Just Another Travel Blog

Re-Direction, Alas, Moving On - But Not Gone!

2008-08-16T12:33:00.000-07:00

I have decided to split my blog into two and locating them on my own web site.

The reason for this, is that I found that I was mixing content for two separate audiences. This blog contained information for both my mobile data collection efforts, and it also contained content directed towards friends and families. Additionally, at times I have felt the urge to make comments on political and other aspects on my blog which might not have been expedient, especially if I was still within that country!

The two contents did always mix well; there was potential for tedium for either audience, or worse yet, for both!

In splitting blog to my own hosting site, I have greater management over both content and comments, with the aim to providing a richer and more relevant experience.

So, if you would just like to keep up with the personal side of my opinions, thoughts and observations of my life and travels, you may view my private blog at:

One Small Footprint

However, if you are interested in mobile data collection for NGO's in developing countries from a technical perspective, you may view it at:

SixBlue Data

Therefore, this present blog (http://dvisaak.blogspot.com) will no longer be maintained with new content. As an audience member, feel free to choose your content at the blogs referenced above.

Thank you for your comments, encouragement and readership.

Note: the photo on this blog posting is from 1985....

Sincerely,

David Isaak

What Lies Beneath...

2008-06-25T11:36:00.000-07:00

Our very nature as humans renders us self conscious, i.e. concerned with what befalls our persons and how we affect those around us - and rightly so. Yet one aspect of the natural sciences that I have enjoyed since a child has been that by acquiring (or rather allowing ouselves to acquire) a passionate curiosity of the world about us, i,e. external to ourselves, we may momentarily lose that sense of self and simply gaze and stare in awe at the world about us. Nowadays, with such a hectic life constantly demanding our attention and efforts, this is welcome relief. Take notice of that which is barely notice in our daily walk in this mortal coil...

“Deer, jumping mice and the oven-birds are denizens of the forest floor by virtue of using it as their substratum, but there is also a host of curious animals which use the forest floor, especially the litter of dead leaves, twigs, branches and fruit parts, as their walls, ceiling and sub-basements.

Looked at from the eye level of the cockroach, this litter becomes a several-storey edifice of enormous extent. The various floors are separated by twigs, midribs, petioles, fruit husks, samaras, skulls, elytra and faeces. The lowers one descends, the more compact is the structure. The leaves become more fragmentary, the faeces of worms which have come up from the soil, of caterpillars which live in the trees and of the inhabitants themselves, as well as grains of sand brought up by the worms and a heterogeneous assortment of beetle skulls and wing covers, become more abundant.

This complex is rendered more intricate by the growth of minute fungus moulds which feed upon dead leaves and organic refuse, weaving it all into a compact amt by their myriad white hyphae.

This is the woof woven into the warp of the woodland rug.”

From preface of Soil Animals, Keith McE. Kevan , H. F. & G. Witherby Ltd. (1968) - attributed to A.P. Jacot

Angola and Nepal

2008-06-14T05:58:00.000-07:00

Last March I was quite close to visiting Nepal for a PDA assessment while enroute from Myanmar. Nepal has been engaged in turmoil between the Maoist communist “insurgency” and it monarchy for years. A few weeks before my departure for Myanmar, I received an email that conditions had deteriorated due to the upcoming constitutional elections that would determine the fate of the monarchy, and that we should defer my trip until a later time. The election was held and effectively ended the monarchy resulting in the King leaving the palace and retiring to a nearby house.

After reading that conditions had stabilized, an email to the country office in Kathmandu resulted in a green light to visit. They suggested the latter half of August which works out perfectly for me, since I am finishing the planning for a ten day assessment in Angola the first of August.

I seem to always be working the horizon, as I call it for trip planning. The analogy, for me, goes like this. The shoreline represents airline ticket in hand, bags packed and visa stamped in my passport (oh no! I’m running out of pages again in my passport!). The expanse of swells across the sea between me and the horizon are the trips in progress, e.g. Exactly what date should I arrive? Has my hotel reservation been completed yet? Am I going to receive my passport back in time from the visa courier agency? Beyond the horizon (with the masts poking above the line of time…) are the emails traded back and forth going like this: we will discuss it with our program persons, maybe in the fall. The Sahara is too hot during the summer! What is a PDA??? It seems my mind and email typing fingers rove to and from across this line of sight. The sun never sets, it seems…, but what a view!

The Tale of the Data

2008-06-10T17:35:00.000-07:00

I was a simple toolroom clerk working for General Dynamics back in the early 1980’s. My job involved stocking and issuing electronic hand tools to assemblers. One of the tasks was to maintain inventory and ensuring accountability for all tools issued to employees using their employee number. We used a NCR form (multi-paper forms using micro-encapsulated bubbles on the back of each page, excepting the final copy which when written upon burst and produced a carbon copy on the page underneath. We spent a lot of time managing a large box of tool receipts indexed by employee number.

Whenever an employee requested a tool, we would (technically) look first to see if an identical tool had been issued to same employee before issuing another. Well, at the beginning of shift the long line of employees knew we would not have time to rummage through all those slips of paper to see if they had duplicate tool issues. This poor inventory execution not only resulted in behavior by employees not bothering to see if they had a duplicatetool in their toolbox, but it also allowed many nice socket sets and diagonal pliers to find their way home. I had a few employees that pilfered generous amounts of tools knowing the weakness of the paper-based system.

My manager walked in one morning with a large box and a smaller package. He looked at both myself and my coworker briefly, then he handed the box to me (my co-worker struggled with a learning dyslexia) and instructed me to learn how to use this new Apple IIe computer and the DB Master database software. He wanted me to convert from a paper-based tool inventory system to a computerized one. He said that I was relieved of my toolroom window duties, grab a cup of coffee and to figure it out.
I had never touched a computer and I certainly never had even heard of a database. During the next few weeks I found my calling.

Now I had always had a proclivity towards handwriting manual lists of information on everything from notebooks, to ledgers to huge wall-mounted order lists. I was fascinated even as a young child with lists of toys and poring long tables of geographic country data. I loved how a database (albeit, non-relational) could organize data in a logical and easily retrievable manner. I not only learned to use that state-of-the-art personal computer, but how to design simple databases and to build reporting tools.

Well, soon I had my most notorious tool thief approach me for a pair of connector crimpers. This tool type cost over $100 dollars not including the crimping die set that he also requested. I asked him to please wait a moment. I quickly churned out on a noisy dot matrix printer a list of all tools that he had checked out and had not yet returned consisting of several pages. I returned to the counter window and displayed the column of the crimpers. I replied, ”I will be glad to give you another crimper after you return the other four that I have already given you.” He was furious and declared his boss would see about that! Well his manager actually worked with my father at this plant some twenty years earlier. When he returned with this manager, I simply showed him the list of tools issued to the irate employee. The manager laughed and walked away after turning to the employee and saying, “Isaak gotcha!”

Afterwards I went on to develop databases and reporting tools of ever increasing complexity and usefulness. Later, with the Boeing Company I found a new IBM-compatible PC sitting in our main office being left unused. Everyone was afraid to touch it. Well, I found that it had a relational database called Borland Paradox installed on it. Soon, I had access rights to the main frame database (DBII) and I was able to ask any question that a manager asked themselves about our inventory (this is significant, being able to query data for meaningful and useful information. Unorganized data by itself is tedious and largely unusable).

For instance, I was able to summarize the tens of thousands of tools used on the existing 767 airplane and adapt them as an order list for the new 777 program that was just starting. Quantities were added to selected tools after review by each airplane section build group and then we simply let a printer spit out boxes of tool orders to be delivered straight to procurement (this was before email became available). My fellow tool coordinators were delighted since they no longer had to hand type hundreds of tool orders on multilple page carbon paper forms and then later to be hand typed onto order status sheets. Later I learned how databases could be placed on brick-sized handheld computers for our tool rooms with the data uploaded with a docking station connected by wire to the main database.

I was on my way….

During my database career with the Boeing Company I would encounter someone laboring over data management using a spreadsheet. I have seen them all, from Lotus 1-2-3 to the latest products. I recall one gentleman who had an empire of time and cost devoted to a huge spreadsheet complete with embedded macros and images. By that time, I was with an IT group and I had received the request to speak to the spreadsheet designer since he had asked for a third hard drive in his PC. His hard drive order request justification described how he needed the extra storage space for maintaining the multitude of spreadsheets that he had broken his “database” into. Spreadsheets can be limited to 65,000 rows of information, but rarely hit that limit – but not this guy.

I recall the irritation every time that he proudly described his information repository as a database. I cancelled his hard drive request and instead authorized myself to kill this cumbersome set of data that was constantly at risk since it was never backed up. I developed a real database, imported his data and suggested that he return to the duties that he had been hired to do as a tool designer. All is fair in love and data…

Next: when is a spreadsheet not a database?

Save the Children - Yangon, Myanmar

2008-04-02T06:57:00.000-07:00

I checked into the Summit Park View hotel late that evening finding one of the better hotels that I have stayed in. this always makes for a comfortable stay but I always have concerns for the cost. Eventually I found it to be a great value, not only in that it was less than ten minutes from the Save the Children office, but the basic room rate amounted to but US$38! It was explained to me that international economic sanctions had hurt businesses who were striving for tourist dollars.

The next morning I awoke and pulled back my hotel room curtains hoping that I might be somewhat near the 2,500 year old Shwedagon Temple which looms over the city covered in over 600 tons of gold. There it was, just to the east! I would makesure that I would be able to pay a visit.

It was, even at this early hour, quite warm and very humid. It was now Wednesday morning and soon a driver would arrive to pick me up for that first day at the nearby office. I had already emailed my Scope of Work and detailed training plans, so my principle contact, Naida Pasion & I both should be ready for the days activities.

Yangon, Myanmar

2008-04-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

Note: Cyclone Nargis made landfall in Myanmar on May 2nd 2008 three weeks after I departed from the country.

The cyclone name "Nargis" (نرگس, IPA: næɵr-ɡɵs), is an Urdu word meaning daffodil. It was the second deadliest named cyclone of all time, …and is the 8th deadliest cyclone of all time causing catastrophic destruction and at least 90,000 fatalities with a further 56,000 people still missing.

After my arrival back in the U.S., I had many comments of, "aren't you glad you were not there when it happened!" Things have certainly changed with my mindset. My first thought was one of abandonment and escape from my new friends in Yangon. Honestly, I wish that I could of been there, not only to selfishly experience such an event (probability and the care of the staff would of precluded chance of harm), but to possibly press into service my seven PDA's for some assistance in the disaster relief.

Still, I remain with a shadow of guilt that I did not leave a PDA as is my custom. But, for the 1st time, I was required to sign a customs statement upon entry that I would depart with all of my equipment. I have led a safe comfortable life; I certainly could have endured some bureaucratic pain to possible offer some succor to the hundreds of thousands who experience the bewilderment, loss, and death from Cyclone Nargis.

(for more images, go to http://disaak.phanfare.com)

During my high school days, as I sat in class being instructed in world geography, I knew of this country as Burma. I also knew that it was tropical, situated somewhere to the east of India and adjacent to Siam (Thailand). I was involved with what was then popularly known as rockhounding with my father in the mid-60's in Southern California. I recall being quite young (ten years old) and attending a gemology class where we learned to identify semi-precious and precious gemstones through measurement of their refractive index, inclusions (tiny clay and/or gas/fluid filled specks in a crystal), and of course color and hardness.

I remember Burma as being the place for the finest rubies. Or, at least, there was an abundance there that made them popular. The rockhound club had a shop where you could slice, grind and polish a myriad of stoney materials. Most of our activities involved agates and other non-crystalline geologic artifacts, shaping them arduously into a half-rounded shape called a cabochon. I remember trading "up" for what was a rather large garnet. Due to my gemology instruction, I suspected otherwise. You could, loosely, term a garnet as a low quality ruby. Sure enough the gemological tests discovered it to me as a genuine ruby. Well, a long story short, I still have that ruby in an unfinished cabochon (I had neither the access to, nor skill for grinding facets). That hunk of ruby-red crystal was hard! It is naturally only exceeded by the diamond in the Moh's scale of hardness.

My point is, our knowledge of faraway places are rather two-dimensional. I not only mean the lines and colors on a map, but the disparate threads of knowledge that we glean from various sources. Wednesday morning, I awoke and drew back the curtains of my hotel room and gazed out upon the ancient city of Yangon. I was just thrilled to be able to see the huge golden Shwedagon Pagoda complex to the east of my hotel. In fact, I would drive by it each morning on the way to the Save the Children office.

