The Sudan - 2

Well it would appear that man and mosquito can live together in harmony.
With the aircon on and shutters shut, you have no idea as you wake up what the weather might be like outside. You can, however, take a pretty good guess that its very hot and dusty.
I am scheduled today with a "workplan" - not of my making, but of the people who are organising the event here. They want me to be sure that all is in order with the preparations for our week long workshop starting on Sunday.

In the lead up to coming here I have been inundated with papers and programmes as background and preparitory material. This is a big deal, by anyones standards. This is literally, life or death. As i read the local newspaper over a breakfast of things that i can peel, I see that all the articles are about the rebuilding of Sudan - but not about rebuilding as part of its economic growth strategy as we might read about in the south east of England - This is far more fundamental - creating peace and reducing poverty. Im not here to help with the peace bit, but i am here in the thick of poverty reduction. Paradoxically this makes me feel "rich" in a non-financial sort of way.
And this is big in the sort of way that ministries and governments are involved, and it is planned that i hve to go and meet some of these people. There are so many acronyms and organisations and agencies involved that im a bit confused as to who im seeing or why, but im happy to do whatever my hosts feel fit and im ready to go where-ever my driver takes me. He doesnt speak much English (and i still dont even know how to say hello in Sudanese) so im in his hands. I note with interest that he sprays something into the center consol storage compartment before we set off... mosquito repellent? air freshener? chloroform?

White taxis are gleaming, but the yellow ones are a masterpiece of "good enough", revived from frequent previous bumps and bashes, hand beaten back into shape. Plenty good enough with the angle-grinder skids across wrinkled bodywork. The more loved ones have cracked bodyfiller bulging out (how do they get so much damage on the roofs of their cars?) and yellow over-spray on rusty bumpers and balding tyres. There are a lot of white wall tyres here too - most of them peeling off the main tyre to look like cars driving on inverted dinner plates
It appears that one method of deterring other drivers from coming too close is to fit shiney hubcaps that stick out about 6 inches from the wheel with what looks like the spikes from the wheels of boadiceas chariot

I wasnt sure on how to dress for the occasion, so i went for what im comfortable in (and thats all ive bought with me) but to make an impression i did wear a suit jacket. I was worried that at 40 deg Centigrade, Id be sweating like a pig, but i have to say, that whilst it is indeed terribly hot, its not as humid as say Taiwan or India, and so a jacket is not impossible to wear.

I am taken to CCU (central coordination unit for IFAD funded project in the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry). The director proudly shows me the list of materials that he is assembling for the workshop - i nod approvingly and politely decline a cup of tea.
and then i am taken to see the workshop venue in the ABS (Agricultural Bank of the Sudan).
Every one is so polite and keen that i am keen. "As long as you are happy, then we are happy". Well this should all work out swimmingly then.
The workshop venue is plenty big enough, but not ideal. It is almost identical to the room we had to work with at IITM (Indian Institute of Technology in Madras) - a conference auditorium with a fixed layout of lecture type seating and intercoms on fixed benches. it would be a perfect venue for a signing of a peace treaty.
Under normal circumstances (but im starting to question what normal is now) id have encouraged people to find a different venue, one with lots of open space where people can be more free in how they move or where they sit, one where they can cluster with different people and have space for creative expression. However in this circumstance, I primarily wanted to give these great people my approval, for which they seemed delighted.
In the car back to my hotel, I wondered about what is the best environment for this workshop. I know what i would like.... but what about what these people would like? what about the delegates? Who am i, a comparitively wealthy, privilaged and relaxed Englishman, to say that this isnt the best space for the job? Maybe this is just the right space for these people. maybe it gives them the formality they need or expect for such an important event. Maybe they dont have the luxury of clear open spaces. Maybe they do their creativity in a very different way to me. Maybe i shouldnt expect them to shift thier working practices toward mine, but i should shift my working practices toward thiers ("There is no such thing as a difficult audience, only inflexible facilitators")
I worked with another facilitator once who created what i thought was too much of a fuss about a room not being ideal for the job of a creative workshop - and i believe that negative energy was transfered to the audience and room itself. It will be my job to make this room work... thats what makes me the professional thats been hired to do the job

Within an hour i am back in my dark aricon'd hotel room. Id better get on with making my agenda look like the work of a professional