Sylvia's Journal

We completed the second day of our three day workshop yesterday and some things are starting to come into focus – which is exactly the idea as this workshop is about focusing. I was able to hold on to my voice although I am starting to sound like a frog. I continue to drink liters of water, warm water with honey and lime. It seems to work, maybe even better than the medicine I don’t recognize.

We talked a lot about the elements that make or break a good work climate, which, not surprisingly, inserted a lot of energy in the group. It’s a near universal conversation that could be held, more or less about the same topics. The tendency, here and elsewhere, is to look for solutions in rules and procedures, better understanding of them and enforcement. They are technical solutions to adaptive problems and, I am sure, none of them will produce what they are really seeking – others to change their behavior so that we can all be happy.

I am reading, in the empty moments, Kegan and Lahey’s formidable book about Immunity to Change. It appeals to me as a psychologist and a facilitator of change processes. It helps me see more keenly where we engage in wishful thinking and where change may really be possible.

In the evening our small MSH team was invited at the house of a long time friend and mentee from Guinee who has lived and worked here for 8 years. He built a house on a house lot that was given to him as part of some important celebration here in Burkina Faso, five years ago which turned out to be a great investment. It seems that people who invested in land and houses did better than those who put their money in banks. He certainly has done well.

The talk about land and houses led to my query about the country in West Africa (or even Africa for that matter) where each of them would prefer to live if they’d have a choice. Considerations of quality of life, political context and environment entered into the calculations. To my surprise none of them said Burkina Faso and I understood that all believe that sooner or later this place will explode in a presidential crisis and as a result of poor management of government-opposition conflicts. When I asked whether this would be an internal affair I was told by all that no conflicts in Africa are internal affairs only. And here I thought that Burkina Faso was this peaceful, sleepy place.

As if to underline this condition I received from our International SOS Security Advisories an automated message this morning that explosions in Ouagadougou destroyed some 30 houses yesterday. The Laarle area of the capital is cordoned off for further investigation by police and security forces. I checked on the international and then local news but there is no mention of this; international is all about the same as it has been the last few days: Gaza, Ukraine and Germany winning the world cup. The local news has a talk show about values. A search on the internet on ‘explosion’ and Ouagadougou’ turns up that there is an explosion in the number of internet cafes in Ouagadougou while the connections remain poor. Indeed, I can’t find anything else as further queries tell me the pages cannot load.

In the meantime the virus attacking my larynx seems to have given up and has morphed into a regular common cold, hopefully losing steam in the next 24 hours. It must have been the honey. I am grateful to the local bees who have come to my aid and put the aggressive virus in its place.