In order to ameliorate my ignorance of a destination, I try to locate a book to read that will provide some insight before my arrival. I chose a non-fiction book called The River of Lost Footsteps by the grandson of the former United Nations Secretary General - U Thant. I loved this book since the author, Thant Myint-U ("U" is a term of salutary respect) prefaces the book with chapter after chapter of historical background. Myanmar is in a difficult time in its history. It is struggling towards a more open society and movement towards a democratic government. Thany Myint-U acknowledges the countries struggles with different factions on the country, including the bloody demonstrations in late 2007, but he states that to better describe a possible solution to a complex issue, it might be useful to look back at the root and evolution of a countries outlook on itself and it's neighbors. I was prepared upon my arrival to see vestiges of British Colonial rule as well as the effect of U.S. economic sanctions on this beautiful country.

I had concerns of my entry into Myanmar before my departure, simply of the bureaucratic sort of the immigration and customs processes. I was advised to secure a tourist visa before my departure which was securely placed in my passport. During this assessment, I would not be able to travel to any of the field locations to observe the use of PDA forms in actual conditions. In fact I found that data collection and dissemination was not encouraged by the government.

I had just replaced my luggage with a higher quality set. I rationalized this expenditure due to my frequent travels, loss of a piece of luggage in South Africa departing from Malawi in February, and having literally worn out two prior sets of luggage. I also bought three TSA-approved security locks for each of my luggage pieces. Since I was leaving the smallest of the the luggage, I had scratched on the bottom of each of these tiny locks a Roman numeral to designate which lock, and hence what combination, used by each.

Well, things get rather rushed packing for a long trip. I placed the wrong lock on my medium-sized suitcase containing my equipment. There was no chance of forgetting the combination, since I had it secured away within an encrypted program on my PDA (absolutely the most useful computer-type program I have ever used. One password to access ALL of my passwords, credit cards, identification, membership - you name it. It is also backed up multiple times on my laptop, flash drive and several email accessible accounts). Sure enough, exhausted and severely jet lagged I fumbled at trying to open the medium luggage in preparation of a customs search. I was not realizing that I was using the wrong combination. Meanwhile, my SC staffer who had met me at the airport, Peter, was increasingly nervous since here I was trying to gain entrance to my luggage and I was the only person left at the luggage carousel - quite conspicuous!

Finally we approached the customs official locked luggage and all. He did inquire what was in my equipment luggage, so I showed him my 3 other PDA's that I carry in my personal fanny pack, indicating that was what it contained. Since I had arrived on a tourist visa (business visa were not being processed very quickly), Peter conversed quickly with the official, and then he gently jabbed me in the side to sign the customs declaration promising to exit from the country with all 7 declared PDA's. Now, why would a tourist bring 7 PDA's into a country? I had my story - I was here to visit my dear friend Andrew Kirkwood (actually the as yet un-met country office director) prior to a business trip to Jordan on behalf of Save The Children. I was relieved that I was not required to tell my dishonest tale. We quickly left the airport....

There are significant infrastructure limitations in Myanmar such as electrical shortages don't use the elevator!)and US$2,000 cell phone SIM card costs (I saw but two cell phones during my entire stay - mine never worked). Also I encountered numerous restricted Internet sites. When this assessment first came up, my consultancy manager and I agreed, that even though conditions suggested a difficult assessment environment, it further warranted a visit to see if we could improve some aspect of their operations. This was not only from a PDA aspect, but also their overall data management strategies. This latter would prove to be a significant part of my assessment.

Of course, I wanted to visit the Shwedagon Pagoda (not shown above) - a 2,500 year old struture, which now stands at over 600 feet, covered with more that 600 tons (yes, tons!) of gold with a massive 78 carat diamond and innumerable rubies and other precious stones at its spire. The pagoda is actually situated at the center of a massive complex filled with many small pagodas and temples.

Around the World - In 22 Days

2008-03-30T19:18:00.000-07:00

Well here I go again. This will be my 3rd round-the-world trip for Save the Children USA. I love to travel. My father worked for an airplane manufacturer, and later for a small airline, as an aircraft electrician. I first flew in an Lockheed Electra turboprop in 1957 in order to visit him with my mother where he was on location in Oakland, California on a contract for U.S. Navy PBY amphibious craft. Even though I was only 5 years old, I still remember arriving at the airport, seeing, and feeling all the hustle and bustle and knowing that this was something special. Later my father worked on the development of the Convair 880 commercial jet airliner at Edwards Air force Base in the high desert of Lancaster California. I recall late one evening he woke me from sleep at the motel that we were staying at and took me on a drive to the hanger where they were preparing the 1st 880 for flight trials. I remember we waited in this cold hanger for what seemed hours. Then, we boarded the plane. My father would function as the third crew member - the flight engineer, essentially watching all the instruments and dials allowing the pilots to fly the plane. When we prepared for take off, my father took me back to the seatless fuselage and strapped me to a bulkhead. I remember being thrilled - and nauseous - from them taking the plane through its air trials. These were maneuvers that you do not normally experience on regular flights. It was exhilarating.

To this day, my Save the Children travel agent, Raymond Franko, knows that I prefer a window seat, so that I can look outside. Also, I seem pre-disposed for long flights since I can sit in a narrow coach seat for hours without having to get up and frequent the locations most travelers need to. Some reference to a cast iron aspect of my anatomy could be in order here.

This trip starts from the Sea-Tac airport outside of Seattle, Washington state, USA on March 30th. I will first fly south to Los Angeles (I dislike that airport), then fly west across the Pacific for a brief plane change in Osaka Japan, then onto Bangkok Thailand for a 9 hour layover. This layover extended from just a couple of hours to over 9 hours, due to a last minute change to my itinerary. So, I decided to book in advance a room at the airport hotel. I was going to arrive the next day to my destination, Yangon, Myanmar (formally known as Rangoon, Burma) late in the evening, then get up early and begin my day at the Save The Children office. The chance to lay down and catch some sleep would beneift everyone.

After a week conducting a mobile data collection assessment in Myanmar, I will return briefly to Bangkok for a direct flight to my next Save the Children destination, amman, Jordan in the Middle East. Upon leaving there on April 19th, I will continue flying west to Chicago and then finally Seattle. 51 hours of flight time (not including layovers) and over 22,000 miles traveled by air. Whew! I love it.

When I first start communicating with a Country Office (CO), I begin planning out my itinerary. Since it usually always involves visits to two or more CO's, I need to figure out all of my departure and arrival dates and times. This is so that I can provide these to Mr. Franko, the travel agent, to secure appropriate flights. Then, I put all of the information in a spreadsheet (shown above), which i print out and keep in my shirt pocket while I travel. it contains all of my flight times, seat numbers, departure and arrival terminals and more. I also load this itinerary and all of my other travel documents onto my personal PDA. I include the actually itinerary sent to me by the airlines in Adobe Acrobat form (a PDF file).

Several times at some remote airport I have had the ticket counter person state that they did not have any reservation under my name. Even though I have a paper copy with me (usually several copies since some immigration officials require leaving them a copy), I usually just flip on my PDA and state that is curious, here is the flight reservation document that your airline sent to me. That always resolves the problem. I also keep printed paper and PDA copies of my passport, including color photos of my luggage. This latter item helped me describe to an airline employee in Guatemala what my luggage looked like when it was misplaced.

On this trip, it will take a total of 23 flight hours and 35 hours overall to reach the airport in Yangon. Piece of cake. It will take me until my 3rd day to recover from the 14 1/2 hours of jet lag. I will not have that luxury, I will start the training the day after I arrive.

Farewell to Mangochi

2008-01-30T14:18:00.000-08:00

We returned to the office and synchronized our data for review. The only problem noted was one set of PDA records seemed to have happened the night before. I chuckled when I realized that it was my mistake. I had forgotten to change the PDA's clock to the correct time zone after leaving Armenia last week. The PDA catches everything - including the consultants' mistakes!

That afternoon, I gave my final presentation to senior staff. I recommended that they procure several PDA's and use them in a pilot program in a parallel effort with a paper-based survey. I also risked an internal organizational suggestion. When I was picked up at the Nkpola Lodge on my first morning of instruction, my driver was actually Lloyd, the manager of Logistics and all of the drivers. Later that day when I asked to see where the servers are located, I was somewhat alarmed to see Lloyd sitting at the keyboard of one of the servers. I found that Lloyd was also the IT support for the Mangochi office. During our many drives together, I found Lloyd not only quite friendly but well skilled for IT work. I spoke with him and asked what would he really like to do - manage drivers or do IT work (he actually used to be an IT instructor in networks at a local school)? He replied IT. Kwandani, the Field Office Regional Technician (FORT) told me that Lloyd was doing a great job. So, during my exit presentation, I added a single bullet that the Mangochi IT support be a dedicated position. All were happy.

Field Testing at the Kausi and Nasite Schools - Mangochi

2008-01-30T13:05:00.000-08:00

After the form was deemed designed, I taught the team how to load (also known as "synchronize") the form onto each of the PDA's that we would use for testing. Then, I had each PDA holder to conduct several interviews with other team members. We then synchronized the collected data back to the form designer and it looked all good. We were ready.

We took two vehicles and split the team in two and each group headed to a different school. The group that I went with arrived at the Nasite elementary school but a few kilometers south of Mangochi. I love this part. We first presented ourselves to the head teacher and it was explained why we were there, and what the purpose of our trip was.

While the team split up to interview teachers in their classes, I took a moment to enter a large classroom next door. A young teacher was seated at a table in the far corner of this room with a dirt floor interspersed with broken concrete and no lighting. He had several students at his desk as he was writing in a register. I asked him how many students that he had in his classroom each day, and he said that it averaged about 198.

As I walked out side his classroom preparing to follow and observe a PDA team member, I noted a group of children under a large tree trying to avoid the rain. The next series of pictures were taken within an interval of perhaps 5 seconds between them and within a total of less than 30 seconds:

2nd

3rd

The interviews went smoothly and we soon departed to meet up with the 2nd team at the Kausi school nearby. I will never forget riding up to the school site in the back seat and Amy Richmond in the front. Both of us are quite light-skinned. The chanting that we heard as we drove up across the compound was from the children racing across the yard saying, "The Whites are here, the whites are here!" As we were introduced to the head teacher (in a stunning bright blue suit), I noted several older students using small wispy branches to literally whisk the students back to their classrooms. I thought to myself, I wish I could of had that job back at my small elementary school in the 1960's suburbs of Southern California.

I was observing one of the team members interviewing a teacher with his PDA just outside the classroom. I emphasize the need to observe a respondents visual cues in order ot assess their willingness to be interviewed with technology, and to be alert on when there is a need to employ ones' developed set of interviewer skills to enjoin trust in order to have a successful, unbiased interview (if that is possible).

In the first picture above, the respondent is displaying body language of hesitation towards the interviewer and the PDA. Note the hands on the hips, and the leaning away from the interviewer.

In the second picture the interviewer has wisely turned the PDA screen towards the teacher, who has now begun to lean towards the interviewer and has begun demonstrating curiosity towards the interview collection instrument. Hold on, we're not there yet!

Now, the interviewer has gained the respondents trust and curiosity has been disregarded for the moment. note how the body language of the teacher has changed and now the PDA is disregarded and the teacher is instead thoughtfully considering his answers to the interviewers questions.

Please note, that with a PDA, an interviewer is not able to hold up the classic large clipboard and paper survey form which can often act as a barrier, both physically and communicatively between the two persons. A PDA is different and actually can be leveraged to enjoin trust.

What Will be the Results of My Questions?

2008-01-29T18:04:00.000-08:00

The Results Framework

A note about the Results Framework. It is just that, a "programme logic that explains how the development objective is to be achieved, including causal relationships and underlying assumptions...” Wow! Let me give a simple and possibly error-prone example. Let's say you have suddenly had some unexpected even in your life that caused to perform some introspective review of your life's' goals. Let's say further that you lost your job and did not know how you would pay the bills and buy food. You might first think that you need to quickly get another job. But, you realize this might be an opportunity to review your life in general. You do just that, move it up a few levels and generalize. What do you want in life? Your responses might be, "I want to be happy!" Well, take it down a level. "I want to have money to buy necessities and enjoy good health."

Go further. "What will I do to enjoy good health (eat right, exercise, maintain healthy social relationships, etc.). Well, an important part might be, "how will I know that I have achieved these goals?" Well, you might define a list of measurements such as ideal weight attainment, percentage of healthy food groups in each weekly meal, defined progressive weight changes, blood pressure, cholesterol, etc. measurements over the year. As you disciplined yourself to measure these criteria of having good health, which in turn would be an element towards achieving "happiness", you would have an idea if your program of self-improvement was working...or not working. If your program was not working to the desired goals, you would either review or modify those goals (I really cannot drink another drop of organic carrot juice!), or change them altogether ("weight loss is not really producing the desired effects!).

My illustration is the questions that you would continually ask yourself would be based on your original objectives and the criteria that you defined to ensure that you were headed in the right direction to achieve that "state of happiness". The vital issue is not how healthy am I, but am I "happy".

