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.
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?”.
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.
(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.)
