#conferencewithadifference

Posted by: Helen


After 10 years of working in separate places, Dan and I now have the odd experience of sometimes working together, on VSO projects.  At first it was so strange to see each other in a professional setting (how do at-work couples manage it?!) but these days, as it’s only now and again, it can work quite well...

My colleague and I.  He's called Dan.

It worked well back in February, when we joined a team to organise a 3-day conference for the many Kenyan Development organisations that partner with VSO.  The word 'conference' should not fool you; some are dull and uneventful, but I can give you four reasons why this one was anything but...

1. Our organising committee was given just 3 weeks notice to stage an event for 80 people
2. The people who attended were from all over the world; half the delegates were Kenyan, and half international VSO volunteers
3. The speakers were incredible; they spoke of challenges so different to any we face back home
4. We went on safari afterwards…

Three weeks notice

Cleverly drafting in enthusiastic volunteers who had time to spare (or not!), the VSO Kenya office tasked a handful of us with arranging the conference. With three weeks to go, there was a budget, one VSO staff member and a provisional booking in Nakuru town, 3 hours north of Nairobi.  But we had no theme, no agenda, no speakers and no attendee list.  I decided not to be worried.  Here in Kenya, things always find a way…

Those of us on the organising committee had a number of strategies in order to pull a conference out of thin air.  Employing different skills to meet this tall challenge, we succeeded in: co-opting well-networked people onto the committee, calling in favours and stretching the budget.  My superpower was different: I used the unique force of stealing ideas I've seen work before.  Having been involved in conferences and training in the UK, I pulled out a few old favourites for the unsuspecting, international crowd…. but how would they go down in Kenya?

Speed Dating

Only the Europeans in the room had even heard of speed dating: the event to meet many potential dates, and fast.  Here we used it as an alternative to traditional introductions; in 20 minutes, everyone met 10 people for 2 minute-conversations.  I was warned this may not work in a society where ‘meetings’ and ‘brevity’ never go hand-in-hand but most folks got stuck into this exercise with great energy - the noise in the room was deafening!  Some people had to be dragged away from their ‘dates’ when time was up, so maybe a few beautiful friendships were started after all…

An 'Open Space' event

An idea stolen directly from my previous organisation:  these are flexible workshop sessions that run concurrently, covering many different themes around a central concern.  In each of our two, hour-long sessions, attendees had to choose between the 4 discussions running at once:

(this list comes with a warning about development jargon...)

·         Organisational Development

·         Microfinance

·         Advocacy

·         Gender

·         Governance and board management

·         Mainstreaming

·         Kenyan Devolution

·         Climate Change

With a mix of volunteers and external facilitators running the discussions, many sessions got a really good review, despite  most people being unused to the flexible, informal style.  Some people commented that there were just too many workshops, and they felt they were missing out – we took that as sign of the high quality of most sessions!



Our speakers were amazing…

Working in development is tough: alleviating poverty is so very difficult as the challenges are enormous.  The organising team agreed that it was important to share some success stories, and remind us all what we are aiming for.  We invited a few people whose lives had been changed for the bettr, through the intervention of Kenyan development organizations.  They spoke with honesty and humour as they recounted painful times in their lives, and the hope they all share for their futures.  There were not many dry eyes in the room.

Zach is the only blind student at Nairobi University.  His mother and father did not receive much education, and hopes were not high when little Zachia was born blind.  Disability is traditionally seen in Kenya as a curse, and every child with a disability is vulnerable to abuse and neglect.  But with his family’s encouragement, his own determination and charisma and the help of (another, not my) Kenyan organisation for the blind, he is studying for a degree in computer studies.  He is the first generation of blind Kenyans to benefit from the assistive technology that puts him at no disadvantage to his classmates.  I was lucky enough to spend an evening with Zach and his family when he received the Youth Ability Award from Kenya’s National Council for Persons with Disabilities; several of us VSOs assisted another at this inaugural event celebrating great achievement from and for Kenyans with disabilities.  Through this and many other initiatives, the lively (and sadly fractured) disability movement in Kenya is taking small steps towards challenging traditional views on those with disability.

