If you stop when you're stuck, you're in trouble

I was today reminded of a quote I recently read when Googling to try and work out how to spell Roald Dahl - I cannot now remember why...

The quote popped into my mind in a discussion about maintaining margin - a sufficient reserve of time, energy (spiritual, emotional, interpersonal and physical energy) and money to provide for our needs and the needs of others (to quote Ken Williams of International Training Partners.

I was wondering to myself that I maybe bring home problems and concern myself with how to start the coming day in the office - where to begin and how to move forward.

Roald Dalh, lifting his idea from Earnest Hemingway, a suggests a particular way to maybe circumvent this:

…I never come back to a blank page; I always finish about halfway through. To be confronted with a blank page is not very nice. But Hemingway, a great American writer, taught me the finest trick when you are doing a long book, which is, he simply said in his own words, “When you are going good, stop writing.” And that means that if everything’s going well and you know exactly where the end of the chapter’s going to go and you know just what the people are going to do, you don’t go on writing and writing until you come to the end of it, because when you do, then you say, well, where am I going to go next? And you get up and you walk away and you don’t want to come back because you don’t know where you want to go. But if you stop when you are going good, as Hemingway said…then you know what you are going to say next. You make yourself stop, put your pencil down and everything, and you walk away. And you can’t wait to get back because you know what you want to say next and that’s lovely and you have to try and do that. Every time, every day all the way through the year. If you stop when you are stuck, the you are in trouble!

 It seems very insightful. For me these days, the only other question I would need to ask is "When do I open my Inbox?" Could I really resolve to come to the office each day with a task waiting to be finished and dive straight in? Time will tell.

Maybe my next work insight blogpost will be to explain the wonderful quote: "If some thing's worth doing, it's worth doing badly."

A little bit (of) French

The open o vowel is pronounced with the tongue at a similar height to the open e vowel, but with the lips also rounded and the tongue a little further back in the mouth. It should be noted that for many speakers, the tongue is significantly further forward than for the close o vowel, and in some cases may actually sound similar to the open eu vowel. [http://www.french-linguistics.co.uk/pronunciation/french_o_vowels.shtml]

Maybe this post is a little premature, but I suppose it's good to share about things that are energising me. I've recently begun taking up a little French language learning.

French has not something that has been close to my heart. I remember beginning French at school aged 11 being very motivated to succeed. On week two I approached the teacher after the lesson to say that I really didn't understand masculine and feminine words. "Don't worry, we'll do it again next lesson." I've always felt that this was the point my French learning came to a halt.

Back in 2005 I began learning German with the Open University - the cleverest university in the world. German is a language I've always loved listening to and I wouldn't mind a reason to go and live there for a year or two. So I got a little way with German before other things crowded it out. The materials were clearly good, so when I knew that I was looking at working for several years in Africa I went on Ebay and bought the French beginners materials of someone who, like me, must have dropped off their course.


Janet, my wife, lived in French-speaking Burkina Faso for about four years before coming to Kenya. We've now been married almost eight weeks and together we've done some tentative French language learning. I love Total Physical Response where you interact with objects that you're learning about (especially ingredients). The opportunity to ask questions and get reminders of vocabulary over a consistent period of time is a big help in getting phrases to stick.

I should also cite Seggy here who was always up for meeting in a cafe on a Saturday back around 2005/6, and Eddie Izzard for his moments of stand-up in French.

So now, Janet and I have picked up my old French materials. I've half a year of materials here in Kenya and leaving the office to go work through some new materials at home is a real motivation at this time. I wonder if this will stick.

The question I haven't answered up to this point is what I will do with French if I continue to add to my learning. Currently I do some work with DRCongo staff but I don't imagine myself and Janet living and working there, or anywhere else in Francophone Africa. Part of my desire to learn is to demonstrate to myself that I have the ability if I can find the right learning style, and I think a French-speaking wife is a good methodology - she enjoys me learning with her and from her, and I enjoy her encouragements. I think too that learning French fits in with thinking carefully about the future. Maybe it will help unlock the perfect role for me - maybe one that embraces a fuller roll with staff in DRCongo, or more closer work with Congolese as well as our few expatriate staff. We'll see.

