Harborne Hall III

L-R: Martyn (trainer), Carmel, me, Kathryn, Bernie (trainer),
Vicky, Mike, Petula, Anil, Julie, Pam, Bruce, Helen, Hazel, Pete,
Marianna (trainer), Rosa.

And thus we come to the third and final instalment of Harborne Hall, pre-departure. It began with a Training Skills workshop back at the beginning of September, then P2V (Preparing to Volunteer) three weeks ago, now the final, but longest, instalment.

There were a lot of familiar faces this time around, both from Training Skills (Rosa & Martyn), and P2V (Pete, Kathryn & Petula). There was also Mike, who was at my original interview. So, I know now that, including Tom, everyone at that interview - except one - definately made it through. Apparently, VSO reject more than they take. We must have been an exceptionally bright and talented lot ;)

I was back in The Retreat, in the room right next to the one I was in last time (#30), which was phenomenally useful as it was a single and my initial problems with Larium/Mefloquine rocketed off the scale. Emotionally, I felt fine, but it was taking me between 1-2 hours to get to sleep. Then, between 4:40 and 4:45 sharp, every single morning, I’d wake up and be unable to get back to sleep again. Ended up downstairs in the TV room by 6am. I decided against taking my second dose - sleep is one thing I really do need. I’m going to start Doxy just before I go out.

Still, I managed to stay awake for most of it, and it was a brilliant course. The others were three days whereas this was five, but the pace was nice. Not as crammed/hectic as the shorter ones, but we were all pretty shattered by the end - which is when we had our Health & Safety briefing.

This course was called SKWID (Skills for Working in Development) and expanded on many of the themes touched upon in P2V, including VSO’s approach to development, key strategy focuses, as well as teaching very useful skills including facilitation, negotiation, and dealing with corruption.

Again, it was a pretty large group of around 12 people, plus some visiting observers from Slovakia. There was good energy, and the last half of the course was a lot like Training Skills in that we were asked to lead two short sessions within small groups. However, rather than 'training', the emphasis was on 'facilitation'. A slightly ambiguous distinction. What is good training if not the facilitation of learning? But, by nature, facilitation skills are more ‘hands-off’ than training ones. We did get issued with an absolutely fantastic book which contains tons of practical training tools for use in many different situations. It will be invaluable when planning future training in my job.

I really enjoyed the training sessions.They were our chance to try out some of these tools and build a bit of confidence. Gave me a chance to get back to my Theatre in Education roots, too.

On the last night, we went to a local pub, where much wine was consumed by an open fire. Some pretty in-depth conversations were had about the meaning of life, the after-life, and the nature of the soul with one of the guys on the course. Similarly, over breakfast, conversations were had with another guy regarding Buddhism, Chogyam Trumpa, and a number of other subjects on which much metta was exchanged. I overheard a number of other deep and profound conversations occurring during the week. Guess Harborne brings it out in people :oS

There’s also a nice little private garden in the grounds of the hall, with a gumtree/eucalyptus in it which grows at such an angle that you can stand with your back to it, legs either side, and rest your entire weight against the trunk. It’s a wonderful place just to relax and watch the clouds go by. I think more and more that I’ve been craving a bit of this quiet space. It’s lovely to see all your friends and family, but once you’re without a home of your own and that private sanctuary - that bubble of personal space - it can get a bit tough. With so little time left before I fly, it’s natural that everyone wants to get together and do things, but all I feel like doing is chilling out on my own for five minutes. A few people said the same, but Harborne Hall isn’t the place to do it either with everyone working together, eating together, and socialising together.

Anyway, that’s the last of my trips to Harborne. All pre-departure training complete... that’s weird. I did have a couple of ‘reality moments’ today where everything suddenly seemed real but, as Mike said, they soon pass.

Still, got quite a bit of prep to do. Off to Mum’s this week to drop off some boxes and see everyone. Some of the Cardiff posse may be up for a pub crawl in Gloucester next weekend, a second leaving do :) Do miss them.

I shall sign off now as I’m a wee bit more than shattered. So, without further ado...

WAAAAAAAAAAAA