20 July, 2011

My fourth month – looking back

It has been almost two months now since I last updated my blog.  In this time I have learnt that I miss writing and I love writing and it is very exciting to be writing again, but, finding the time to write is a huge challenge!  So, here’s my attempt to address this challenge, bring you up to speed with where I am now, what’s happened and how I’m spending my last few weeks.  

Incredibly, my time’s simply raced along but it’s been my most amazing journey, and I would not trade it for anything else in the world.  In this time I have also thought about why I’m here, why I chose to volunteer here, and how to capture this in a cohesive way in my blog.  With some help from an old journalist friend, I’ve also revisited (mentally anyway) why I started writing this blog in the first place.  I have been genuinely impressed with, and appreciative of, all those who have dedicated time to read them.  But I’ll come to these thoughts later.  

Seeing results – organisation profile and leaflet ...

First, I want to bring you up to speed with where I left off in May.  If I recall correctly, I fell rather ill (for the second time!) in the last week or so of May and found myself on antibiotics.  But that was the only downside.  With my work at IDEWES, there were three key achievements which I was immensely proud of, not due to my efforts alone but also due to the staff’s hard work, and in relation to these specific outputs the international volunteers Eyrun and Eli.  Thanks to these two, the organisational leaflet was completed and approved by some members of the board.  I finally sent it off for printing to a benevolent friend (whom I’m very grateful to) in London who offered to make 400 copies of in-house prints for us which we received via post three weeks later.   I also completed the organisational profile, and after a lot of pressure on my part the website is also finally up and running.  Thanks to both these outputs, I felt ready to approach funders with promotional materials.  

...and the biggest achievement – the filing system!

Finally, one of the biggest tasks - Eyrun completed work on the filing system as per the five week work plan we had put together.  All files were in place, folders weeded, renamed, sub-folders created, and a file map created and saved on the office PC.  Bearing in mind that staff are not particularly familiar with the PC and do not use it often, we made sure to print a hardcopy of the file map, organised alphabetically to make it easy for staff to locate files.  In addition, I guided Eyrun to develop training for staff on the use of the filing system and designated one local member of staff to be responsible for it.  I’ve mentioned before that Eyrun’s Icelandic, (only) 19 but very mature.  As we were developing the training, she confessed that she’d never done any ‘teaching’ or ‘spoken in front of people’ and that she was nervous delivering training.  I appreciated her honesty, and it also reminded me that she was really 19.  I helped her through it and she pulled it off pretty well!  The local staff were very receptive to it and seemed to grasp it quickly, and the person designated to be responsible for it is currently doing a remarkable job, one I’m very impressed with.  

To top it all off, the training took place on Eyrun’s last day at work. She was going off travelling around East Africa for a month and then heading back home to Iceland just in time for her sister’s wedding in July.  We threw a small party for her at work – there was a lot to eat and drink.  It was quite emotional, and reading her report which comprised of her achievements at work and her time at the organisation, I shed a tear or two.  I would miss her – she had been great support for me, a great work colleague, and a wonderful young friend to hang out with occasionally.  I was glad Eli would be here for another month at least, so I still had someone to hang out with.  In June, I would take a short holiday to the coast with Eli and I was really looking forward to it.  What with falling ill, et al, my body seemed to be screaming out to me that it could do with a break.  

All in all I felt I had ended the month with some key outputs – just in time to head off on a much deserved holiday in Mombasa and surrounding areas.