Hopefully the learning will continue and I'll stay on the wave. Maybe my head will start to hurt at some point. I hope that if that time comes, Janet will drag me through to the other side and we'll continue onwards.

A bientot!

Somehow it's September...

Time has moved on since I last wrote. Back then it was 'one month to go'. Now its almost two montths past. The wedding day has come and gone, and along with the big day I now find myself needing to change the blog's strapline from 'one man and his blog'.


Janet and I have had so many conversations about our wedding. We've written newsletters about it. Uploaded photos to Facebook and Dropbox (available here). We've a video too, and have sat down several times with friends to watch it through and point out details. I'm sure I could wax eloquent for a considerable lengh of time, but it is probably best for now to stick with expressing our thanks to everyone who made the day such a wonderful occasion - even those who held us in mind as they were unable to come along. We'll enjoy dwelling on all the details for years to come, and I cannot wait to get back to the Custom House at Roa Island and the marshes at Rampside and take in the views that helped make the day so special.

For now I had best go - the morning rush hour has passed and it's time for me to seek out our landlord's office in order to drop off our inventory, introduce myself and broach the issue of a leaking toilet. I hope it'll go well.

June wafflings - One month to go!

This afternoon I'm spending a little bit of time working on a newsletter. Blogposting are very much still on my heart but I've not had so much time to think over the past two months.

One month till my wedding. Most things are in place for the big day. Here in Kenya I've two messy homes to organise as I pack up items from one and unpack at the other. Painting at both will be needed, maybe even in the next couple of weeks (it's normally contractual when leaving a property to paint for the next tenant, which can be frustrating as you arrive to find paint on windows and that all the doors no longer close.)

Here's the mess at my prior flat last weekend.

There's much still to move. I took a van and together with some friends we moved all the large items. On popping in on Wednesday, I noticed that somehow I had 'missed' the chest of drawers, so another van one afternoon will be needed.

As the apartment I am moving to is fully furnished I've now got fair few chairs - 9 seats and a desk chair in the living room. Lots of coffee tables too.

Janet and I are particularly looking forward to the opportunity to be hospitable which neither have easily been able to do in our previous places.

I should leave this here and get back to the newsletter. Maybe you'll see it before the end of this week :o)

"I'm Game if you Are..."

Yesterday, after a few postponements Janet and I finally got to the game park here in Nairobi. Here are a few stats and photos of our day:

Alarm time - 5:55am

Entry time - about 7am

Lions - 2

Giraffes - many

Buffalo - a few

Rock Hyrax - 1

Baboons - 0 [they're a bit mischievous anyhow]

Hours spent driving - 5

Sunburn on my right side through open window - mild/moderate

Love birds - 2

Petrol used - less than 1500 shillings

Terrapins - a few

Crocodile - 1

Dust on the car - much

Shock absorbers lost - 0

Air conditioning - priceless

Cheetahs and Leopards - 0 [something to focus on next time]

A lazy lion beginning the day

Early morning light across the plains

A gecko

Spooked giraffe lollopping off

Love Birds

An impala - real, not stuffed

A yellow-necked spurfowl

A grasshopper

A giraffe lost in thought in the middle of the road

Just a Minute

I'm loving Just a Minute being back on BBC Radio 4. If you've never listened before, you really should. It fits perfectly with tea and toast.

Master Care

On Thursday of last week I was able to attend a Member Care Afternoon Tea in Nairobi. Fifty or more people came from many different organisations that have offices in Nairobi. I was there as a member care facilitator for staff in Eastern Congo. I do this for two days each week as I think it nicely contrasts with work on institutional funding.