The Results Framework is a method of defining a program's objectives, defining a strategy to achieve that objective and then to describe intermediate results that will yield indicators to tell you if you are indeed achieving the "state of happiness" for the programs beneficiaries. Likewise, in relation to survey questionnaires, it is not the question itself that is important, but what indicator was defined by the Results Framework that is described by the question so that I might monitor and evaluate whether I am achieving my strategic objectives for the programs success for the community.

So, how would the Results Framework help me build better survey forms? A clear definition of what I am trying to achieve towards a desired state, will then guide me toward what are my objective to achieve that state, and what questions shall I ask myself periodically to determine if I have reached that state. If, after I produce my set of question, I see that some of questions seem relevant, but would not directly contribute to my knowledge of my stated goal.

The following shows an example. The Intermediate Results Strategies at the bottom would then be used to develop the questions to be asked to see if you are achieving your objectives

Again, this is a framework designed to enable you to map out and clearly illustrate what you want to do. Like my college English professor told me, "you really do not know what you are thinking until you begin writing it down"

What Am I Trying to Say?

2008-01-29T12:50:00.000-08:00

Structure – Logic – Question Flow

As I have mentioned before, I have repeatedly found the technical aspects of PDA data collection do not seem to be daunting. What I mean is that the technical aspects of the PDA hardware and the forms development software do not seem to be difficult nor limiting factors in producing a viable form design. What the teams often struggle with are in the deciphering of the structure and logic of the existing paper survey forms. The development of a PDA software form just seems to enhance any inherent problems with the existing paper forms. What I like about mobile data bases (a PDA form), is that they demand a clear logic. This can be difficult to wrestle with - clearly understanding one's form before you actually build it. But, how many of us begin pouring concrete for the foundation of a house without first thinking, discussing and producing a design to meet the requirements?

An object if inquiry (in this case a paper or PDA form) might involve 3 elements:

Structure - Logic - Question Flow

By structure, I mean how the form is literally laid out on paper - the ink, so to speak. Not only does a paper survey form (or any image of communication) have the questions typed on the paper, but there are other non-textual cues in the form design functioning as aids and guides to the form. For example, there are non-question texts such as the title of the form, instructions for using the form ("ask the question, but do not provide any answers to the respondent for the possible choices to be recorded"). Also, formatting is used to denote hierarchical levels within the form (BOLD, 16 pt. font for the major survey section, BOLD 14 pt. font for sub sections, etc.), in addition to lines of varying thicknesses, colors and a multitude of other visual cues for the form user. These form structure elements need to be understood for their intent and duplicated on a far smaller PDA display.

The logic of the form is just that. It is similar to what computer programmers employ to replicate the logic of real world thinking. For example on a paper form a question might read, "Is the woman pregnant?" If the answer is yes, move to questions 14 through 22 on pre-natal health. If the woman answers No, then continue skip questions 14 through 22 and move directly to question 23 on household income. logic is actually contained within each and every question. Each question has an "entry" rule(s) in order to govern whether the question should be asked, and each question, once it has met the entry rule(s) has an in internal set of rules that will determine validation of what can be entered as a response.
For example, we will not accept the recording of the weight of a baby of the age range of two to five years of age, of less than zero kilograms, nor greater than 100 kilograms. I am freely using hyperbole here to demonstrate my point. Once we achieve interplanetary NGO efforts, we might need to re-write the logic of our survey forms. Lastly, each question has an "exit" rule that, depending on the other rules, determines what action to take or to which question is to be shown next. Of course, the majority of questions have very simple logic and simply progress in a lineal fashion; just record Yes or No for questions 1 through 108.

The question flow is strongly related to the question logic, but it more describes the overall intent of the questionnaire. It is something like the "stand back and look and what you are trying to achieve with the entire set of questions. Sometimes one can get too involved in the logic, rules, and details of each question and forget the objective of the form. For example, "Why are we taking the time and effort to ask this mother 108 questions? I recall that we only had 4 intermediate results defined in our Results Framework which resulted in 18 variables required for program analysis?" Are why designing a coherent form that leads both the interviewer and respondent in an understandable conversation that reaches beyond a survey instrument and incorporates a human-to-human discussion relevant to the program deliverables that will improve their lives. This is actually the most important part.
So, what is this Results Framework (alternatively termed the Logic Framework), and what value can it provide in designing a survey form, whether used on paper or a PDA? The fact is, the Results Framework determines what the question will be, while ensuring that the question asked (and the response content) will provide information to determine if a program efforts are indeed producing the desired result.

The Head Teacher Interview Form

2008-01-29T12:00:00.000-08:00

Here is how the form looked on the PDA's after we agreed on the forms' intent. The first screen identifies to the interviewer the title of the form and its purpose. Note the Save the Children branding.

The next screen, shown below, regards data privacy and reminds the interviewer to ask for the respondents permission to be interviewed.

If the respondent declines and the interviewer records "No", then the form simply moves to the end of the form and instructs the interviewer to thank the respondent for their consideration.

If the responent agrees to the interview, the first screen of questions is presented to the interviewer.

For instance, instead of having to type in the interviewers own name, they simply "tap" with the PDA's stylus (onscreen equivalent to a PC's left mouse click) on the button entitled "Lookup..." to the right of "Interviewer Name" and they are presented with a list of interviewers..

The PDA form designer can either limit the interviewer to only a selection of pre-determined interviewer names from the Lookup list, or they can allow them to type in an additional name not listed. This is a design consideration, and often you will want to restrict the selection to an exclusive list of items presented (in this case, interviewers names). But, you always need to consider what unexpected conditions that might be encountered in the field and to allow flexibility for the PDA user to add to the list on-the-fly, so to speak.myself.

There are also the flexibility in form design to offer a list of multiple selections of responses to a question ("AND" responses)

Now, let's see how the logic of the "what is your highest level of academic achievement" question displayed.

When the interviewer taps the Lookup button, they are presented with the four choices, including "Other" (notice "please specify" does not need to be shown)

If the respondent provides one of the first three responses, it is simply recorded and then moves to the next question. however if they choose "Other", then they are instead directed to a screen and asked to type in the "Other" achievement.

There is no way out of this sequence of screens - the logic must be followed, unless the interviewer makes the incorrect selection. Even then, the PDA form designer has a multitude of ways to guide, or even force, the interviewer to make the correct choices. Few of this PDA form functions are available for a paper-and-clipboard method of surveys. You can write anything on a paper form...

Save the Children - Mangochi, Malawi

2008-01-28T11:57:00.000-08:00

This one of the largest teams that I have had for my training sessions. It is well represented from a broad cross section of the disciplines here at the Mangochi district office of Save the Children USA here in Malawi. Not only are the M&E and IT representatives here, but interested representatives from the various field programs. What a delight!

Our focus for field testing the PDA's is going the Education group, and specifically a Head Teacher PDA survey form that we will test at a couple of schools. The training was conducted in a very large conference room well suited for meetings and presentations. But, I quickly realized I would need to help the participants by dissolving the wide circle of tables in order to bring the participants in closer. This was needful not only to bring them closer together physically in order to hear me speak (I do not lack, I have heard, the ability to project my voice) and to see the training materials, but more importantly to develop the sense of a team. So, I rearranged the room (to the obvious delight to some, and dismay to others desiring to remain on the fringe) to this:

The team quickly picked up on using the PDA's, and after I quickly designed a simple form, I asked for a decision on a form that we would design and take for field testing to the program location. They selected the Head Teacher Interview form, but decided to use it not only for the head teachers (principles), but also the rank and file teachers as well.

What follows is the first few questions of this candidate form. I will focus on the 2nd question of the form: "What is your highest academic qualification?"

Save the Children
Sponsorship Primary Education Program

2007 Standard 4 Data Collection

Headteacher Interview

School:___________________________ Name of Interviewer: _____________________________

Head’s Name: ________________ __________Sex: 0__Male /1 __Female: School Code: 19/__ __

1. Standard(s) teaching _____________
2. What is your highest academic qualification?
A) JCE/ B) MSCE/ C) "A” levels/ D) Other (Specify): ___

The first few questions of this form was simple enough, only requiring brief discussion on the response codes for gender and the source of school identification codes. However, question 2 asking "What is your highest level of academic achievement?" In order to overcome my deficiency on cultural and language, I try to watch for audible and visual cues provided by the group. After asking the group what this question meant, I noticed that several dissenting sub groups emerged. I gave time for their inter- and intra- sub group discussion to occur. I not only wanted them to arrive at a consensus, but I also wanted to observe their decision dynamics, for this team in particular, and possibly cultural, as a whole progressed.

Here was the issue. Question two had, what appeared to be, four different responses to the question, "what is your highest level of academic achievement?" The response could be JCE (2A) OR MSCE (2B) OR "A” levels (2C). There was a 4th response called "Other", which I termed (2D) for discussion purposes. This last response also indicate (but I was not sure), please specify the name of the "other" academic achievement. Actually I annotate all question and survey artifacts with shortened notations. I actually utilize these notations for scripting (a simple form of programming) used by the forms design software to define and operate the logic of the form.

Since a teacher could achieve several levels of academic achievement (e.g. our Bachelors, and then later Masters, or Doctorate degrees), the question was asking for the "highest". So, the response logic was of the "OR" type. You could only respond to one, not two or more. This Other was causing the debate. Was other in addition to a response of 2A, or 2B or 2C, or was it a distinct "highest" achievement of it's own, simply unnamed in the 3 responses?

The debate went on for 1 1/2 hours. I allowed it to proceed since I did not want to influence the decision. But I was also wanting to use this issue and a cause for describing how that paper forms often hide their logic. In addition, I wanted to also point out that the issue is not with the logic of the specific question, but rather goes back to the design of the survey based on the Results Framework. At one point, rather meanly, I even asked the question of how long this questionnaire had been being used? It is amazing how paper forms can perpetuate an illogical or misunderstood indicator.

The team decided that the "Other" was just another unlisted highest academic achievement that should be captured but was not listed in the other three responses. So, 2D was an "OR" response. There was actually a lot of discussion that "Other" actually meant an "AND" response with the intent to capture any additional academic achievement.

This discussion of the minutia of a single question is certainly tedious. But, it is just one example that I began to encounter while endeavoring to have a team build a form in order to field test for value determination of PDA's to replace paper survey methods. In the very beginning I tended to overlook this close examination of the actual meaning of each of the survey questions. But, as I did, I found that our post field test reviews of the data collected tended towards lively debates of what the data meant. I then realized that the issue was neither with the data nor the PDA form, but a lack of consensus of the meaning of the question, or more accurately, what was the presumption of what the answer would provide. I saw that if there was not a clear understanding of the structure, logic and question flow, then I not only could not train a team to produce a usable PDA form, but worse yet, I would possibly perpetuate an instrument of mis-information that might directly affect peoples lives.

Nkopola Lodge - Mangochi, Malawi

2008-01-28T10:18:00.000-08:00

We stopped by briefly at the Save the Children office here in Mangochi. After a few introductions, notably with my PDA Team Leader Francis Mabeti, Lloyd Msiska, the Information Technology (IT) manager, and Amy Richmond, the Sponsorship Program Manager.

Francis is the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) manager (I will describe what M&E is about later) and he and I will work together closely. Lloyd not only keeps the computer systems operational, but he also manages the transportation logistics. Amy is who I would describe as being responsible for the Mangochi Sub-Office.

Since we had been traveling for most all day, I was then taken to my lodgings during my work here. Now, I never know what kind of place I will be staying, which makes it interesting. It can be simply a guest house, hotel, or with a staff member at their private residence (my preference). I usually do not ask questions about my accommodations, but I just leave it up to the CO. They know best how to provide secure accommodations in the context of the area. All of my expenses while in country are paid for by the Westport It group of Save the Children, but the biggest issue for me is not to cause unnecessary effort or indirect expense to the CO. By this, I mean, I try to stay close to the office in order to minimize the logistics of picking me up each morning.

So, I began to be a bit disappointed in after an hour travel north we still had not reached my lodging. Later, it was explained that, as in Liliongwe, there was a huge gap between types of lodging in Mangochi. We soon turned off of the paved road onto a dirt road and arrive at the Nkopola Lodge after but a mile.

Well, was I wrong. It was beautiful. The Lodge is located right on the southwest shores of Lake Mangochi. The staff courteously greeted me and I was taken to my small room, somewhat of a small cottage with the back facing the white sandy beach of the lake. I unpacked and plugged in all of my PDA's to make sure that they had a full charge for tomorrows training session.

The next morning dawned on a stunning sight out my back sliding glass door. This was one of the beautiful places that I had been to. I called up room service and asked for my breakfast to be delivered to my room. When the young man arrived with my breakfast, I asked that he walk through and place it on the table outside so I could view the lake while dining. As I sat down, I saw that it was so beautiful that I turned to go inside and grab my PDA to take a picture. Within the few seconds time span, two monkeys took position on a low wall separating me from the adjacent room not more than four feet away. I had no idea that there were monkeys here, and they just showed up out of nowhere!

