The journey back to Sigli was good. I think we are getting more accustomed to the curves, cows and chaos of the trip. There is a wonderful chip stand that we stop at that has eggplant chips and potato chips. There is also an amazing local chip that is made...they are so delicious I will bring some home. We stopped to see some elephants. I was this close to getting on one but realized it would have slowed the convoy down. Drats. Maybe next time. We were travelling up with another van of FCM volunteers. That group is working on supporting the municipal government here. We share the house with them too.
The library staff were all set for us yesterday morning. We went through some basics of strategic planning and visioning with them. We had found out over the weekend that two of the staff had gone through this process with another FCM workshop so they were well primed for our discussions. (Sorry Ruth - this may be another five minutes you don't get back!).
Yesterday afternoon we talked with the staff some more. We were amazed to find out that they had wifi in the library. It is one of those situations where unless you ask the right questions you don't know what you will find out. They had mentioned that they get visitors to the library and when we asked what the visitors do...we were told about the wifi. We checked the connection out today but it was pretty slow and we were unable to show the TPL website as we had hoped.
It is such a different work flow here, The staff typically work just a few hours a day, from 9-11:30...even though the posted library hours are from 9-2:00. When we asked about that we didn't really get an answer. Prayers are at set time throughout the day and most activities stop for prayers. We also awake to prayers every morning at 5:30 a.m. It makes me think a lot about Khartoum and the time I spent there.
We took it as a very positive step when the staff agreed to meet with us in the afternoons, after prayer.
Today we gave a presentation on Canadian libraries. We were a little bit nervous about how it might go, knowing that libraries at home have quite a different look and feel from the Sigli library. We had a powerpoint presentation and set it all up in one of the offices. It went really well. The staff focused on all of the positive differences....lots of light, welcoming surroundings and the set spaces for children, youth and adults.
They had some questions about how things are set up in Toronto and were pleased and surprised to hear that TPL had a woman at the head of it.
This afternoon we return and will talk about getting some benchmarks in place and deciding on what tasks need to get accomplished between this trip and the next one. We only have a few more meetings with them and then we learn how it works to be moving the objectives forward from afar.
I cooked lunch for us today....made from a hodge podge of ingredients that were around the house. This afternoon (after our work session) I am going to the market to get food for our dinner. We have a cook who looks after us very well. She keeps our rooms spotless and also does our laundry. I will miss it all when I get back home.
I am trying to learn a little Bahasa Indonesia (the local language) each day. I am finding that the people we meet speak a little English and when I try to speak their language I get more English from them. There is also a little bit of Arabic that sneaks through so that is good too.
All for now,
Dawna.
The library staff were all set for us yesterday morning. We went through some basics of strategic planning and visioning with them. We had found out over the weekend that two of the staff had gone through this process with another FCM workshop so they were well primed for our discussions. (Sorry Ruth - this may be another five minutes you don't get back!).
Yesterday afternoon we talked with the staff some more. We were amazed to find out that they had wifi in the library. It is one of those situations where unless you ask the right questions you don't know what you will find out. They had mentioned that they get visitors to the library and when we asked what the visitors do...we were told about the wifi. We checked the connection out today but it was pretty slow and we were unable to show the TPL website as we had hoped.
It is such a different work flow here, The staff typically work just a few hours a day, from 9-11:30...even though the posted library hours are from 9-2:00. When we asked about that we didn't really get an answer. Prayers are at set time throughout the day and most activities stop for prayers. We also awake to prayers every morning at 5:30 a.m. It makes me think a lot about Khartoum and the time I spent there.
We took it as a very positive step when the staff agreed to meet with us in the afternoons, after prayer.
Today we gave a presentation on Canadian libraries. We were a little bit nervous about how it might go, knowing that libraries at home have quite a different look and feel from the Sigli library. We had a powerpoint presentation and set it all up in one of the offices. It went really well. The staff focused on all of the positive differences....lots of light, welcoming surroundings and the set spaces for children, youth and adults.
They had some questions about how things are set up in Toronto and were pleased and surprised to hear that TPL had a woman at the head of it.
This afternoon we return and will talk about getting some benchmarks in place and deciding on what tasks need to get accomplished between this trip and the next one. We only have a few more meetings with them and then we learn how it works to be moving the objectives forward from afar.
I cooked lunch for us today....made from a hodge podge of ingredients that were around the house. This afternoon (after our work session) I am going to the market to get food for our dinner. We have a cook who looks after us very well. She keeps our rooms spotless and also does our laundry. I will miss it all when I get back home.
I am trying to learn a little Bahasa Indonesia (the local language) each day. I am finding that the people we meet speak a little English and when I try to speak their language I get more English from them. There is also a little bit of Arabic that sneaks through so that is good too.
All for now,
Dawna.
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