(Spencer) Pre-departure Learning: Day Three: I Found My Bump

Good day everyone! 

Brace yourselves for I have penned a quite a tale describing the third day of pre-departure.  I started writing at 1:41am but my laptop died, so I resumed today. I realize it is outrageously long as such I would like feedback on this approach. (ps. blogspot has been out of commission for the past days, so I couldn't post)

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The third day of pre-departure has been a long stretch, sessions starting at 8am and it’s still going at 1:41am. Energy is still high and there is a very good reason for this late night.

The excitement all started just past eight pm when the daily sessions concluded. As a group we were joyous. Though the day was packed with awesome content, twelve hours essentially not leaving the same room can wear on you especially in combination with considerable sleep deprivation. We peeled away from the university, the location sessions are held at, in small group as we finished some personal reflection from the day. Everyone was eager to get back to the house for the exciting evening ahead.

The walk back to the EWB house was hilarious as two other fellows and I discussed how we are hard wired to check people out...after a day of challenging yourself, it’s nice to put your head into the gutter. We arrived at the house and when we opened the door we were greeted with a myriad of smells. All the best ones at that; chili spices, garlic, ginger and the richness of things being deep fried. Our first sight was people sitting in circles around big bowls of what we knew to be some traditional Ghanian food, it looked to be beans and another bowl with some type of yellow thing.

Quickly we put away our bags and joined the feast. Upon investigation the bean dish was a duo of tomatoes with beans (pinto perhaps?) and a variety of spices. Even more exciting was the yellow edibles, deep fried plantains thickly cut. We each grabbed a plantain and scooped up a big bunch of beans. Into our mouths it went, the combination of flavours was very unique, the sweet and starchy plantain with the spicy beans was, delicious. It hit all the receptors; fatty goodness from the deep fried oils, saltiness from the bean dish, and fine sweetness of the plantains. The combination of the two dishes is called Red Red. If this is any indication of the food that will be consumed this summer, I will be in for a treat.

The dinner was prepared for the fellows by two people from national office, Val and Lauren, to which I give much thanks!

I moved into the kitchen once other bowls were emptied so I could keep eating, while in there George Rotor (CEO of EWB) arrived at the house and was attracted directly to the food. He sat down beside Guillaune and I, he commented that he loves plantains so much he won't spoil them by dipping then in the beans. We started up a conversation regarding an earlier session during the day about rural livelihoods and some of the particulars that I had taken away from it. For those of you who have been in conversation with George you will know the feeling that it gives, he has a sort of energy, an aura if you will that radiates from him. It is so positive and brings a room to life. At the next National Conference I encourage everyone to approach him if given the chance, he is very engaging.

At last the true purpose of the night exposed itself (well.. exposed itself to you wonderful readers, I knew all week). A great night of EWB question and answer, the group of fellows all brainstormed a huge number of questions for him and members of national office to answer. The room was rearranged to accommodate the large group and two flip chart papers were filled with stickies of questions and the Q&A began.

I was desperate for a seat on the couch and fortunately one remained but it had a major drawback. Sigh, it faced directly at a white wall but it was a sacrifice worth making in the name of comfort. This was the first junior fellow Q&A without Parker Mitchell (previous CO-CEO of ewb with George) by George's side; I wondered what Parker was doing tonight.

The first question was asked. If there was one thing you would change about our African programs what would it be? To everyone’s surprise and especially the person specified, he passed the question to a member of national office to answer. Upon some serious consideration he delivered a response. The core of his response was that he would change our operations to focus more on private enterprise along a similar vein to agriculture as a business.

Hours flew by as some really tough questions were asked and answered. George can command a room like no other; even with me looking straight at a wall I was spellbound. Perspectives were expressed and challenged all throughout the night.

All these past hours my gaze was largely directed to a particularly interesting spot of white paint on the wall. To describe;  it was small bump no bigger than a penny, had a small curved crack that ran through the spot,  a slight shadow on the bottom it, a tiny scuff to the left, a lumpy shape, and looked to have been painted on the wall after something had left a really small impression into the wall. I wondered what would have been the cause of the bump? What events were happening at the house? Who painted the bump? I made a realization, I have never really looked at a wall in this way before and surprisingly I was enjoying it a lot. I thought, why don't I do this more often just do some thinking and relax?

Soon after this George brought up Parker and revealed what he was doing that night. He was participating in a ten day silent retreat just outside of Vancouver. You heard right ten days of no talking or communicating. The idea behind it to my understanding is to better understand yourself through dealing with your emotions and uncovering new parts of your personality and tapping into different parts of your consciousness. Seeking to better understand what it means to be human and to be yourself is quite a noble pursuit in my opinion.

There was a moment of great empathy in me towards Parker, for I had just been pondering what it would be like to sit and think for an extended period of time. I was currently gazing thoughtfully into the same bump that I for hours, and formed an intimate connection to this bump of paint at this moment. I imagine that Parker has found a bump of his own to ponder; I wonder where his mind has wondered in his silence. After this experience I can very much see myself entering into a silent retreat myself. 

All the while the question and answer was continuing. George was even more excited than before with no signs of stopping. He was truly taking this feedback to heart. It is incredible the level of involvement and influence that youth have in this organization. The core of the organization started with young change makers and it will continue to be driven by young change makers. In very few other organizations are the young taken so seriously and the very core structured around transforming people into agent of change. 

At the end of the night George thanked those who stayed wide eyed and attentive, gave a few words of parting wisdom and we came together in a group hug. A night to remember for a very long time.

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I will leave you with a few questions to ponder:

-What is one question that you would like to have George answer?

-How can we best leverage the influence we have in ewb?

-What is a memorable experience of your own with a new ethnic dish?

-What is your bump?

-Is this a blog entry that you enjoyed reading? Would you like more in this style?

I strongly encourage comments, there is no judgement here. Post away my friends, no matter 
what!


Spencer