One piece at a time…

Tomorrow is my last day in Yako and I’m thinking of all the things I need to do before leaving.  Some of them are simple things I just want to repeat and others are things that I just have to do.  I smile, as I still appreciate the smell released when I remove the lid of the Tim Horton’s coffee tin.  I have just enough for today and tomorrow; perfect.

In the morning, I ran my final training session and it went well.  Aside from the SEMUS finance group, I had a senior leader join us, as well as a young man from a partnering organization.  I was grateful to get some assistance from someone in the crowd to provide additional explanations to the group.  It was rewarding as well to see each person, want to try this at least once; to get hands on experience with the new tools.  Later in the day, I caught one of the senior leaders “playing” with excel; he was investigating other applications where these new techniques could be used.  I couldn’t be happier.

 

In the afternoon, I took advantage of the market being in town (the market visits every three days) and did some last minute shopping for souvenirs and gifts.  While I know I will be able to get just about anything in the Ouagadougou market in a few days, my preference is to do my shopping in Yako.  M le President, stopped by and suggested we have dinner together tonight.  While I’m not entirely confident I have understood the invitation correctly, I’m delighted when later that night Bassirou comes by my room and says M le president is here to pick you up.

We are joined by an elderly man, donning an old wool tuque and fair size robe.  The three of us head out to a Maquis near the bus station.  Again it’s dark and we grab a steel table and 3 steel chairs.  The table is low and our knees are above the table when we sit down.  A lady, working at the restaurant,  came around with a small plastic kettle allowing us to each wash our hands at the table.  Shortly after this, a large serving tray arrives and M le President says that we can use his cell phone as a flashlight.  As the server removes the cover on the serving tray, two large black fish are revealed circled by french fries on one side and “coleslaw” on the other.  The fish appear in tact from mouth to tail and I’m not seeing any forks or knives.  A few seconds later, M le President, sticks his thumb through the side of the fish and tears off a small piece of meat.  Yes…. we are going to devour this feast with our bare hands.  For anybody that’s reading this now, who is having a reaction like “Oh my God…No way”, I’m not writing this for you.  I’m writing this for those that have a spirit of adventure and are saying “Right on…he’s really experiencing IT”.   “IT” is a different way here.  In my mind, this dinner is an excellent representation of the African philosophy.  While in Bobo someone said to me, ”In Africa we all eat at the same table from the same plate” and that is exactly what we are doing.  As I may have mentioned earlier, I’ve seen several signs that eating is a communal experience here from neighbours coming over to eat to small children, unguided by their parents, begin to feed a smaller sibling.

During dinner, I took the opportunity to explore M le President’s philosophy on leadership. Through our discussion, I understood that he believed people often over shoot and over promise “change” and “evolution”.  Like our dinner, you have to size up just the right size portion to tear from the fish.  Taking too big a piece may result in having to work through hidden bones and other undesired pieces.  You miss one of the bones and the outcome could be quite damaging.  He said people are often unrealistic with their assessment of what progress or change should be pursued.  You have to take the appropriate amount of time and examine the fish before just tearing in there for the sake of a piece of meat.  He explained that "it’s true those that over promise often make a lot of noise to support the illusion of activity but it isn’t necessarily productivity they are delivering. I told him that I could relate to this and used my experience with the finance group at SEMUS as an example.  There was lots that could be done with the finance group, some of it we could even categorize as “transformational” and “radical”, but in the end, if all you are really after is creating value, you have to assess what will be achievable and sustainable….call your shot and go for it; never mind shooting the cue ball in to a cluster of pool balls hoping some of them will go in.

I appreciated the opportunity to dine with M le President and returned to the SEMUS courtyard for one more traditional tea with Bassirou.  As I headed off to bed, I was quite aware that tomorrow I was leaving Yako.  Had I done enough?

Please consider joining me in Burkina Faso, by making a small donation at the following site <<click here>>