Sylvia's Journal

The global meeting is now behind me, and so is Uganda. It is a strange sensation to know that, after nearly 9 months of planning, this big task is now completed. We said our goodbyes after a most festive closing dinner and talent show.

The talent show surpassed my expectations. My efforts to rope in people simply by putting them on the program worked. Everyone rose to the challenge, as confidence rose during the meeting and the energy level went up. I saw how high and positive energy makes people more willing to take risks.

We had dance demos (Salsa, Ethiopian, Afghan, Ukrainian, shimmy), magic tricks, we had skits poking fun at ourselves, and, I believe, the first MSH project I know of in 26 years that has both a rap and an anthem. The latter was an adaptation of Gloria Estefan’s Reach, focused on medicines – meds within reach, sung beautifully by one of our new staff members, a young woman from Mozambique with help from some other great voices; and then everyone got into the act.

Sprinkled between the performances were paper plate awards. We had one for best eater, PowerPoint with the fewest words, most energetic participant in anything, best reporter, best photographer, best hat maker, most portable trophy and more. I received the ‘best herder of cats’ award. The paper plates were beautifully decorated by the chair and only member of the awards committee. We all had a good laugh and then danced into the evening.

It had been a moving last day, with the realization by many that the technical work of pharmaceutical management is incomplete without the self-reflection and self-awareness that have to produce the behaviors that make ownership and buy-in by local counterparts possible.

Saturday morning I joined many colleagues from Southern Africa. We left at 4 AM from the hotel to catch the 7:30 AM flight to Jo’burg. Four hours later we split into ever smaller groups: one went to Lesotho, another to Swaziland, a third to Mozambique, a fourth to Angola, a fifth to Namibia and a few of us by car to Pretoria.

I was dropped off at Katie and Josh for a braai with the participants of my new workshop, the one that starts tomorrow. But my mind was frazzled from not enough sleep and I did not retain any names. In the evening we went out to a wonderful restaurant (Kream) where we had ordered a series of exquisite starters that left me too full for the main dish and unable to even consider a dessert. I had steak tartare, crocodile Carpaccio, saffron scallops and more delicacies, accompanied by a wonderful wine of which I could only drink two small glasses before my eyes started to close spontaneously.

Pretoria winter weather is wonderful: blue skies, dry, clear air, cool at night and in the morning and evening and pleasantly warm during the day. Today Katie and Josh picked me up for a 90 minute Thai massage and pedicure, followed by a cappuccino in one of the many malls. The rest of the afternoon was for catching up on tasks that had been patiently waiting in my in box, and some writing.

And now onward to a workshop in which I have no organizing responsibilities – I am there as a participant, to listen and learn about how evaluators handle the challenges of measuring success in leadership and organizational development.