My main takeaway from the couple of hours together was the need that we have as Christians, for not just member care, but master care. And what is this? Well, I haven't got my notes with me, but it is the care that God gives to us individually, maybe on a daily basis or at times of great challenge and hardship. Even over the past three days since it has been good to come to God and tell him what I know about his character - that he is loving, compassionate, gracious, and that he endured every kind of suffering. I look forward to using the term master care and planting it in others' minds over the coming years.

Addition:
Master Care was definitely my takeaway from the Member Care afternoon tea. During the night following, one of the women who had attended lost her husband in a break-in at their rural compound where they worked with YWAM. This is not something normal or that we ever expect to happen. These sort of events are perhaps the hardest to comprehend, and we have all sorts of questions to ask God in the aftermath. I'm thankful that he planned the member care event on that very day. If you're the praying sort, please remember Ebel's wife Lora, their two children, the staff and students of YWAM Athi River and our church where they attended. With my thanks.

Engaged...

This is a little blog post, to let you know that I'm engaged to Janet.

I've not got too much to say, other than that we're both very happy (in spite of the limitations that Skype video imposes on proceedings) and are now beginning to think about what our wedding should look like. Janet also apologises for the lack of blog posts her fiancé has written since they started dating...

A burnt slice too far

My ex-toaster sits forlornly, in the corner of the room... gathering dust. I'm wondering what to do with it - how do I pass off something that is such poor quality? My toaster and kettle were two of the first purchases I made on arriving in Kenya. Sadly they both appear to be 'grade-B' electricals. The kettle just about survives my wrath for now. In my mind I don't understand the business sense of selling such poor products from sometimes reputable brands, but it is said that as long as we keep on buying grade-B electricals in Kenya, they'll keep on importing them [not that I could find the original quote one ambassador to Kenya is said to have made several years back].

My new toaster which I picked up second hand is a pleasure to work with. So now I'm back to Saturday lunch toast-fests. This is where you put on BBC radio (either streamed online or podcasts, and eat toast alongside cups of tea for an hour or two. Blissful.

Conclusion to my blog posts on A ... or not.

On Thursday I arrived back in Kenya, and had finally thought to write a no doubt riveting post on my now ex-toaster. Instead I'm closing off the few blog posts I have written on A.

[http://andysweet.blogspot.com/2010/11/praying-to-god-wondering-if-youre.html,

http://andysweet.blogspot.com/2010/09/normal-normal-for-who.html,

http://andysweet.blogspot.com/2009/11/october-this-is-month-that-was.html]

On Sunday morning, A passed away after what was most likely a collision with a vehicle while on a bicycle the previous day while out researching on fish for a new business venture.

I had received a text late on Saturday night informing me of his admittance to hospital in some pain. During the night he passed away from internal bleeding. I had not expected this at all. I had assumed he had a broken leg that would be set in a cast. At the beginning of the year we’re always so optimistic on the future. He had had a good few weeks in December that were free from medical issues, he had a health insurance card in process and had received funds from a micro-finance institution to start a small business selling fish in Nairobi that he would buy at lake Victoria and transport to town once a week.

I wonder if it’s better to know your near the end of your life and have everything in order, or rather it’s better for it to sneak up before your ready, yet at a time you're at peace. A had plans afoot, but I’m still thankful that he did not have to wait for AIDS to take his life through one of many illnesses that would come with increasing regularity.

A had called me on Friday (which happened to be his 35^th birthday) and it was good to chat. My parting comment was something like “I’ll be praying that 2011 gets off to a good start” and his response was a nervous laugh. Maybe heaven counts as a good start to the year...

Addition: (Two week's later)
There's not a great way to write this paragraph, without it sounded clunky.
The medical centre gave the wrong information to A's friend. He had in fact been transferred to a public hospital in order to save costs and was discharged two weeks later. On arriving at his home, every one was freaked out thinking he was a ghost and didn't sleep a wink. A's friend had arranged to transport A's body to his family home. Somehow, a body was released which the friend took without checking the identity, and now that grieving family want it back. It's difficult to not acquire a complex when so much goes wrong around A. My hope and prayer is that these issues will be resolved quickly, so that A can get back to business and life.