I am at the Intercontinental Hotel in Amman. The view out of my 7^th floor window is extraordinary. As far as the eye can see, there are stone buildings so close together you can’t see any roads or paths. When I started writing this, I could hear a loud call to prayer. My guess is that call will be a keen memory of Amman, just as all of the honking will be for Lagos.

You know when I talked about needing to have my luggage “get off with me in Amsterdam?” Well, it did, but I never picked it … Read the rest

The trip to Amsterdam from Lagos got us in early- by 5:30 a.m. and I was able to find the Yotel very quickly. The room was incredibly self-contained. It is square, with the bed under an overhang on the right, a small floor between the bed and the bathroom area: a toilet, a sink, and a shower. This is very bare bones, but clean, comfortable and wired for internet. I had been able to purchase a converter on the plane, so was easily able to plug in my computer and send a quick note about my arrival. There was … Read the rest

Gracious hospitality at Southern Sun Ikoya Hotel- they gave us a huge box of musk spa materials upon our leaving- and everyone asks when we will return and they hope it will be soon

Nigerian people are delighted when we wear their native costume- while we were worried they might take offense. I still received compliments days later after wearing Nigerian dress.

Bright colors, patterns- ornate or delicate laced flowers even on men’s dress. Some men wear very long robes, others the long shirt, loose pants and hat. Many women have something covering their hair- a hat, a scarf, the native scarf.

The fishermen in the morning mist in … Read the rest

Today had all sorts of excitement, starting with a fire alarm at 3:25 a.m. I grabbed a hoodie to put over my nightgown and my purse (with passport and id) and headed down the four flights of stairs. When I got there, I was the ONLY one in sleepwear- only the staff was there, in their suits. They told me it had been a false alarm.

Then came the dilemma of how to get back upstairs to the fourth floor (since you can only go down the stairs to the ground floor all the doors to the other floors have no knob). I finally found someone who … Read the rest

I know that my unusual requests will make me a living legend here at Ikoyi Hotel! I first called maintenance on Monday because my bathroom light was broken. It turned out that what looked like a light to me was actually a round vent. On Thursday, I called maintenance because the large floor lamp was broken. It turned out that there was a switch on the floor that needed to be pressed. Last night, I called maintenance because I wanted to wash my underwear in the bathroom sink and the stopper wouldn’t stay down. As the perplexed … Read the rest

On this fourth day of training, the participants were responsible for facilitating a 10-minute participatory learning activity that they designed. It was also to be a brand new activity that they had never facilitated before.

I ran the video camera (which I brought with me, along with a wonderful light tripod that worked perfectly) which meant that I was standing all day. I actually wore my compression stockings, so I can’t imagine how much more tired I would have been without them.

With few exceptions, the participants did a wonderful job. They tried new things- brainstorming, games, case study, debate, … Read the rest

First of all, let me be the first to say to all of the women reading this email- Happy International Women’s Day!  According to Tricia, every country except the US celebrates it on March 8th. Each of my participants came up to shake my hand and congratulate me. Who knew?

Some of you have asked if I am taking a lot of pictures. The fact is, I am not out strolling- I am in a car at 7 or 7:30 a.m. for a drive that is anywhere from 30-60 minutes to get to … Read the rest

At the beginning of the training on Day 2, I had a frank conversation with the group about the need to set strict time limits on activities so we could avoid a recurrence of the late day yesterday. They agreed and, to a great extent, complied.

They are so into the training- they take photos every time I show a cartoon on the Power Point, they stand next to me for pictures, every activity we do, someone is taking a picture. Since today focused on interactive learning activities, they had a lot to photograph.

Before I forget, they were each given a clear plastic letter-sized case that included … Read the rest

I am having the adventure of a lifetime. Because of projects with USAID, I have just spent 11 days conducting training in Lagos, Nigeria and am now in Amman, Jordan for a month to review and design curriculum as well as conduct training.

The quote above is very apt because the intent of both of these projects is to improve training by moving it from trainer-centered to participant-centered. In other words, my mission is to convince trainers in these countries to stop lecturing and to start using participatory learning activities.

First Stop: Nigeria

I conducted a four day … Read the rest

This will be a very brief Tip, with one more story and a note of thanks.

Beth Tomlin, Departmental Training Specialist with TRICARE Division – Nordby, sent this wonderful story about the unexpected results of incomplete instructions:

“I have a funny anecdote to go along with this subject. Years ago, I worked at a summer day camp and the kids would go swimming almost every day. On the first day of swimming, I had the youngest girls in my … Read the rest