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Dear Celia. Interesting is the case you raise<br>
Some questions. You say you've been eight months in Kenya and has
provided some OS, OS tell me all you've done in Kenya have been with
the same subject and with the results that you describe? If you've
done OS in Kenya with a different theme, it would be interesting to
know what happened in those cases.<br>
How do you explain the behavior you describe your professional
Kenyan counterpart?<br>
What cultural considerations into account when you had to call the
OS? In light of the experience Are there any other cultural
considerations that you think you should be aware of?<br>
My impression is that not enough to have a good topic of interest to
the audience and that participation is voluntary to run the OS, it
is required to consider the cultural and contextual variables.<br>
You indicate that Kenya is paid for attending a forum. Well, that
gives a signal of something different and need to consider. How
should I call in Kenya for assistance is voluntary and unpaid? or,
is it possible that participation is voluntary and paid at once?<br>
Regarding the issue, it may be a topic of great interest but is also
an issue that will probably cause fear, which as you say, people
avoid talking to strangers.<br>
In short, the cultural and contextual variables, I think are
important to take into account the experience of Open Space is full
and satisfying.<br>
a hug<br>
Jorge Amigo<br>
<blockquote
cite="mid:001b01ce1918$502c19a0$f0844ce0$@bray@omni-one-consulting.com"
type="cite">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Thanks
so much for your feedback. To answer your questions so far. v<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0
level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span
style="mso-list:Ignore">1)<span style="font:7.0pt
"Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Participation
was voluntary, although the culture in Kenya is that people
expect to get a payment to attend forums, so some of them were
misinformed and may have come for the expected money. This is
a culture started by foreign aid and is now endemic. The first
thing people ask if there is a forum is ‘how much money will I
get’ to attend. While the money thing makes true motivation
for attending cloudy, there were some that did know there was
no financial gain for attending. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0
level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span
style="mso-list:Ignore">2)<span style="font:7.0pt
"Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The
theme was peace in the community and it was 2 days before the
elections in Kenya. The theme was relevant and something that
a lot of people were directly effected by from the post
election violence in the 2007 elections. So relevance was
there but that does not mean it is something that people are
passionate about. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0
level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span
style="mso-list:Ignore">3)<span style="font:7.0pt
"Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">It
was an open community forum, not within an intact system.c<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0
level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span
style="mso-list:Ignore">4)<span style="font:7.0pt
"Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">I
noticed also that people stayed in their small clusters of
people they knew. They did not mix or move around to work with
other people. Not sure what that was about or how normal that
is. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0
level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span
style="mso-list:Ignore">5)<span style="font:7.0pt
"Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Kenya
has an education system where children are told what to think
and what to do. It is not a culture that naturally lends
itself to people making their own decisions and breaking out
of the usual tribe. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0
level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span
style="mso-list:Ignore">6)<span style="font:7.0pt
"Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Another
observation is that people seem to finish their discussions
very quickly and merge sessions so that they cover all the
topics in one or 2 sessions, leaving the later sessions as a
blank space where there is nothing to discuss. It feels like
there is a very superficial discussion of topidocs rather then
getting into the heart of it. In a forum of 100 people, to
cover all the topics in a couple of sessions is a surprise to
me. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Any
further ideas would be much appreciated. I am a westerner
working in Kenya, so culturally I am still learning a lot. I
know I am missing something important. I think it is helpful
to draw my attention to the question of passion. It does feel
like passion is missing, and also the hunger to get to the
bottom of things is missing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Peace</span></p>
</blockquote>
<br>
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