Bernadette is from the Il Ngwesi community in Kenyan’s Central highlands (See previous blogpost on Il Ngewsi’s not-for-profit lodge we visited in March).  A beadwork project run by our friend and fellow VSO Sally Renshaw is changing the lives of Maasai women like Bernadette, who live in remote villages far from roads.  By linking these women with new markets, and guiding them to make what will sell, they can increase their income to benefit their families (Sally introduces new product lines that tourists and the white community want to buy: she tells a story about explaining what salad tongs are to the Il Ngwesi women.  First you have to introduce the concept of tossed salad.  Tricky).  Bernadette spoke of the unintended benefits of this now burgeoning livelihood, how (unusually for Maasai culture) the women have now earned new respect from the men, and now have representation within the community leadership.  At first she was too shy to speak in front of everyone, but soon she was talking so passionately she couldn't be stopped! Find out more about how beads change lives here.

Evelyn (right) with her colleague translating her story

Evelyn is no older than me.  She comes from Western Kenya, home of the Luo tribe (who proudly count the late Barack Obama Senior as kin).  Her story starts when her husband died, and she refused to become an inherited woman.  In Luo culture, property is paramount, and this extends to wives.  Because she suspected her husband had died of AIDS,  she refused to be ‘inherited’ by her late husband’s brother – to join another marriage and submit to ’conjugal rights’ would be risky for everyone.  Refusing to stay within her husband’s family meant she had no land of her own, and she and her two children were kicked out.  It was a very tough time for her, and she relied on the kindness of strangers.  But Evelyn has benefitted from a new arbitration process pioneered by a Kenyan NGO called KELIN, which recognizes that communities in Nyanza Province are hit hardest by HIV, but also don’t respect the rule of law as it’s decided in Nairobi.  This process instead uses the local community structures in order to right the wrongs that occur when families are affected by HIV.  Local leaders were involved in negotiating for Evelyn to receive some land from her late husband’s family.  She now lives in a small house with her children on the land, and runs and fruit and vegetable business.

Our last speaker was paraolympic hero, and Kenyan national celebrity, Henry Wanyioke.  Henry is a gold-medal winning, world record holding long-distance runner, and he's blind.  Much love to our friend and VSO Monica Jako for pulling in a few favours to make this happen.  Dan wrote about his speech a few weeks ago, but I wanted to share a picture of the great man meeting myself and our KUB representative, board member Peter (in the middle).  It was really special and Henry was such a nice guy.

You’re never far from adventure in Kenya…

Having a boogie

Myself, Dan and a few other VSO volunteers had worked hard for three days making the agenda happen, and trying to make it all run as smoothly as possible.  As the event ended in the inevitable Kenyan sing-song/dance break (LOVE!) we started to realize that it had been really enjoyed and appreciated by the delegates, and the whole thing had gone very well considering the 3 week timescale.  We were tired out, but the fun wasn’t over yet.  After no other conference in my life have I been able to scoop up the feedback forms and go on safari, but when in Kenya…

The town of Nakuru is at the top end of Lake Nakuru National Park, so it seemed rude not to visit.  Borrowing a car from a friend-of-a-friend, Allys, Eddie and I headed into the park on Saturday with Dan at the wheel.  It was super fun to be on a self-drive safari with mates.  Staying for one night in the park, at a little cottage that reminded us of a National Trust property, we admired the scenery, drank gin and saw a lot of monkey penises. 

A few highlights of note:

• A massive baboon interrupting our sundowners, drinking my vodka and coke and then going on a drunken rampage through the car park (the viewpoint was called Baboon’s Cliff, so we had fair warning)
• Surprising a mama rhino and her calf about 100 metres from the cottage, in the first 30 seconds of our dawn game drive.  Not expecting to see rhinos all morning – there they suddenly were, amongst the mist in the first rays of light. Wonderful.

Check out our picasa slideshow below, click on it to go at your own pace...

A job well done

Back in Nairobi, I collated the feedback forms.  A staggering 96% of respondents thought the event was Good or Excellent, people just loved that it was active and participatory, in contrast to the usual static sessions that are so common here.  I came away from the experience feeling glad we’d all pitched in; it felt so good to work as part of a focused team for a few weeks, working alongside friends, and with Dan. Most experiences we have here I would struggle to repeat, and I think this conference was no exception.

 

 

 

Special thanks go to: the wonderful Stella Karanja from VSO Jitolee; everyone we called on to help at the conference (you know who you are); Benson for the car; Nicole for the cottage recommendation and for taking some of the pics in this post; Eddie and Allys for planning our little adventure, and Dan for getting behind the wheel with his fear of Kenyan roads well hidden.