SKWID Training

From Thurs the 3rd to Sun the 6th of December, Dave and I attended SKWID, Skills for Working in Development Course. This training was held at Halbourne Hall in Birmingham (pictured). Now it really feels real. We are going to Cameroon - and we found out a lot about what the reality might be like and what we can expect. We are, more than ever, excited about going.

The training was great - and thanks to a team of really superb facilitators. Those of you who know me know that I am a real critic when it comes to trainers and facilitators - but this trio was superb, some of the best trainers I have had the pleasure to see.

The participants were also a very special group - smart, committed, varied and creative. VSO is really good at selecting the right volunteers. It is a priviledge to be among them.

The training started with a session on health and safety. We learned all ab0ut malaria and rabies, along with a number of other tropical diseases. It is enough to turn you away. However, the statistic that out of all the volunteers who have gone on placement in the past 50 years, 98% come back just fine.

Then we went onto a number of sessions, including relationship building, participatory approaches and negotiation, among others.

We are now on countdown - 3 months to go...