to a colleague who is travelling back to the US tomorrow and graciously offered to take stuff back to Axel, some clothes and books. I have another pack waiting for the next traveler. The rest will have to wait until our container ships back in the fall.