Posted on by cjdalziel

Today was a very good day!

Yippee!!! Visible progress. Today was an incredibly good day for this Organizational Development Advisor. Who doesn’t like to see progress?

Sometimes when you are patience enough things really do start to come together. Today, Lawrence and I completed one of our reports for the Maatla Project that outlines our accomplishments over the past two months. Amazingly enough we have very real substantial accomplishments that clearly show our progress within our Scope of Work.

It is funny how you can be so busy working on things with realizing how much you are actually accomplishing. Then came the icing on the cake! We now have a functioning phone line!!!!! I am beyond happy about that. Things that you normal take for granted can be real cause of celebration.

So today I am celebrating!

 

Posted on by cjdalziel · 1 Comment

How do you pack for business meetings in the bushveld?

I am currently facing a challenge that I would never ever feel in Canada…what on earth do I pack for a week long work meeting held in the bushveld?

How does one dress for work in a sub-tropical woodland where there are crocodiles, black rhinos, white rhinos, hippos, elephants, giraffes, wildebeests, lions (white maned and black), leopards, cheetahs to only name a few? It top it all off you are in a country where dress code is taken incredibly seriously!

Yesterday, in speaking with my contact at the Ministry of Health, a lovely gentleman named Rra Busang I was assured that the normal business attire of dresses and jackets were being relaxed to more casual wear. What a relief to know that I don’t have to drag heels, dresses and suit jackets to the bush! It did seem a little absurd that in the middle of freely roaming wildlife I would be expected to wear heels but it would have made easier pickings for the lions or crocs!

So now I am trying to figure out what business casual means…who invented dress codes any way?  As the sole representative of Bonaso and Canada in an indirect way, I feel that it is very important to reflect the appropriate image of not too dressy or too casual. Would anyone with fashion sense like to come help me pack please? Who knew when I accepted the ODA position that I would have to spend this much time on figuring out what to wear. Thank heavens I love wearing dresses because they are easy to pack, wear and sweat in!

Okay, I have a suitcase to fill and a bus to catch at 9:00 am Sunday morning! hmm, I wonder what colors catch a crocodile or lion’s eye…..