That Time I Presented to the UN?

UN Experience

In my last entry, I expressed how excited I was to attend a UN workshop. UN Habitat Sanitation works are all over Masaka: Masaka is part of the Lake Victoria Region Water and Sanitation Initiative and was granted a lot of money over the past few years to improve the quality of water and cleanliness. UN Habitat, with sponsoring from the Danish government, created a microcredit fund to enable residents to construct 900 toilets in the area. 500 will be in Nyendo-Ssenyange (within Masaka) and 400 will be in Northern Uganda.
So for this reason, Nyendo is positively crawling with UN Habitat workers. This isn’t always for the best: there are massive trenches dug into the sides of Nyendo streets, presumptively to provide drainage and the eventual creation of a sewer system. The silly UN thought that if they dug the trenches and left the equipment with the residents, a sewer system would magically build itself. Instead, the trenches are seen as just convenient garbage pits. Very attractive.
Anyway, to summarize: I was not attending a seminar on strengthening revolving funds, as I thought I was doing. I was actually presenting my group (LUGADA’s) expertise concerning the sustainability of a revolving fund.
Summarizing again: I had to deliver a half-hour presentation on the sustainability of a revolving fund before a room of experts, even though I was entirely unprepared and flabbergasted. Fortunately I have been blessed with a liberal arts education, meaning I can speak extensively without every saying anything especially useful.The presentation went off well enough.I have taken four classes with Dr. Marta Robertson, which has certainly prepared me for speaking at length about general ideas like “boxes” and preconceived notions. I borrowed every aspect of her teaching philosophy. “Before we talk about how to sustain ably manage a revolving fund,” I began. “What does sustainability mean to you?”
We went around the group, discussing the word sustainability.
“Great. Now, what activities aren’t sustainable? If sustainability means longevity, what activities don’t contribute to sustainability? ”
So we discuss the opposite.
I had a half hour to put together the presentation, so I covered some giant sheets of paper with bullet points and arrows. I even had a pointer to look official! Anyway, the presentation covered useless topics like “developing a multi-stakeholders forum” and “building a relationship of mutual trust and respect.” We also covered how gender is a social construct!
Dear Center for Public Service,
I am sorry for presenting your orientation lecture before UN officials without properly citing you.
Fortunately, my presentation had to be translated, so a 30 minute presentation was more like 15 or 20 because everything I said was translated into Luganda. Afterwards, I had to shake hands with every single official in the room (there were a lot of officials in the room-everyone from the mayor of Masaka to the chairperson of the entire Lake Victoria regional project) and resign myself to my name of Madame Sarah and/or Madame Angela. I’m still baffled by the names here: surnames are presented first and I introduce myself as Sarah Angello most of the time. That further confuses people because last names end with a, always. So I have become either Madame Angela Sarah or Madame Sarah Angela.
Anyway, the photographs of the presentation are quite humorous but for some reason blogger won't let me post them. When they show up, please enjoy my makeshift pointer, my awkward stance when the translator is speaking, my blackish eye and of course, the lopsided haircut. All in all, my first professional interaction with the UN was a success.
The lopsided haircut is staying: I figured if I paid 45 cents for a haircut, I deserve pieces that are two inches longer!