Well, these two uninvited simian breakfast guests were inching towards my breakfast even as I drew back to the table with PDA camera in hand. They removed themselves back along the wall to watch me dine. The moment that I finished and walked inside closing the glass doors, they, and two others pounced on the table and lifted the plates to lick off the contents - all without knocking over a glass or disturbing a utensil.

On the next few mornings, I began to notice that the monkeys would scurry across the cottage roof tops in parallel to the movements of the room service delivery persons. In this way, I knew when my meal was about to be delivered - when they paused on my roof. Sure enough, a knock at the door and everyone was ready to eat!

Astride the Malawi and Tanzania Border

2008-01-27T11:18:00.000-08:00

I am about to leave for Mangochi to start the three days of training and field activities. There will be two days of training for the hardware and software and then a third day of field testing of the forms that the team designs. This will be a bit of a compressed schedule, but I have learned how to be flexible under field conditions.

I enjoyed my drive from Lilongwe to Mangochi yesterday. This very fine highway extends southeast out of Lilongwe and follows a elevated spine directly east of Tanzania. It rains intermittently here a great deal during this season. The weather is delightfully warm (thawing out from Armenia still!), but fortunately it is not hot, but it is lush and green. The views to the plains below were some of the most spectacular that I have ever seen.

At one point when I discovered that Malawi was on our left and another country which I had not visited was on our right, I asked the driver to pull over that I could enter another country without having to present my passport to an immigration official. Walking back across the highway (carefully) to our vehicle, I drew a crowd of children with my camera. They were delightful.

Later, I noticed young children standing at the side of the highway lifting up colored plastic bowls. I knew that they were selling something, so I asked the driver to pull over. He smiled and soon I found several children pushing bowls of dried ants towards me. So, I ate ants. They are a nutritious source of protein, great for on-the-road snacks for the myriad truck drivers. They have a slight slight crunchy texture with a slight hint of formic acid, and definitely do not taste like chicken!

Lilongwe, Malawi

2008-01-25T03:28:00.000-08:00

It is Friday and the second day here in Malawi. I arrived yesterday in the early afternoon after a short stay at the Nairobi Airport in Kenya. I had been studying the security reports (I receive three from two different sources) to assess any risk to the airport. Mr. Franko, the Save the Children dedicated travel agent, informed me that there were no flight cancellations. I am not one to be overly concerned about such things. But I do like to be informed so that I can make the best decision. I learned this from Save the Children’s security unit and from a brief discussion with Paul O'Neil, whom I literally bumped into while trying to locate the coffee in the Save the Children Washington DC office.

The violence and demonstrations over the disputed elections and tribal conflicts were continuing in Nairobi and other regions to the north. The only evidence that I saw was an increased in armed guards in the airport terminal and even patrolling on the tarmac.

I was picked up by a driver from the Save the children here in the capital city of Lilongwe. Mali is a small country, but very green (during the rainy season) and full of friendly, accepting people. The country is notable for Lake Malawi, which occupies nearly 1/5 of this entire narrow land in south central Africa. This lake is often called the "year" lake, since it is approximately 365 miles long and 52 miles wide. My GPS unit showed it being at about 3,440 feet elevation, which explains in part the relatively cool weather just 13 degrees south of the equator.

Derrick, the driver, took me to the Capital Hotel. At first look, I thought to myself, "This will be comfortable". Actually, I can stand a bit more uncomfortable than this fine hotel - a little too fancy for me. In part, I saw this, because I have noted that the predisposition to being able to converse with strangers staying at a hotel is in inverse proportion to the price of the lodging. Still, I am not complaining, but the Capital Hotel will be very secure and restful before my field work commences, and the office negotiated a very fine rate for my room. I realize that it is prudent to not talk to strangers, but gee whiz, everyone has the ability to be polite when one is greeted. Maybe when I am more successful and think more highly of my position, I will be less likely to press a greeting.

On the other hand it is so easy to talk to the housekeepers, groundskeepers, etc. They are very friendly here and not at all surprised to be greeted. For instance, I walked outside the corridor from my room and noticed a man who had just set down what looked like a heavy cardboard box. I walked over to him and greeted him in English, since I have neglected to teach myself any Chichewa phrases. I could tell that he knew English probably only a bit better than my Chichewa. But, I tapped the box in front of us with my foot. He did indicate that it was full of glasses. I leaned forward slightly at my waist as he looked on, then I grasped my lower back with the palm of my hand. At this, he smiled and we both chuckled. We both understood that this was a very heavy box to lift and to carry. We indicated goodbye and we both walked away laughing. So easy....

On the other hand, when I was asked at the Save the Children office what I would like to eat for lunch, I found myself at the local eatery in the same building. I could hear the discussion on where to take me. I encounter this often as everyone sincerely wants me to feel comfortable and at home. I finally interrupted and simply asked, "Where do all of you eat for lunch?" I was told that a cafe was within this business complex just a few doors away. I replied, "That is where I want to eat also!"

Well, that was my kind of place. Reuben the Office Administrator, who accompanied me quickly pointed out that I could use a fork or a spoon for the Nsima (similar to corn grits from the American South) if I preferred. I quickly noticed that everyone in this crowded cafe were using their hands, which I am familiar with, especially since I travel to Muslim countries. After ordering our meal, Reuben directed me to a small table up front which was empty. On it were two plastic glasses filled with Western-style utensils - spoon, fork, and knife. There was no way that I was going to pick up any of those implements when the food arrived. All eyes were glancing at me time to time, especially when the food arrived. Smiles glimmered as I began eating with my right hand - the correct hand.

On our return back to the office from our dining experience I noticed a sign above a storefront advertising as an insurance agency. It stated that it Offered Protection from First Class Professionals. I know that for myself that I likely do not encounter first class professionals requiring that I obtain some level of protection from their unscrupulous advances. Rather, I probably would need protection from the mediocre grade of professionals. But, I thought that I should, in any case stop, in and ask for a list of these high-grade professionals so as to be on the alert for their subterfuge! I am not totally ignorant that my North American delivery of English communication is the only correct method in the world. Each country that uses the English language has developed their own functional linguistics of deployment. Still, one finds individual humor at the unlikeliest turns and it is best probably spared from being shared beyond one's self. You decide.

I spoke by phone with Amy Richmond who is the Program/Sponsorship manager located in the Mangochi District in the Southern Region of Malawi. We discussed my arrival in Mangochi and a few logistical details. I will have ten persons for my two day training session. This will be great! Later, I also spoke with the Country Office Director (COD) Paul MeCartney. Paul was among the most unassuming, engaging COD that I have spoken with.

Most of my day was spent with the IT Manager and Field Office Regional Technician (FORT) for the Africa Area, Kondwani Mtalimanja. On Sunday, I will travel to this area to conduct the training. We will have an opportunity to field test some forms, and then I will return late Thursday to catch a flight the following day back to the U.S.

A Field Day in Vayots Dzor Armenia

2008-01-24T10:05:00.000-08:00

I am catching up on my blogging due to intermittant internet connectivity and travel to Malawi. Last Friday was my trip to the field. We drove 2 1/2 hours south of here. It was stunning. We had to rise up to a mountain pass of over 6.000 feet. All was covered in a light powdery snow with a brilliant blue sky and much warmer temperatures than down in Yerevan where I have been. Still, it was below freezing. Not many trees on the mountainsides, but plenty of rushing streams of freezing water.

The team traveled in separate vehicles since there were five of us – a pretty tight fit in one SUV. We were going to test the two forms that the team built in the Marz of Vayots Dzor. We first stopped in the village of Saravan and entered a building which appeared to be the village administration location. There, we were introduced to several workers in the program here including the Deputy Mayor. Not long after we began the PDA surveys, the Mayor himself came to observe our activities.

Each team member had a PDA with the forms that I had pre-loaded the night before. I had reviewed each form for any logic errors. There might have been a few minor changes I might have made, but these would be learning lessons for our review when we reassembled on Monday. Each team member paired up with a respondent as I observed. Sofik seems to have an innate skill to position herself in a body-language friendly position for the interviews. Each member was adept having the respondent being able to see the screen of the PDA. This is important and differs from using the traditional paper-and-clipboard method.

Not only during my work with the Save the Children, but I have always noticed that interviewers unconsciously place the clipboard between themselves and the person being interviewed. This always seems to engender at the least a curiosity, and at worst mistrust between the two parties. It can form an inanimate barrier between people. On the other hand, I have noticed continually that they PDA, because of its small size, allowing the interviewer to more easily come alongside the respondent. Always, the respondent will at first be drawn to the technological device. This can cause a concern, as I have seen respondents in remote villages ask if their voices are being records, or are their pictures being taken. In Uganda, the PDA team had decided that they actually informed the respondent that their responses would be private and nothing other than their verbal responses were being record in a written manner.

Again, after the initial curiosity of the respondent, invariably I have observed that the respondent and holder of the PDA release from the technical aspect of the PDA. Then, there seems to be a great trust involved and the respondent soon loses interest in the PDA. Then, the respondent is able to maintain eye contact in the absence of the clipboard barrier to concentrate on the questions being asked.

Additionally, the interviewer is largely freed from interpreting the logic of the questioning because of shuffling papers or trying to determine which questions should be advanced based on the respondents answer. This latter is designed into the form through the use of simple scripting. The team later comment on this that they simply had to tap the screen and the PDA question logic was enacted automatically.

We then traveled a short distance to an art school that had been renovated for the community of Vayk. We did not conduct any interviews here, but after a brief session with the staff, we walked into a large dance practice hall. Here were young children, probably eight to ten years of age practicing during their dance class. There were both boys and girls in the class and soon after the music started we began to clap our hands to what Margarita told me was the national dance of Armenia. Well, with all of those children whirling around the dance floor to the lively music, soon I also was whirling around the floor arm in arm with Margarita. How can one resist – life is short.

On Sunday, Margarita and her husband (whom I met upon our return from the field yesterday) picked me up early this afternoon to do some shopping. She has been great giving me background on Armenia, so I am really looking forward to it. The highlight was a surprise visit for an Armenian dinner to their apartment in an area on the outskirts of Yerevan called Bangladesh. Since I have made three trips to that country, I was curious as to its name here in Armenia. Margarita explained it was named such because it was so far away from the city center (just a few kilometers in actuality).

They had a beautiful apartment filled with books (both Margarita and her husband attended university) and two young daughters, the youngest of which was quite shy at my arrival. The older daughter showed off her PDA phone with connection to local television, internet, SMS and email. I had never encountered this particular device in my PDA reviews. Margarita husband informed me that it was a model that would not be available to a non-U.S. market. These I have reviewed from Asian retailers, but never available in the U.S.

It is always such an honor to crosss the border across cultures whenever I have the opportunity to enter a staffers household. These are most dear experiences for me.
We dined on cheeses and sliced meats and a wonderful rice dish. They table was filled with other dishes and especially the bread that I have learned to love. I am not much of a drinker, but we did toast ourselves with Russian vodka. Lastly, I was poured a small glass of Armenia brandy. Armenia is famous for its brandy with the Ararat brandy factory having been established in Yerevan in 1887. Winston Churchill so enjoyed this brandy that Josef Staling would send him bottles of it while the two countries enjoyed good relations. When my glass was poured from across the table, I was suffused with the heady fruity aroma of the brandy. It was delicious and gently warming. Later, Maragarita explained and adressed me as David Jan. I was no longer simply the visiting consultant, but a friend of Armenia. this is truly a wonderful country of warm people.

On Monday, the team reassembled and we reviewed our field activities. Everyone agreed (as I always hear) that the forms functioned quickly, and in the case of our two forms – flawlessly. There was concern over the slower input method of the onscreen keyboard when recording qualitative responses. This was commented on by Guram in the field, which I showed him how to change the keyboard to one with larger keys. Still, paper is easier to write on, but totally lacks the added values of automatic answer progression (skip questioning) and restriction of inaccurate or out of range answers. Plus, the additional time of using the PDA keyboard is more than made up for with the elimination of post-interview hand transcription.

Over the weekend I had synchronized all of the data from the team’s interviews form the PDA’s to the Pendragon form software. I exported the data from the native Microsoft Access data base to more easily viewed Excel spreadsheets. All of the data looked good except for one curious record for each form. Again, you never see these things in the field, but only after post interview data review. The PDA records two additional fields in addition to the questions of PDA device name and date and time to the hundredth of a second. These two fields serve as composite keys in database parlance. It ensures behind the scenes that all records are maintained as unique records and that no data is lost. It was evident from the date/time stamp when the interviews took place – a little after noon and later after 2PM. But one record for each form had a date a little after midnight. Ah, this was my mistake. Those consultants - I had neglected to reset the PDA date and time from West Coast U.S. time. It was recording data exactly 12 time zones earlier. Databases, including mobile databases, do not lie.

