First OS in Sofala Province, Mozambique

john engle englejohn at hotmail.com
Tue Jan 8 21:07:43 PST 2002


bernhard,

seems like there are some similarities to our situations. we are both from
financially rich industrialized countries working in financially poor
countries.

we wield huge amounts of power as you well know. when we are in an informal
conversation with a national we wield power. when we are the actual
facilitator of a group of nationals, yikes! talk about a lack of balance.

you know how easy it is easy to get quick results with such power. our
challenge is to get durable results which do not require our continued
interventions.

every situation is different for sure. i am in a unique position of having
the luxury to follow my instinct and wait for initiative. sometimes it comes
quickly. sometimes it comes slowly. sometimes it does not come at all in
terms of ongoing projects.

in terms of open space meetings, i have sat in silence with groups for 1-5
minutes before anything happened.

i wait. i do not intervene once i have opened the space. i am always
prepared to sit and ponder indefinitely, or to excuse myself to go get other
work done if folks present are not yet ready or not interested in engaging.
no hard feelings. at least that's how i feel in theory. we'll see how i
actually respond when the time comes that 10 minutes or more of silence
passes and no subjects posted.

i am a white north american (USA) working in haiti for nearly eight of the
last ten years.

welcome insights from anyone else on what i've shared here. is it possible
to become too detached from outcomes?

look forward to continuing the conversation.

john

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