Training in Basra

Days 1 and 2 of orientation training went well. I had my doubts, though, when I first saw the training room on Saturday. Here's what it looked like:


On what would people sit? Remember, this is a start-up operation without any extra supplies or furniture on hand. How would we comfortably fit over 20 trainees in the space? Could we successfully arrange the room for optimal experiential learning, with a few people each at a round table and empty space for participatory exercises?

Fardos, the Human Resources Manager, came to the rescue, with a late afternoon trip to buy furniture. She came back to the office with 5 small, light-weight, plastic garden sets - the kind used in restaurants here. This is part of the load that came off the pick-up truck:

I spent much of the evening wiping the dust off the 20 chairs one by one and voilà, I had a great arrangement for the trainees by the time they arrived Sunday morning.

Here are a couple of my trainees in the area in front of the main building but still within the walls of our compound. They're security guards and the one on the left especially enjoyed volunteering for a role play in which he was the new employee and one of the women trainees was his "buddy," helping him learn the ropes.

* * A special prize goes to the reader who can offer a logical explanation for his t-shirt. * *
(click on the photo to enlarge it and read the English and Spanish on it)

-Spee