Even though I do not consider myself a dancer by nature, it seems I always find myself dancing. It happened on a stage during a school presentation in La Paz Bolivia just a few hours after my arrival at the 13,500 foot elevation of that city. When a natively-costumed dancer spied me in the audience I knew that afterwards I would either have a lifetime memory, or pass out from oxygen-deprivation right there in front of the whole community. The former happened. This experience has been repeated for some strange reason all over the world, especially in Latin America. I just must look like a dancin’ fool!

So, I will spend a couple of days here next week finishing the assessment, then onto Malawi.

The Richness of Armenia

2008-01-20T01:14:00.000-08:00

Friday, the team and I left Yerevan in two vehicles to travel for a little more than a couple of hours southeast to the Marz of Vayots Dzor. Exiting Yerevan saw us slowly emerge from the fog and cold of the plain surrounding the capital. Heading south at first, we then took a turn that led southeast which gradually had us ascending to foothills. As we gained elevation, the fog lifted and a brilliant blue sky appeared. the snow began to recede in southern-facing slopes and the sunlight felt warm on my right-passenger side of the vehicle facing the sun.

Before I describe the field testing of the PDA forms, I will tell about what happened later that afternoon after out visits to the village of Saravan and the municipality of Vayk. It is not that the testing did not go well, nor the delight of being entertained by young dancers performing the national dance of Armenia. But, as you can see, the detour to the churches at Novarank was stunning.

After we finished our testing, Margarita asked if I would like to see a church. I figured that I was in for a treat. During our drive to Vayots Dzor, I learned that Margarita had studied geography and tourism during university a few short years ago. This became evident during our travel, since she had printed out a few pages of narrative of the history of where we were traveling to. Thankfully, during our ride, she provided narrative of all that I saw. We now could drive a couple of kilometers to the south towards the border of Iran to view the churches and mausoleum at Novarank.

Soon after we left the highway, we entered a narrow gorge with surrounding cliffs rising hundreds of feet above us. The road was in good shape as Margarita explained that it was in good repair due to the large number of visitors during the summer months. Not far, we emerged into a large bowl-shaped valley that opened up to a cathedral-like view. High to our left, was the church complex situated on a promontory.

I was so entranced just with the view of this valley before me. But I also knew that my life-long delight with history was to be satiated soon. This church was founded in 1205.

When Are We Leaving??

2008-01-16T20:21:00.000-08:00

This is how I am feeling at this point - are we there yet?. Tomorrow we will drive a couple or so hours to field test our two forms. The time of training with the PDA's and form design software is completed except for our post field test review. During the training I emphasized repeatedly that what works here in our training sessions will behave differently under field conditions. It always happens that way. Try as we might, something usually pops up that does not function as anticipated until you place the application in the actual context of where it will be used. Part of the reason of this plague of developers and project managers for computing applications is the the designer is expert on how the application works. I recall when I designed and conducted application testing for mobile inventory applications for the Boeing company, I would send out a call of invite to the organizations that eventually would use the application for testing volunteers. Almost without exception, I would receive the expert person who knew how to run the prior version as a super user.

This never made sense to me since they already knew how it worked except for the changes to the application. I frequently would politely smooth over their bruised egos when I declined their offer. I would then make an unannounced call down to the factory floor looking for better, less expert users of the application. I knew that I had found success when I discovered the old codger who must use the application in his/her daily work and who, after some prodding, would vocally declare that they hated the program and it was a waste of their time. These testers were invaluable and would quickly - and loudly - tell you what did not work. Usually this person was as close to the actual process and was indeed the the true expert. Free cups of coffee and donuts did not seem to bias the results.

I am not entirely sure where we will proceed, but Margarita assures me that we will be able to visit areas where both the Community Self-Help Fund (CSHF) and the NOVA programs will be present. The latter is a partnership funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as a five-year initiative designed to improve quality of and access to reproductive, maternal and infant health care in rural areas of Armenia. The Project is managed by Emerging Markets Group, Inc. in partnership with IntraHealth International Inc. and Save the Children, and in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health (MoH) of the Republic of Armenia. I am here in support of Save the Children in order to assist them as emerging as an innovator in use of mobile technology.

Now here is the nuts and bolts of the issue in my largely ignorant and simple understanding. After the economic collapse in Armenia due to the pull out of Soviet Russia in the early 1990's, things became rough for everyone. No jobs, no taxes for infrastructure upkeep and improvement. Around 35% of people in Armenia live below the poverty level, while 6.5% are very poor living on less than $1 a day. The last time that we experienced anything akin to 35% unemployment in the United States was the Great Depression! From reading the success stories (I dearly love them, especially the Save the Children's Directors comment at the dedication of a renovated youth sports facility in Artik town in the Shirak marz, I wish that the Sport School gives many champions. Champions indeed - of the future of the community). I have seen the world over how people, especially women and children, spend much time and effort hauling firewood for heating and cooking fuel, as well as water for cleaning, cooking and hygiene over long distances.

I recall how busy I was with my four young children at one time going to work, coming home to do the laundry and cooking meals. this is not to mention the other tasks of transportation to soccer (football) games, etc. Well, I was plenty busy without having to haul stacks of wood on my head while carrying a bucket or two of water a few kilometers in the dead of winter. I sure enjoy hot showers at the turn of the faucet and electricity upon demand. I will not describe latrine situations in developing countries - flush and go for me! Now where is that secure donation website link?

So very little relatively goes a long way. I will post pictures and narrative in a couple of days so you can see the exceedingly fine work being conducted for the children and families of Armenia by Save the Children and the partners. The newsletter that was produced by the staff of the Armenia CO of Save The Children before I left the U.S. was delightful and very informative.

Accelerated in Armenia

2008-01-16T01:03:00.001-08:00

It must be the cold weather for the PDA team of Guram, Nune(1), Sophik, Margarita and, last but not least, Nune(2)are about 1/2 day ahead of schedule. This is day three (Wednesday) of my visit to the Save the Children office here in Yerevan Armenia. At this point, I have shrugged off most of the effects of the jet lag (I am awakening at a decent time in the morning now). Also, by experience, I can tell how successful we are as a team based on where we are along in the training outline and how involved I am in the training.

The latter is much more indicative of our progress. I know we are ahead of schedule from several aspects. I spent about 1/2 hour at the beginning of our session today conducting a review of yesterdays efforts, asking for comments or suggestions (in case I need to adjust the agenda). I also felt they were ready to take a look at a pretty sophisticated form built by the Uganda Save the Children team last August. We first looked closely at the paper form and then at the construct of the resulting PDA form. This gave the team an idea of some more advanced methods of form construct, but I could tell that they were anxious to return to the form that they had nearly finished late yesterday.

I am continuing to see a development in my training sessions at our different country offices. The challenge is not in understanding how to use the PDA's, nor how to use the software. The challenge is always in first understanding the structure and logic of the paper form. Again, we are building mobile databases. Peper forms just do not automatically insert into a PDA and begin to work. Weaknesses and failings in a paper form become amplified and evident on a PDA.

I am beginning to develop a severe mistrust of paper survey forms. They are just sitting there deceptively winking at me with those big blue textual eyes saying, I am really so simple..... Emphatically NO. I am finding that even the simplest form has hidden, non-articulated instructions and meanings. As an example, yesterday it took the team a couple of hours until the two-page form of forty-two question was agreed upon. Until I observe all of their heads nodding up and down do I encourage them to lay their fingers on the keyboard and hands on the laptop mouse to begin designing the form. I will attempt to describe this subtle deception on the part of the paper form later.

For the balance of the morning, I stood at the far end of the room and simply observed their form design progress on the projector screen. Actually I am actively engaged in watch their team discussions. I am hesitant to interrupt their decision-making process except where they reach a stalemate (even then I usually do not intrude), or see them proceeding down a wrong path. The team made excellent progress. I can tell, because even when I thought I should reinforce my trainer ego by suggesting a change, I received a polite wave-off, and they promptly solved the problem. I am proud of them.

A pleasant surprise is with Nune(1), who is the technology focal. This means that everyone is happy with her until their computer misbehaves or emails ceases to function. Ah, I remember those days of adrenaline. Nune not only constructs Microsoft Access databases, but she also has recently received training in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology. This office is well-poised for managing data and presenting in an intelligible easily retrievable manner. The Country Office Director, Irina Saghoyan, discussed this priority with me on my first day.

Another distinguished advantage for this office is the incomparable Vera. Vera cooks and hosts the lunch time meal here on the office premises. This not only spares an exit out onto the frozen suburban tundra at noon (even at midday, it is below freezing), but I have the chance to sample something other than see-it-is-just-like-in-America hotel food. Vera cooks and presents delicious meals which make me feel like I am at her home. Everyone sings her praises and I will add myself to that chorus.

Tomorrow, on our fourth day (Thursday), we will have finished the second test form. I will then have them role-play as interviewer-respondent with their PDA-installed creations. This activity is intended to extract them from their technical activities and to prepare for the human interaction during our field visit in Friday.

This is NOT the Tropics!

2008-01-14T03:08:00.000-08:00

I checked into my room at the Hotel Congress in Yerevan. This hotel is only five years old, and even though it is a small room, it is very clean and well maintained. I will like it here. I have only been able to connect to the internet for a brief time. My hotel bathroom has an interesting device to warm the towels. I noticed a ladder like device made of tubular steel hanging on the wall adjacent to the shower stall. It actually had a plug in the bottom with a power light. I turned it on and I did not notice it blink or emit any sounds. Later, I found that it had heating coils in the contraption that gently warmed the two towels hanging on it. I like this idea.

Of course, due to the 12 hours of jetlag that I am experiencing, I awoke bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 2:30AM. It will be Wednesday before I am close to adjusting to a normal circadian rhythm. I spent Sunday resting and making the final touches to my introductory Power Point presentation and training plan. I also took the opportunity to continue work for my visit to our Save the Children Country office in Malawi. I will depart a week from Wednesday and fly down to that small country in Africa. I will need to connect with a flight to Kenya through Heathrow airport in London. Even then, I will not be able to fly directly to the airport outside of the capital city of Lilongwe. I will arrive there via a brief stop in Lusaka, Zambia directly to the west of Malawi.

It is very cold here in Yerevan. During my meeting with Irina Saghoyan, the Armenia Country Officer Director, she mentioned that it was unseasonably cold even for here. I do not feel that it is very bad, but I think it is -10 degrees centigrade overnight. I brought along plenty of warm clothes so I will be fine.

My driver Karen (a warm friendly man about my age) picked me up promptly at 9AM. I have just finished my 1st half day of training. I found that I needed to adjust my training schedule. Delightfully, the PDA’s that I scattered throughout the conference room table came quickly into the hands of the team. I had to give them a good ½ hour just trying the PDA’s out and inputting data in the test forms that I provided. We then agreed to a schedule for the next six days which included a field visit on Friday. Margarita, whom I met during a Design, Monitoring and Evaluation (DM&E) conference in Istanbul back in October 2005, offered to take me to the crafts market here in Yerevan this weekend. The Armenia culture is rich and the people very friendly.

A Paris Regression

2008-01-13T01:47:00.000-08:00

I am here in the capital city of Yerevan and is it cold here. There will be more on that later. When I met my Save the Children driver upon my exit from Immigration at the airport here, I could see on his face that I was not ready to encounter the sub-freezing weather outside the terminal clothed in my light cordouroy coat. Ah, but I came armed with my heaviest down coat, Thinsolite gloves and woolen pull-over-the-ears hat.

I neglected to finish writing about my return trip from the Save the Children USA offices in Mali and Guinea last December. I was pleased with the outcome of the assessment of whether our Country Office there, collectively called Sahel, should go to paperless data collection in some of their programs. I am looking forward to hear the reports of how they will implement the use of Personal Digital Assistants (PDA’s).

During the second week of my trip, the team traveled to the neighboring country of Guinea, specifically the city of Kankan. I really enjoyed working with the group there. The Save the Children office was superb but, I will not describe the general hygiene in the city at large, specifically the toilet facilities. Several times my meals were offered warm which I politely refused. This is why I always bring small packaged snacks with me especially during trips to field locations to test our PDA forms.

Well, sure enough, I picked up a virus. This is actually the first time that it was viral and not a bacterial opportunist in my alimentary system. I was actually feeling fine until I departed from the plane at Charles de Gaulle airport outside of Paris on my return from Mali. I was hurrying to another terminal for my connect flight. Suddenly, while standing on a moving walk way, my last meal was urging to exit from the upper reaches – right there on the walkway. This is how you know it is viral, since if it is bacterial, it will want to void itself from lower down. I want to you spare any other descriptors, but at the time I was struggling not to make myself a spectacle right there in the airport. I recovered slightly after a safety net trip to a handicapped toilet facility to achieve some privacy just in case I involuntarily became a human fountain. I still had a couple of hours until my flight back to Seattle. I needed to determine my flight gate before I vainly traveled to another terminal.

