Sylvia's Journal

I have been in South Africa for a little over 48 hours and the end of my time here is already coming into view. I spent two days in the MSH Pretoria office where I got to greet friends and colleagues and start putting the final touches on the strategic planning workshop design. It helps when you are familiar with the main players and the context and when there are kindred souls around to help with the task.

Two headquarter colleagues joined from the Washington office and we are ready to roll with the workshop just 9 hours (a good night sleep) away. Today was rather festive in the office because it was Mandela Day. I have never sung happy birthday to Nelson Mandela and so today was a first as I joined the entire office staff in the birthday song.

Nelson Mandela is a little bit like Saint Nicholas – his birthday is a day of altruism and giving to others. For the 67 years of his struggle for the liberation of South Africa from the yoke of Apartheid, his fellow citizens are asked to devote 67 minutes to giving back to the community.

Our office staff fanned out over the greater Pretoria area, to clinics and orphanages, carrying boxes of clothes, blankets, toys, food.  I had wanted to come along but it was my last day of preparations and I needed every minute I had and some critical consultations with people staying put. People came back inspired. Their experience put their complaints and discomfort in perspective – they were reminded of how easy their lives were compared to the orphans and street kids they visited.

At the end of the day the MSH country representative presented the results of a series of consultations and several meetings with key staff, in Accra and last month in Addis. The resulting Strategic Road Map is to be our blue print for the next 5 years. It was interesting, as a headquarter person, to watch the roll out in a field office – several of the staff had participated in this or that event leading up to the final road map.

Afterwards (these presentations were apparently happening around the world) staff were encouraged to celebrate the achievements of the long strategic planning process and toast to our collective good health, good fortune and good works. And so I had my first glass of South African wine on this trip and toasted along with everyone else.

The team whose deliberations I am facilitating is coming tomorrow to the conference center that is near the Jo’burg airport. I decided to go ahead, check out the room, and prepare the materials and have a good night sleep. As we drove up to the gigantic conference complex it felt more like arriving at a prison: white washed walls as far as the eye could see, and when turning a corner more of that, with razor wire on top. I was told the place can accommodate more than 10 large conferences and I presume thousands of guests. The enormous parking lots and Disney-esque entry lanes (five, side by side) to the property seem to confirm that we are here with a cast of thousands.