Yearning for your SALTy opinions on this

[Autry Haynes]

Yesterday I met an enthusiastic Educator who was involved in a Schools Nutrition enhancement project amied at stimulating greater attendance at schools and better performance of students in the hinterland of Guyana. This was her last day of the project after five years. Being SALTy I asked " So what is one memorable moment  of your sojourn, you would like to share?" Smiling she said there are several and began to share very interesting learning experiences, for example in the dark of one night the team had to cross a bridge, walking for five minutes, that was waist high with water due to flash flooding, but the one that has significant meaning is this. Probably my first focus group discussion with adults of a hinterland commun ity. 'i was fully engaged, aking the questions as predetermined to stimlate the audience and get response." There was very little response from the audience then a young lady said "Excuse me, can i make acomment?" She went on "The people do notunderstand you since they are not that fluent in english language, can I translate for you?" The educator response "I never felt such embarrassement." Laughing now she says "I really learn from that experience, I felt small, at the beginning I was feeling really confident of what I was about to do."

 

Laughing together I said I have had my share of experiences as well, working as a facilitator in the hinterland regions. I wanted to share one about my first experience in Suriname (^_^). What are your thoughts fellow SALTy Facilitators?

[Autry Haynes]

Many thanks Marijo for sharing your experience. It surely serves to inspire US, what a unique privilege we have to strengthen our colleagues. Sometime ago as peers we had a healthy discussion about when we release our energies to strengthen others (communities we work with) we feel drained and re-energizing ourselves is vital for our efforts to be continued and these small opportunities offer that re-energizing moment, THANK YOU and all others for your inspiration (^_^)

Autry

[MariJo]

Hi, Autry. It is funny how much we give from granted when relating to others. I can still feel the heat in my cheeks from that same embarrassment when I think in many of my experiences when facilitating HIV positive women's groups. Assuming that we all feel the same way, or that we have the same skills, or even that we are looking for the same things when we meet together around a common issue seemed natural to me at that time, until I started to listen to what others had to say and discovered the enormous richness of acknowledging difference. And how very much I could learn about myself just by opening up to those other realities!
Best