The time has come to look back over my time in Sierra Leone and how the whole experience has changed me, believe me I am not the same person who left. It reminds me of my three years back in University in 2003-06 when subtle changes took place throughout the course. I came out of that a stronger and more resilient person with heightened self awareness and I think the same can said of the last 21 months.
I'm tweaking (once again) my CV which is highlighting the professional changes. So, let's start there and work towards the touchy feely stuff in the next few posts. What new skills have been added to the skills and achievements list?
Facilitation
The VSO training covered facilitation skills and I used them far more than I anticipated. I thought in my more technical role this wouldn't be needed. Little did I know that the Ministry would love having me present at various workshops and the VSO country office provided their fair share of opportunities too.
Thinking on my feet
When facilitating for the Ministry I often turned up to the workshops presuming I was a recipient to be told that I was a presenter. Quick thinking was required and my ability to stand up and present on a subject I'm not too qualified in or have had no briefing on has been honed.
Training
In my task of building capacity in local staff training played a large part. My preference is one on one meeting the specific needs of the trainee but I also ran group training sessions. The lessons I learnt were that nothing can be repeated too often, assume zero knowledge and talk slowly so that you are understood. The last one is hard especially when I am fired up by the topic
More in the next post. I think that's enough for now - another learning - short posts with a picture are more likely to be read.
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