Week 3

Work is getting more and more defined each day. What I am working on now is, with a “task team” for “communication” we will try to analyse where the problems lie. We will gather information about “what” we want to communicate, to then go further and see “how” this is now being done and if this is happening effectively, correctly, uniformly, and probably a couple other factors, depending on whether it is applicable. The first part is “internal communication”. But within that there is a whole lot of (mis)communication going on so feedback on what is going wrong and what is most important needs to be gathered. Every time there is a team meeting with the communications team it seems we achieve so much and discuss so many issues! Figuring out what will go in my attachment report under the topic: “link to the communication course” might get a little tricky. I should’ve brought my courses with me!

That is roughly my main activity during office hours, among other little additional things like updating the content on the website/correcting a text that was pre-written.

This weekend I normally would have had a workshop on Life Skills Teacher Practice in Seke Teacher’s College in Chitungwiza, but unfortunately the workshop got cancelled. It’s quite a pity because I was looking forward to finally finding out what EXACTLY is done in VVOB. They generally “facilitate” (assist) in workshops that discuss or raise awareness on Life Skills, HIV/AIDS awareness, Moving on after HIV/AIDS in the direct community, Gender inequality, Nutrition and a few more. This happens in Teacher Colleges, so, to teacher students and their lecturers to prepare them to build schools that give quality education to all children, including the most vulnerable. Hence the name of the programme: Quality Education and Vulnerability. The idea is to implement these attitude changes into the colleges so that they can be passed on to the schools once the teacher students become teachers.

You can clearly tell I have learnt a little after reviewing the text “what VVOB does”. A more clear picture on how these workshops and facilitation works will have to wait till next time a workshop trip pops up.

Besides working we have also been having more social contacts, some in the freezing cold of the office, others in the sun during lunch time. It’s an amazing difference. How I wish I had one of my warm blankets, a water bottle, a winter scarf and woolen socks here, and how addicted I have become to a hot cup of tea! In the sun the jerseys quickly fly off and everyone becomes hopeful for the rest of the day, big disappointment there! The topic that has often been coming up during lunch is the man-woman relationships. And every time it shocks me how the two cultures differ: men are expected to pay lobola (a fee to the family before the wedding) for their wives, men expect to be the bread winners of the house while the woman cooks and the women highly disagree with this, yet do expect to be “bought”. Men clearly fulfill a hierarchical position, but try not to make it visible and see the woman as “the boss of the house”. Tradition and modern practice have gone over into each other to make a confusing combination. I haven’t quite figured it out. (Don’t worry Frank, I’ll stick to my European views and fend for myself while you cook me delicious dinners ;) ).

ZESA (Zimbabwe Electricity) have NOT been a great friend lately, in the darkness we spend the evenings, cooking happens on a fire, outside and the generator at work runs all day just to provide electricity and internet. If this happened in Belgium, a combination of 15° indoors and a lack of (needed) electricity the schools and offices would have closed down. We would, literally, have holidays almost every day. But people stay motivated and just put on a pair of extra socks and two jerseys.
It's amazing how happy people become when MAGHETSI ADZOKA!! (The electricity is back!)