(For less chat and more photos, go to the One Good Deed website www.onegooddeedkc.org or the One Good Deed Facebook page)
We stopped along the way for a bathroom break, and Jennifer, proving that she was a better woman than most, chose to use the "squatty potty." Apparently even better women can pee on their own feet! Bahahaha! Thank goodness for hand wipes, eh Jennifer?
Here we are outside the squatty potty cheering Jennifer on....okay, maybe we were just laughing at her! I'm pretty sure the rest of us would have let our bladders explode before we would 1. brave the smell, and 2. take the chance of our foot slipping into that hole in the ground! Jennifer's lucky she got out of there with only her own pee on her foot!
When we finally arrived at the park, we were expecting to get started right away on the HBB training, but the park ranger, Denise, told us that they had just had a giraffe sighting and wanted to know if we wanted to go ahead and take a game drive right then. Was she serious?!? Hells yeah!
Our little impromptu drive was well worth the detour from trainings! But.....we really did have to get down to business or we wouldn't be prepared for our Rwandan learners on Monday!
After lunch we spent the afternoon going over the training flip chart and familiarizing ourselves with the program. I talked to them about the reasons behind some of the exercises, and we talked about the various levels of training we might encounter with our students over the next week. Once everyone settled in to the task at hand, it went fairly quickly. I have a good group here; they're fast learners and they seem to be genuinely excited about teaching Rwandan health workers. Once we felt fairly comfortable with the written material, we went back out to the jeeps for a late afternoon game drive with Denise.
That gray mass in the bushes is an elephant....look close and you can make out his ear. When he crossed the road in front of our jeeps we squealed and he went into the bushes. Dumb girls, I know! I was just happy to actually see him--this was my third trip to the park, and I have never seen an elephant until now. Sooooo worth it! He didn't think so, though....he showed me his backside!
Oh well.....on to other mammals!
That's a herd of pumba! The song of the day is Hakuna Matada!
Hard to tell, but that's a hippo looking at you!
As the sun set on Lake Akagera, we headed back to the lodge for dinner and a good night's sleep!
Sunday morning we got up a little earlier and had breakfast before taking an early morning game drive. The drive wasn't as successful today as the ones yesterday, but it was still enjoyable.
Ranger Denise told us that the storks' legs are actually black, but they spread their feces on their legs to keep the bugs from biting them.......there you go, Jennifer! Next time you hit the squatty potty, you can take advantage of some "homemade" bug repellent! That should guarantee you get to room alone the rest of the trip!
After the morning drive it was back to work for us! We met in a conference room back at the lodge to begin our skills training in the HBB program.
After filling the manikins with water, we went over everything that is in the kit.....
.......and then we began working our way through each of the scenarios on the action plan. One by one, we went through them so we would know exactly how they should be taught to our Rwandan learners. I was pleased to see everybody taking this class so seriously, but you know me.....learning is supposed to be fun! I don't remember what finally broke the ice, but after that first good laugh occurred we began really enjoying ourselves while we were learning.
Laughter is cathartic and it is a unifying force. There is nothing quite so bonding as having a good laugh together! Okay, Jennifer.....you can finally call us "Team Rwanda"! Laughter is also contagious and begs for others to join in--Yvan was no exception.....he saw the fun and he wanted in.....Okay, buddy....you get to be the birthing momma!
We spent the rest of the afternoon practicing (and laughing) because practice makes perfect....and that's what we want!
And in the end, after all the practicing was through, they all passed their individual skills tests and earned their training certificates! There was, of course, room for a little good-natured mother/daughter kidding, too:
And as with all HBB trainer courses, at the end there is the awarding of the certificates and the group photo:
Now it's time to get back to Kigali to get ready for our first class of Rwandan learners! But first, one last look at Akagera lodge....
And just before we loaded into our jeeps, we saw a momma baboon with her baby and another little one following behind....almost as if she was giving her endorsement of this training we are bringing to her country!
No comments:
Post a Comment