24 November 2015
First of all, as soon as I got to the base this morning, I stopped at the gazebo to chat with Christine and as she was in the process of separating the maize kernels from the cobs, I began helping her. Long story short, I sliced the end of my left ring finger open with a knife—quite deep and right through the fingernail—as a result I am using the hunt and peck method to type this and it is going v-e-r-y slowly.
Second, the power went off just as I arrived at the base and hasn’t come back so this may get written in installments if my battery goes too fast.
My laptop is developing some very annoying quirks: the screen is getting more black lines in it and the black circle in the top left quadrant that started out dime size has grown to silver dollar size; the touch pad no longer works; 2 of the 3 USB ports no longer function & the one that does function does not recognize some of the things I plug into it; also the SD port no longer recognizes the SD card. Gr-r-r! I am going back to the repair shop in the morning to see if all or any of this is fixable for a reasonable price…or if I just live with it until furlough time.
The LDC finished on Friday the 13th and was followed by the 4- day Forum for the Transformation of Africa, which a number of the LDC staff & delegates stayed over to attend. But now all staff and delegates have returned to their home bases in Senegal, Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Madagascar and South Africa.
On the 17th & 18th Karen, Fridah Erick and I met with Anke & Garry Tissingh about the process needed for the base leadership transition from Karen & me to Fridah & Erick. The meeting didn’t go quite as I had expected. Garry always compares leadership transition with the 4x100 Olympic relay race. The thing that usually determines the winning team is not the speed of the runners but the smoothness of the baton hand off.
I was very glad that Garry prepared a basic agenda for our meetings. He also announced that the transition should be complete by the end of March!!
After March Karen and I will assume consult-as-needed advisory roles but leave decision making to Fridah and Erick and whoever else they might want to bring into their new leadership team. Anke has also advised that we do not plan to come to the base too often as that could undermine the confidence and authority of Fridah and Erick. And would also hinder us from letting go.
Wow! My days are going to look very different. I am not sure how I will adjust to not being “needed” so much. Anke has challenged me to use my time for more personal development—getting healthy (exercise, rest, having more refreshing & intimate times with God etc.); developing my teaching topic portfolio, being proactive with communication & relationship building; doing things I enjoy.
