Eventful Month/ 大変だった！

Finally have some time to update my blog!! You must be wondering what I have been up to these days…..

Lots of things. First, I went for a weekend get away in a forest lodge with friends. When I came back, I found my laptop computer was stolen from my bedroom. Someone broke into my room through a window and took my backpack, which contained the computer and a few other things.

I was little dazed by that, but more scared, since I didn’t know who had done it. Considering the circumstance, my roommate and I reckoned that it was an inside job. We had to call police and they came to interrogate our housekeeper and two night guards. To make the story short, the laptop was found and now it is back in my possession. I will write about what exactly happened some other time, but I had to go to a court etc. It was quite an experience.

What’s difficult was that I was organizing a training session for the gender steering committee members on the same week. Off course all my work was on my computer. To make the matter worse, the ONLY key to my office was in the backpack. I had to wait till someone in the Ministry ok’ed it, went to buy a new lock and then brought a carpenter to replace it, which took almost a full day. In the meantime, I was trying to borrow a laptop, finalize the arrangements for the following days (three days of training), and re-work/ re-type some of the documents. Thank Goodness that I finished most of the prep work previous week!! In conclusion, the training session went well with minor logistical problems (expected in Malawi anyhow…) I facilitated a couple of sessions, and I enjoyed myself. It was certainly a lot of running around, but I can say that it was rewarding.

Lessons learned:
· ALWAYS make backups and keep the files separate!
· Don’t panic. Somehow it all works out in the end.