Somehow, I found myself on the relatively deserted upper floor above the main terminal. The large expanse of this floor was empty except for a column surround by a low tableau which allowed me to sit my briefcase on and at the same time to lean against. Instead of an opaque wall In front of me, there was what must have a 40 foot glass wall extending down to the ticketing/security area below. Behind this glass was an equally high departing flight reader board. My flight was still too far in the future to be displayed, but here I found refuge. I attempted to return to this location on my visit to this same airport yesterday enroute to Armenia, but I was stopped by a security guard.

My nausea had now subsided, but I was struck by an overwhelming desire to sleep. In fact this after effect of the virus extended for the next three days. Afterwards, I was fine with no ill effects, which was confirmed by my personal doctor. But here, I struggled to remain awake. I wrapped my fanny pack harness into a Gordian styled knot with my briefcase. I set my PDA alarm to the highest decibel level just prior to the time I would have to reach my gate. But would unfold was far more interesting to my bodies need for rest. During the next couple of hours, other sojourners of airport catacombs would find themselves approaching me. I would first hear their footsteps which would arouse my from an uncomfortable doze. Looking up I would find a person obviously lost. Well, I found myself on my feet and asking them for their boarding pass. Then we would jointly scan the huge reader board from our vantage point to determine their gate. I spoke with a young Vietnamese man (my assumption, since he arrived from Ho Chi Minh City). There was also the young Iranian lady, and several others with that look of panic on their faces. Of course they each warily approached me for want of directions and solace from another traveler. Still, I must of presented a suspicious visage. I was anticipating a visit from security based on my image showing up in some distant control room via the ubiquitous cameras overhead.

I got onto my flight and promptly fell asleep. Imagine me, the person who loves flying and takeoffs asleep as we lifted off of the European continent! Once, I stirred from my slumber. The lady sitting a couple of seats from me suggested that I could probably get something to eat in the galley since I had missed the meal. She subtly leaned away from me as I told her I that I was just returning from a Third World country and that I had picked up some intestinal virus. This was too much information that I hoped would not result in a quarantine for me when I arrived in the U.S.

Armenia and (where is?) Malawi

2008-01-11T13:01:00.000-08:00

I am preparing to depart out of Sea-Tac airport from my home state of Washington (West Coast). I am on my way to conduct training for paperless data collection for the Save the Children USA country offices (CO) in Yerevan, Armenia east of Turkey and Lilongwe, Malawi in southern Africa. My flights will total over 26,000 miles. My two flights to Armenia, a ten hour segment to Paris, then 4 ½ hours to Yerevan, will go quickly. The 12 hour jet lag will be not so easily accommodated, but I will arrive one day early so that I am not totally incoherent on the first training day.

My return flight from Malawi will be much more exhausting. I need to fly south to Johannesburg prior to a ten hour flight back up to Paris. Then, there will be another 10 hour flight to Seattle. That will be a 50 hour set of travel days. Enough of my whining. It is the hot and humid summer in Malawi, but I will be fortunate to see the thermometer hit above freezing while in Armenia. I love it!

The airport is just 10 minutes south of Seattle. In order to see my wife Heidi just before I left, she dropped me off at the airport shuttle at 5:15 AM, even though my flight does not depart until 2:05 PM. I did not mind, as if I took the appropriate shuttle in order to arrive the suggested three hours prior to departure, I would of only gained a couple of hours.

Also, I love arriving early at the airport in order to avoid the frenetic pace and admittedly entertain myself with the antics of late arrives. With most humor, we are amused, because either it has, or could conceivably happen to ourselves. Yes, I have raced through airports more than once. Plus, it can be rewarding to be in a more relaxed disposition to be available to assist someone near in line that may not be in similar attitude.

To risk banality, airports are interesting places. For instance, most everyone by necessity must go to the grocery store due to the obvious. However, not everyone needs to go to the airport. I first noticed this years ago in almost a cruel observation. I was at our local Department of Licensing office needing to renew my driver’s license. This is bureaucracy at its best. All the while I am thankful that I do not enjoy such a secure job. I try to be very patient both with the clients as well as the people behind the counters. The employees know the processes backwards and forwards. Yet, continually they are confronted with people like me, who have either forgotten the process, or just mentally stutter from having to endure it again.

Remember, this is a potential Pass/Fail scenario and even though the latter rarely happens except for the distal points of one’s’ driving career. The employees are almost always without fail courteous and thoughtful. It reminds me of the continual reoccurrence of questions that I answered a multitude of times during computer application or PC support. “Why doesn’t the screen come up?” “My printer does not print?” “Do you think that it is my mouse?” You must pass on your knowledge with a smile and wisdom – always.

Anyway, while sitting in the licensing department, I would see persons walk in the door who evidently had not left their household environment since the last bureaucratic venture. You could see the look on their pale faces encountering persons of presumed authority so that they could continue their enfranchised right of driving on streets that pale in relation to those in the capital cities of emerging countries. The social skills often had deteriorated, and the individual reaction to stress varied according to the person’s demeanor. Some would become angry, while others shrank back towards the water fountain. It was a display of classic “fight or flight” syndrome. I enjoyed watch for the elderly, in particular, and offer to guide them to the right form or line to stand in. Perhaps I should have remained quiescent since I recall the glare from an elderly woman when I had mistakenly directed her to the line for a Class II long haul license. The bureaucratic experts soon rescued her from my ill-placed intentions.

Airports, on the other hand, are different. Most people are frequent flyers and are accustomed to getting out of the darkened spaces of a domestic refuge. Still, and I still share this, there are many who have that deer-in-the-headlights stare. I am confident that someone at the Yerevan airport in Armenia will be waiting to amuse – and to gently and wisely assist – themselves when I arrive not knowing the process in an unfamiliar setting. It always comes around…

Not an ATM in Sight

2007-12-14T13:23:00.000-08:00

Well, actually there is ONE. Can you believe it? In this country of Mali, there is but one ATM at the central bank in downtown Bamako, the capital city where I have returned after a few days training and testing in neighboring Guinea. I was forewarned of this dearth of ATM machines before my departure from the U.S. Cash is King here in Mali, declared the Save the Children Country Office director, Dunni Goodman. It is always a bit risky carrying so much cash on one's person. Travelers checks are not generally accepted, nor are credit cards. My hotel accepted my debit card, but my travel Visa card was not accepted even though it had more than adequate funds.

Enough of the funds stricture here. My work is completed, as I gave my exit presentation and recommendations to the senior managers here at Save the Children. On Wednesday late afternoon, I returned to Bamako from three days of training in Kankan, Guinea with Bamadio and Soro, my Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E), and Information Technology (IT) hosts, respectively. I stopped in to speak with Ms. Goodman for what i thought would be a brief moment. Instead, she asked me to sit down and asked if I would provide a presentation on PDA technology to their partner, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) here in Bamako. I said, sure, I'd love to. Save is co-developing a proposal to The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for a Multi Year Assistance Program (MYAP) to alleviate food shortages (food insecurity) in an area to the north here in Mali.

Before I started my presentation, the CRS Director, Karen Kent gave me her paper survey horror story which occurred just the prior week. They had expended much cost and effort to conduct a baseline survey for one of their programs. A baseline is conducted to determine the structure of the program area, i.e. population, nutrition needs, etc. The box of the completed surveys was placed on a bus for transport back to their office in Bamako. That box has still not arrived...

The short of my presentation at CRS was a directive from Ms. Kent, to include PDA's in their collaborative MYAP proposal to reduce overall program costs for data collection and to increase data accuracy.

I took nearly 500 photos of the villages alone that I have visited. Many are posted on my image-sharing website http:\\disaak.phanfare.com. we spent an afternoon testing our PDA survey instruments at the village of Bate Nafadji, where Save has a Child Safety program implemented. As we drove the 4 hours from Bamako, Mali, to the Save office in Kanakan, Guinea, I saw a series of this "safe" houses along the highway. The intent is to inform and make aware the communities of the dangers of child exploitation resulting in child trafficking. A highway is a perfect conduit to obtain and transport children for various purposes, other than what a child should be doing.

As the three PDA-wielding teams dispersed through the village to conduct interviews, I was lead to a large room filled with students. It happened again, I was warmly greeted by a loud recitation of lessons and welcoming speeches. I am always overwhelmed at this reception, in part, because no such acclaim should be given to me; I have a return airplane ticket ot the U.S. The real heroes are the staff and students. i was also shown a room full of old treadle-style sewing machines. A student who had graduated from the Child safety program has remained in the village and now teaches a viable skill to boys and girls (this is gender notable). A marketable skill is still yet another weapon against child trafficking!

I then found the three teams as each team member took turns using the PDA's to survey a head of household. As usual, everyone took to the PDA's effortlessly, respondent as well as interviewer. A post-interview meeting was held before we headed back to the office.

I need to do some packing and head to bed. I return to the U.S. tomorrow

In Kankan - Republic of Guinea

2007-12-11T07:33:00.000-08:00

I arrived at the Save the Children office here in Kankan after a five hour drive on an excellent paved highway from Bamako, Mali. I will not be able to write very much, since I discovered that in this large city, there is not a functioning electrical infrastructure. Last evening we drove about in total darkness to a tiny restaurant. We ate by candle light. Of course, the people have battery power for limited lighting, and you may always discern the loud diesel-powered generators. The later we enjoyed both at the Save the Children office and our overnight residence.

We avoided the cost of a hotel by staying at a residence owned by Save the Children. Electricity stopped at 1AM, but I retired under my mosquito net long before. In the morning after breakfast, we arrived back at the Save the Children office. A very capable staff is here. After introductions to the program managers and administrative staff, we utilized a large conference room to begin the training in mobile data collection.

i prefer to place the PDA's in the hands of the training participants as soon as possible. As usual, they rapidly begin experimenting and exploring the devices. Then, the efforts centered on a very lively discussion of the target survey form that we would design and place onto the PDA's for our field testing tomorrow. The form is to collect data from households regarding Child Safety in regards to awareness and education in Child Trafficking.

I always emphasize, that before we build the form on the PDA, we must understand the content, structure, and logic of the form. This is essential, and once again, a couple of hours was spent to arrive at agreement of these characteristics of the form.

I need to upload this blog entry since the generator is about to turn off, and with it, the internet connection.

Getting Connected in Mali

2007-12-08T06:31:00.000-08:00

As is often the case in my trips to emerging nations, internet connectivity has been intermittent. It first failed at my hotel the Thursday evening before we left for the field. But, I am not here to connect with the rest of the world, but to connect with my partners here at the Save the Children in Mali – and the families and children. So, I will use the business center here at the hotel for the internet.

I have just returned from two days in the field. We traveled for a couple of hours to the villages of Klesokoro and Diambala in the Bougouni region, or known administratively as the Bougouni Aire Sante. After we left the capital city of Bamako. We traveled across a flat plain of scrub and trees. The roads were excellent with the occasional detour for road construction.

My French language speaking skills are slowly returning from my high schools days. They have increased in quality from listening to speaking, in that order. This area reminds me often of my travels in Haiti. I recall that a Save the Children friend once told me that Haiti is like West Africa transplanted, since many of the present day inhabitants of Haiti were forcibly moved from there. It is true, from what I have seen. I love it here.

Even though I have recovered from the effects of the jet lag, I felt some discomfort the first couple of days. I now believe, that it was the effects of the typhoid vaccine that I received just prior to my departure from the United States. Due to Save the Children’s generosity, I utilize the benefit of a traveler’s health service. Two years ago, I went to see the health doctor and to advise them of the countries I was about to visit. The doctor then advised me of what diseases were endemic in those locations and to administer appropriate vaccines. I was due for a typhoid update, so my travel health doctor suggested the newly approved oral typhoid vaccine which is good for five years. Instead of an inoculation from a needle, it is, as the name suggests, taken orally in the form of four capsules taken on alternating days. The instructions strongly urg keeping the unused capsules refrigerated at all times. They must be taken with food and even the water was to be cold and not warm. The instructions even said that the capsule should not be held in the mouth for too long before swallowing!

The vaccine itself, is termed attenuated, or a live form of the virus in a weakened state. By ingesting the virus, it then invokes an antigen response by the body’s immune system. Then, if the in-the-wild version is encountered, the body has the antigens already available to fight off the virus. Well, on my 2nd day here in Mali, I felt a slight distension of my upper abdomen and I felt chills in the evening. I recall that when I was inoculated with the Japanese encephalitis vaccine, I experienced the same effects. The abdominal distension is due to an enlargement of the spleen as it produces the antibodies. I watched this carefully and I had no apparent fever. If you think, “why would anyone subject their bodies to these foreign bodies”, then just do a Google search on the effects, and usually death, of the real non-attenuated, viruses! The vaccine contraindications are nothing compared to the real thing. Horrible stuff. You can watch a Hollywood version in the typhoid death of John Malkovich in Algeria in the movie Sheltering Sky. That is just too much screaming for me.

