I Left My Mark on Maun

Last week, I flew to Maun to assist the Ngamiland Council of NGOs (NCONGO) with their Organizational Development Plan.   As an Organizational Development Advisor placed with BOCAIP, I had already been through this exercise once, so was happy to be able to help another organization with theirs.   I knew a couple of the dynamic, young NCONGO staff from Maatla project meetings, and was looking forward to working with them and learning more about their organization.

When it came time to board the plane, the dozen of us waiting in the departure lounge walked towards the Air Botswana plane, only to be redirected to a tiny, 20-seater charter plane run by Kalahari Air.  There was no standing room in the plane, so we had to duck to get to our seats.  I should mention that of the dozen of us, about half were unaccompanied minors.  The pilot crouched down through the aisle to buckle in the kids.  About 10 minutes into the flight, the passenger sitting in the front row reached into a cooler box behind the pilot and passed out cans of Coke and Fanta.  We dipped and turned to skirt past a couple of isolated rain showers, and the kids made the appropriate shrieks and yelps and airplane noises.   That was the most fun I’ve had on a flight in a long time!

I was greeted at the airport by a handsome young man holding a framed sign with the NCONGO logo and my name.  We chatted a little bit as he drove me the few metres to the airport hotel.  He seemed slightly disappointed to learn that I had been in the country for almost a year.  He had been told to pick up an Organizational Development Advisor from Canada. 

I settled into the hotel, which had only been open a few months. The staff was helpful and eager to please, which made it easy to overlook some of the kinks (unfinished fixtures, lamps with no light bulbs, a restaurant with missing menu items).  The bed was comfortable, the air conditioning and wireless internet worked, and I got my cable tv fix.  I was happy.

The next morning I met with the Director, and we agreed on a participatory approach for getting the plan done.  He assembled the staff and we went over the template format.  We then started to populate it by turning priorities previously identified through an organizational capacity assessment into activities with realistic targets, timelines, staff leads, and sources of outside support.  I noted their comments, and then worked for the rest of the day and evening on incorporating their input.  I also added items from their Maatla project workplan and their Strategic Plan for their consideration. 

I was getting a feel for what work must be like for consultants, who have short windows of time to become familiar enough with an organization to make a contribution.  The Director was quite keen to have a finished product at the end of my visit with them, and so was I.

On Day Two, we repeated the cycle of review, discussion, and incorporation of their input.  At the end of the day, I felt I had done as much as I could, so found a taxi driver to take me to one of the riverside lodges. 

We went to a couple of lodges before finding one with space on a sunset cruise.  It was a lovely, peaceful trip down the river, where we stopped to watch and learn about birds, spider webs, termite mounds, trees, and talk to local fishermen and women gathering lily roots.  The guide was full of information.  I would have loved to have asked him more questions, but I was coming down with a splitting headache, muscle aches, and a fever.  The most I could do was smile and nod and utter the odd “Aah” or “Is that so?”.

As I was setting up the meeting room the next morning, I was overcome by a wave of nausea and left a not so pleasant gift in NCONGO's kitchen sink.  I managed to hold it together long enough to review the final changes with the staff and get their consensus on who would do what by when.  At the end of the morning, we had a realistic plan the Director felt he could present to their board for approval.  My work was done!

I still had several hours to kill before my return flight to Gaborone, the only one going that day. After cleaning up the kitchen sink, I had the NCONGO driver drop me off at the lodge where I took my boat ride.  It seemed a pleasant enough place to spend the afternoon.   I ordered a ginger beer to help settle my stomache, but that was just enough to set me off again.  I left the lodge a memento of my visit in their courtyard bathroom, and again in the bushes by the pool.  I just couldn’t get comfortable, and time marched slowly by.  Finally, I decided it was time for a change of scenery.  I called a taxi to take me to the café by the airport.  At the café, I ordered an iced coffee, and promptly left most of it in the washroom.  Not long after, I left the rest in the airport washroom.

I think it is safe to say I left my mark on Maun.  Not only did I leave an organizational development plan for their council of NGOs, but I also left a little piece of myself everywhere I went!

(Post-Script:  I did see a doctor once I returned to Gaborone, and we were able to rule out more exotic illnesses to come up with the medical diagnosis of "tummy bug" and too much heat. I fully recovered after a couple of days of rest and rehydration.)