From Monday through Wednesday, my Monitoring and Evaluation partner, Modibo Bamadio and I reviewed a paper form questionnaire, called Zinkifura, which we wanted to test on the PDA’s. This questionnaire was in French and was used to interview mothers over their use of a zinc (hence, Zinkifura) supplement to offset the effects of diarrhea on their children less than five years of age. Diarrhea of course, is a response to the body to flush out harmful bacteria in the intestinal tract. In doing so, the body can overreact and lose too much water and become dangerously dehydrated. This is often the cause of death with cholera and other intestinal diseases.

We stayed overnight at a nice hotel in the city of Bougouni. The following morning we arrived at the Save the Children office nearby. Last names are used here in Mali for identifying persons. In Vietnam, it was middle names – all too confusing the first few days for this Westerner! We met Bamadio's M&E peer here in Bougouni, Zanna Daou (his name sound like Xanadu to my ears) to accompany us to the villages. The villages were not far away so we arrived by mid morning. The Bamako Country Office (CO) Information Technology (IT) person came with us. Adama Soro is a very friendly and capable IT person, having skills in Microsoft SL Server (the preferred database repository software located on a protected server), Visual Basic (a high level programming language and application development software).

In the early morning, I handed a PDA to Soro and two PDA’s to Bamadio, with the 2nd for Zanna. When Zanna arrived, I suggested that Bamadio provide some initial training to him in the use of the PDA. Bamadio did all of the right things. After turning the PDA on, Bamadio then came alongside Zanna so that Zanna could see the screen. Soon, Bamadio handed the PDA to Zanna to let him use it for himself. This might seem a small thing, but Bamadio not only transferred his technical knowledge to Zanna, but also enjoined trust with his partner with his subtle body language. This is vital during actual interviews. Paper forms on clipboard in the hands of interviewers often present a large physical barrier between interviewer and respondent. The interviewer will often shield themselves from the respondent using the clipboard.

The PDA’s smaller size allows a closer proximity to the respondent and is easier to show the respondent. Yet, since the screen is much smaller, the respondent often loses interest and then disengages from the data capture instrument and concentrates more fully on responding to the questions of the interviewer.

I always appreciate the IT person’s involvement on my visits. I emphasize from the first day, that we are not placing paper forms onto PDA's, we are building portable databases. The IT person is often pre-occupied with keeping the computers and servers up and running, but their skills are crucial to a centralized data management strategy Often CO’s have data contained in scattered, disparate spreadsheets, multiple Microsoft Access databases and even Microsoft Word documents (see, I have them in Word tables!). I always take the IT person aside and discuss a more centralized data management strategy and include it in my assessment report in order to provide knowledge and support to the managers.

We had loaded the test form onto 3 PDA’s. The form had a total of 70 questions, but we only used about 30 of those questions for field testing. Many of the questions were what are commonly termed skip questions. Skip questioning is, for example, when a mother answers Yes to the question, have you ever administered a zinc supplement to your baby? Then the PDA form screen automatically advances to the next series of questions asking the effects of the zinc dose on the child. If the mother answers No, then the questions pertaining to the effects of zinc administration are hidden automatically (through use of underlying scripts) and the PDA interviewer is then skipped to only the questions relevant for a respondent who has not administered zinc to their child, hence the term skip questioning.

I am finding that the skip questioning capability of PDA forms is a marked improvement over the functionality of paper survey forms. With a paper form, the interviewer must follow the logic of the answers and then shuffle through papers to the correct questions. This slows the interviews and distracts both respondent and interviewer, and at the worst, results in incorrect answers. It is pretty hard to sort through the answers while hand-typing in the data back at the office trying to determine the correct answer. If the mother answered yes, that she administered zinc to the child, why are the zinc administration answers blank! You can not easily return and rectify this problem easily.

As usual, at this point I am mostly observing the PDA users during the interviews. I am also entertaining the children with their photographs in order to make friends with them. Upon entering the village of Klekosoro, we approached unawares a mother and her 3 children in front of their house. When the children and saw the tall, light-skinned person approaching, they ran screaming into the house. I hate when that happens. I had been lagging behind taking pictures. I usually try to stay contained physically within the group so that I do not stand out so much. I blew it.

I spent my time principally with Zanna, while Bamadio and Soro went off to their interviews. Bamadio thoughtfully assigned a local young man to accompany us so that we could be re-directed to a common meeting point post-interview. Zanna began his interviews with a couple of mothers after about two minutes of turning on the PDA. I am finding that everyone takes to the PDA method of data collection quite easily everywhere that I travel.

The Pendragon software that we use for the PDA form design is easy to use, and it has a simple, intuitive interface on the PDA. At the same time Pendragon can be extended with the use of a scripting language such as we used for the skip questioning. Using the zinc administration question logic above, if question Z301 (just a question abbreviation code) is Yes, then skip to question Z306. If the mother answers No, then hide all following questions and advance the PDA screen to question Z310. The script that we used follows:

if answer == Y then
goto [Z306] {zinc administration question series}
else {meaning the answer to question Z301 is “No”}
goto [Z310] {“are you unaware of the zinc supplement available to your baby from the health worker?”}
endif

The following PDA screen imqges show how this works:

If answer is Yes

Then the PDA screen advances to:

On the other hand, if the answer is No:

Then the PDA screen automatically advances to the Title screen of the next section:

If the mother can answer a certain question in more than two ways, then we use a common script form called Switch Case. This allows for multiple answers to a question controlling the PDA user to the relevant screen.

SWITCH answer
CASE "1" {“yes, I give my baby the zinc supplement”}
goto [FS801]
CASE "2" {“no, I have received the zinc supplement, but have never given it to my baby”}
goto [FS504]
CASE "8" {“I am not sure, I have never heard of the zinc supplement”}
goto [FS504]
ENDSWITCH

After the interviews, we assembled where I asked Zanna, Bamadio and Soro how it went. I noted that all heads nodded up and down in the affirmative, then changed to shaking side to side when I asked if there were any problems. For them, they mostly were reporting to me on the technological aspect of using the PDA’s. For my part, I am most interested at this point in the usability by the interviewer and acceptability by the mother. The latter, can often be overwhelmed by the gaze of the interviewer on the small device, and not the usual clipboard and shuffling of paper forms. Here, I noted that the mothers would turn their head away from the interviewer in a disaffected gaze, listen to the question, and then answer with the head still turned. But, after the answer was given, often the mother then would look towards the interviewer to watch the entering of the answer on the PDA.

We then traveled a short distance to the village of Diambala. Here, Bamadio let me know that we needed to first visit the village chief to inform him of the reason of our visit and to obtain permission. I believe that my CTO had to do the same thing and observe correct protocol on his recent visit with Princess Anne in Great Britain. It is the same at any level…

The chief received us graciously, directing chairs to be provided as we reclined on a platform outside of his house. I listened to speeches being traded, then, with obvious permission of the chief, we arose to conduct our interviews. I was happy that I did not need to give a speech, which, from my experience, is often the case with a foreign visitor.

After our return to the Save the Children office in Bougouni, we downloaded the data in about three seconds (the rule is, type it once, and never type it again!). We found all records, with each person interviewing 2 to 3 mothers in each of the two villages. We really did not need to spend more time. Yes, that is me with a sweet potato that was given as a gift to me by a villager.

After the intervening weekend, we will travel to neighboring Guinea to conduct PDA tests at the Save the Children office there.

The Third Day in Bamako

2007-12-05T01:02:00.000-08:00

I feel great this morning. This climate is really agreeing with me. It is dry, unlike the high humidity that I usually encounter in other tropical climes. It is helped by the fact that Bamako is distant from the ocean and is situated at over 1,000 feet elevation.

This is my third day at the Save the Children office and all traces of jet lag have disappeared. It does not usually affect me to the degree that I hear from a lot of fellow travelers. The main difficulty is catching up on sleep after traveling for a couple of days.

I asked that, on my return to the hotel last evening, if I could stop at a store. Because of the jet lag, I have awakened each morning at two to three AM. It is curious that the former occurs on the first morning after arrival, then progresses an hour later each successive day. I am now back to my usual four or so awakening time. The stop at the store was to purchase some instant coffee for those early morning rises. Otherwise, I have to wait until the kitchen opens at 6:00 AM (although there is no response until after 6:30 AM) to order coffee. I also paused long enough at the store to obtain, what I thought, was milk for a coffee creamer. One must be careful with dairy products overseas since the can have dubious pasteurization and salmonella is no fun. Well, in my haste, I picked up a tall, slender quart of thin yogurt. Oh well...

this morning, arrangements are being finalized (lodging, transportation) for our trip to the village of Bougouni to conduct our field tests. I love getting out to the field, as I will not really know what ot expect. Not only from a tourist/ traveler point of view, but also from a professional aspect. A mantra has developed in my work of late, "what works in the air-conditioned cubicle will not necessarily work in the field". I see this over and over during my assessment trips for mobile data collection using PDA's.

I first encountered this painfully during my 3rd of 4 trips to our El Salvador office in 2004. Upon arrival, I asked the PDA team how the PDA's were doing for their data collection. They smiled and replied fine. Upon review of their collected data, I sensed that all was not well. I immerse myself into their processes during my assessments so that I embrace the program culture. i could tell that omething was not right. they should of had a higher quantity of records, and there was a curious consistency to the records that were collected. Well, to make a longer story shorter, I pretty much demanded a field visit. I interviewed each of the health workers who had PDA's. They very politely, but with evident lack of enthusiasm, they each replied that they were happy with the new technology. I knew better, since I had learned from my few trips to Latin America that often it is difficult to have problems revealed to you (we do not want you to feel bad!). I pressed the last PDA user rather strongly and she suddenly stood and declared emphatically that she did not like using the PDA's and that they had doubled her data collection work load. I was so relieved to obtain the real situation and I profusely thank her for the feedback, and to heal over my pressing (very un-Latin). Below is a picture from this session

I then found that the PDA collection form had been designed back at the office with a checkbox on the form that required that a respondent answer all questions asked before concluding the interview. Well, this is seldom practical, since a mother has meals to cook, young babies to care for. In this way, field interviews are unlike those conducted in calm, peaceful offices! From this valuable lesson learned, we removed the must answer all questions functionality on the PDA form and all was well. In order to overcome this obstacle, the health worker reverted back to collecting data on paper forms and then hand-entering the data onto the PDA's in the evening in order to satisfy the office. We had, indeed, doubled her work.

I love field testing....

A Small Place...

2007-12-03T10:53:00.000-08:00

I have returned to my hotel room after my first day at the Save Children Country Office here in Bamako, Mali. The sun is setting casting a warm glow across the large empty lot stretching behind the hotel. West Africa is certainly different than my only other experience on this continent. I spent a couple of weeks in Uganda for a mobile data collection assessment last summer, and attended a Save the Children education conference at Mombasa Kenya the prior year. The latter was at a beautiful, albeit synthetic, resort. The most stunning sight I saw there were guided camel rides across the sandy beaches for the hotel guests. Uganda, on the other hand, was a much more in-depth introduction to Africa. As in my other CO visits, we were able to spend time in the field, conducting PDA data collection field tests in the Luwero region, north of the capital city of Uganda. during my time there, I began to develop the sense of dire circumstances and struggle in that East African nation. There are so many people and so little opportunity.

Here in Mali, I am gaining a different sense of Africa, perhaps reflecting the great geographic and cultural diversity of this land mass. Once again, I am having the opportunity to shatter long held misperceptions of Africa. After my late afternoon arrival at my hotel room, I drew back the curtains and looked out to the empty lot. It is perhaps two to three acres in size, surrounded by buildings in various stages of construction. as I noted earlier, I have notice most uncompleted building are inhabited by families who are either squatting or function as caretakers. Within this perimeter are vegetable gardens. I believe that there is either a well or piped water near the center, since I see people going to and fro from this spot with buckets of water.

This afternoon, I saw at least a dozen persons working in these gardens, most all of which were women. They were busy watering, cultivating and harvesting - what product, I am not sure. I was struck by the women bent over at their waists in a open safety pin-like angle. It was amazing. I am such a soft person, both inside and out. My back would of screamed at me in just several minutes if I attempted the same posture, and that without working!

I read a small, non-fiction book a couple of years ago. This reading was at a time of my earlier trips to Central America on behalf of Save the Children. I was voraciously reading then, attempting to understand how to comprehend and rationalize my experiences. The book is called, A Small Place, by Jamaica Kincaid. The author describes living on a tiny island in the Caribbean. He describes, in amazement and at times derision, the collision that visitors from larger countries have upon arrival at his island. It is not simply the change from a fast paced lifestyle to one in the tropics. The author also understands that these are tourists and will likely never remain in his Small Place. I still do not feel that I completed an understanding of the thesis which the author proposes. I do continually feel like the tourist visiting a small place and being disconnected from the people about me. I first felt this in Haiti and attempted to articulate it in my first blog entry earlier this year. I am confident that I am just coming to face my own happen chance luck of being born in North America...

You may look at the hundreds of images that I have collected on my overseas trips, and of my personal life, at: http://disaak.phanfare.com

Hotel Kome - Bamako Mali

2007-12-02T01:31:00.000-08:00

Well, one never knows how the accommodations will be. The Hotel Residence Kome will be just fine. I have wireless internet and a clean room. More importantly, i noted the sigh to the SC office not more than 5 minutes away. That will save valuable time and expense picking me up. This morning, after 5 hours of blessed sleep, I walked upstairs to the tiny restaurant. Mali, being a former French colony will be delightful. Wonderful french breads and french style place settings. It is a modest hotel, but better than I imagined.

On of the best parts of trip, especially when I arrive at night, is to awaken and look out my window, like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz movie after her house landed. It does seem that all changes from a black and white image to one of color. At least, the color of a new place for me.

Arrival in Mali

2007-12-02T01:14:00.000-08:00

Our plane landed about an hour late at the Senou airport in the capital city of Bamako here in Mali. I did get a couple of hours sleep on this 5 hour flight from Paris. Interestingly, as soon as the plane touched down, two persons unbuckled their seat belts and darted for the front of the plane, carry-on baggage in hand. I mean, the plane was still decelerating at over a hundred miles an hour. It was fun watching the flight attendants trying to convince them that they needed to return to their seats and to not open the cabin door at this point. I have seen this before upon arriving at remote airports.

The tiny airport was a madhouse. Immigration was easy, but Customs pulled my smaller luggage out for a personal inspection and an interview. This the first time that I have been pulled out. I was bringing a new laptop to the CO. It seems my Save the Children (SC)ID card around my neck did not impress them. But my SC business card they found in the luggage did. I always generously sprinkle my business cards throughout my luggage. I recalled a bit of French, so I uttered something about, pour l'infants (for the babies), which is the only thing that came to my jet-lagged mind from 4 years of french language classes 40 years ago. They let me go. This was one of them most chaotic airport arrival areas that I have encountered. It ranks right up there with the Soviet era airport in Tajikistan. Everyone pushing and shoving with tempers flaring. The luggage porters are competing with each other to grab your luggage once you spot it on the conveyor. I always try to trick them by noting my luggage emerging without displaying my glee, but they frequently can tell. I successful fought them (I dislike strongly the extended negotiations on their fee later) off, only to pick up two of them needed to convey (supposedly) me through the customs interview.

All the while I am watching the conveyor to spot my luggage festooned with bright ribbons on the handles. I am also trying to keep an eye on the line forming in the customs area. More than once, I have seen someone mistaken walking off with my luggage. Frankly, I love this part. At least it is something to blog about!

Is This Paris?

2007-12-02T00:17:00.000-08:00

The trip always starts in the mind. First, there is the contacts with the Country Office (CO), and the resulting agreement on when to arrive, etc. Then, Mr. Franko provides a itinerary for my review based on the dates that I need to arrive and depart. In this case, he placed me on a new airline, Air France, and had me waiting in the Charles de Gaulle airport outside of Paris for one of the infrequent flights to Bamako, Mali.

I will be traveling overland to our CO in neighboring Republic of Guinea. But I have over eight hours between connecting flights between Paris and Mali. Even this is more than enough time to explore the huge airport. So, I did my research on how to take the RER train that originates within the airport, and to venture into the heart of Paris. Now then, 8 hours seems like a lot of time, but I can not miss my flight to Mali. What, with the possibilities of getting on the wrong train, passing through security, etc. I figured that I had 1 1/2 to 2 hours at best to wander Paris. I was also hoping to pick up a geocache (www.geocaching.com - think GPS treasure hunt) find a few blocks from the Notre Dame Cathedral on the Isle de la Cite.

The train was a piece of cake, especially since I exchanged some U.S. dollars for Euro's before I left Sea-Tac airport in Seattle, WA (my departure location. I am home-based in Arlington, WA - no, a much smaller town than Arlington, VA)). I knew that from my pre-departure research that most U.S. generated credit cards lack the embedded security RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) chip that European Union-issued credits cards have. I needed hard cash. The train whisked me along until I saw a sign outside the train window at an underground station. Hey, I'd better get off!

I popped up from a tunnel and there I was. The courtyard before Notre Dame. Visions of Victor Hugo and Charles Lawton's portrayal of the Hunchback (classic Hollywood movie produced in 1939 - I am a big 1930's film fanatic) loomed before me - in reality!

I was stunned. But I was also tired. I had been up for about 30 hours (not too unusual on my trips). I was lugging around nearly 20 pounds of briefcase. I have developed this habit of becoming self-sustaining during my travels after my last loss of luggage. I keep all that I would need to survive, minus water, to last several days. An extra pair of under garments, medicines, a full set of PDA training tools (cables, chargers, data synchronization docking stations, portable PDA batteries, spare laptop battery, granola snacks, spare contacts, first aid kit. Yes, I have not yet learned to travel light. This is in addition to my fanny pack which is always within 18 inches of my grasp, which contains, cash, credit cards, 3 PDA's, spare PDA battery pack, passport, medicines, tiny first aid pack,etc.

These are not just tourist trips. I always fear that my luggage will get lost, or someone will pilfer my brief case while jammed in a crowded developing nation airport as I try to quickly pull my luggage off of the baggage conveyor. I also carry in my fanny pack a flash drive with all files needed to do my training. With those items and my 3 PDA's, I could get by. I have to be prepared. The expense and time of my trips for Save the Children have to have risks mitigated to ensure that time is not wasted.

So, my arm was falling off having lugged everything around since yesterday morning. It is now early afternoon the following day. I tried to gain entrance to the American Airlines Admirals Club that I am a member of (a great location of respite between exhausting flights). I might of convinced the Club to securely hold my briefcase for me while I ventured into Paris. But, alas, the club was in a terminal that I did not hold a boarding pass for. Ah, security.

I walked back across the Seine onto the right bank. I never did gain a foothold on to the Rive Gauche, or Left Bank. This is more than just wanting to visit the traditional bohemian side of the Seine. Left in French is gauche, which means awkward. Yes, us south paws are always bumbling along in life, twisting our arms and hands trying to accommodate right-handed (dextral) appliances and door frames. The word sinister also is derived from left. Left handed persons in the Middle Ages (not in the Orient, though!)were considered strange and twisted. A snail whose shell is coiled to the left is termed sinistrial. Us left handers do not have a chance, hence my desire to congregate with my sinister fellows on the Left Bank of the Seine....

The geocache which i wanted to locate was in the St. Gervais St.Protais area of Paris. A geocache is typically a small container (an old 35 mm film canister perhaps) that a person with a Geographic Positioning System (GPS) enabled device (I always carry one to record the entrance to train stations) hides and then posts the exact (within 3 meters) location on the internet. This particular geocache internet posting wonderfully described this side street in the heart of Paris which contained buildings from the 15th century.

I never did find the cache, of which there are over 500,000 cleverly hidden all over the world. After one does find a cache, there is typically a small pad of paper and a stubby pencil within to jot down your name and date. Later, you are able to access the caches' web page and record it as a find. I have over 100 finds all over the world, but I know several persons with thousands of finds. My main interest in geocaching is that it takes to places that I would not normally locate. Not the weathered griffins along the edges of the church in the square near the undiscovered cache.

I then happened upon a small shop which offered paper items, such as stationary, real ink pens (the ones that you must dip in a bottle of ink to produce characters) called Melodies Graphiques. The owner was so gracious. After a purchase of a couple of book markers (where did I leave off reading last night?) and a packet of stationary and envelopes crafted from handmade paper, the owner tenderly wrapped them in colored tissue paper.

I then headed or the train station to return to the airport. Wonderful day!

Destination: Mali

2007-11-30T06:05:00.000-08:00

In some ways, this is perhaps the most exciting part of any trip. It is early morning the day of the flight. The emails, the work development, the itinerary - and the packing (did I forget anything? is always the question, isn't it?). I shall certainly not forget the research that I do before departure. In some ways, one arrives before the physical setting foot upon the ground. This is how have traveled most all of my life - in my mind. I have used the venue of the library and lately the internet to first travel to an exotic destination.

Speaking of exotic destinations, here is an excerpt from one of my security reports:

Arriving in Mali can be quite a shock. As you step out of the air-conditioned cocoon of a modern jet at Bamako's dusty, decaying airport, you may feel as though you've left civilization behind. But first glances can be deceiving. If you look beyond the rusting terminal, you'll see the real Mali: distinctive mud dwellings inhabited by flamboyantly dressed Malians going about their business. In many ways, little has changed since Mali's days as the site of great empires. Travelers willing to brave the heat and dust will find that they have entered an impressive civilization, where life today is much as it always has been.

My connecting flight is through Charles de Gaulle airport outside of Paris. I am thrilled at this since Air France is a new airline for me and I have only set foot in Paris within my mind. I am indeed a francophile, that being helped along by four years of French language in high school (I forgot most all of it). I am going to see about taking a train into central Paris since I have a 7 hour layover (thank you Mr. Franko! Most persons thinks it odd that I do not mind long layovers to explore airports. I always give up an aisle seat to be able to look out the airplane window). I have been watching the security reports that I receive from three different sources (SOS MedicEvac, Department of State, FlightLock) and it sounds like the youth rights have calmed down. There were only 138 vehicles burned to cinders last night to the north of Paris. Interestingly, my only security concern on this trip is within a developed nation.

THF (Travel Hint for Free): take photos of your luggage and place a printed color copy on your person. It is oh so helpful in convincing a airline luggage person to allow you to search with them in the luggage hold area. I keep a copy of this photo on my PDA along with a listing of the luggage tag numbers (those little tag stickies can fall off of the ticket holder).

I am sensing that our Sahel Country Office (ShCO) can really use some help. I do not have any particulars, but my research shows that Mali is the fifth poorest nation on earth. Mali is north, and adjacent to, Guinea. The latter has access to the Atlantic Ocean. The two nations are collectively, and historically, known as the Sahel. Timbouctou is located in the north central portion of Mali. I would dearly love to visit this fabled trading stop, known for it's early universities filled with crumbling scrolls and books of Muslim learning from the 14th century. This city was a central trading vertex for overland trade of salt and gold (the two are connected!). This trade was interrupted by the Portugese forging water routes, thus bypassing the hazardous overland trade routes.

I feel so confident now tht I purchased my SOS MedEvac insurance. Thoeretically, they will drop a helicopter down anywhere in the world to evacuate one out to a decent medical facility.

THF: Research through your medical insurance the doctors that have agreements in your destination city. Print this list out with addresses and phone numbers and keep them on your person. Give a copy of the list to your host when you arrive. I also keep it on my PDA in Adobe Acrobat format.

Well, I had better head for the airport! The trip has commenced.

The Interior is Not Very Far....

2007-10-25T04:57:00.000-07:00

Choices, choices. Is not that what defines being alive. I just did not know what to choose on our "out" day here in Panama during the NetHope conference. There was an all day trip to the Chagas National Park. I am still operating in that pardigm of assuming long distances over horrible roads while in developing nations. I am being continually surprised by Panama. I have yet to hit a gravel road and the potholes are not noteworthy. Disappointed? No.

I chose the 1/2 day trip to the village of San Antonio hosted by the NGO WinRock. In about forty minutes by tour bus from our hotel on the Pacific Ocean terminus of the Canal, we exited from a well-paved highway for maybe ten minutes and parked at the entrance to a reserve. This was jungle like I had not seen before. My forays to Latin American countries that should have had tropical rain forests had all been deforested long ago. How could those people in non-Panamanian countries do such such a thing to the environment, disdaining good environmental stewardship? Oops, I have retreated to my North Ageneralized viewpoint once more. Oh yes, those de-foresters were merely trying to survive....

After disembarking, we soon saw two motorized boats coming towards us across a wide expanse of vegetation-choked shallow waters. Entering these water craft carefully ("stay low"), we arrived within 7 minutes to the dock of a small village called San Antonio, which consisted of maybe a 1/2 dozen thatched dwellings and 2-3 small concrete buildings. The purpose of the tour was to see an internet kiosk developed in partnership with Intel and Winrock to provide internet connectivity to this community of 30 persons. As I have seen all over the world, a more lasting solution to poverty is education. If your school age children lack access to the internet, you are at a disadvantage with your academic peers (e.g. research, etc.). We had the opportunity also to purchase handcrafted items constructed from articles from the surrounding forest.

We afterwards took a short hike into the jungle. I was thrilled to have my sharp-eyed friend Mark from Family Health International spot a sloth up in a tree. I also saw a couple of anteaters. The latter were drawn to the trails of leaf-cutter ants carrying their fungal incubator stock over their heads along the jungle floor. The village is apparently on an island about 2/3 of the way from the Pacific towards the Caribbean side of the Canal. I noted the increased heat and humidity that we lacked on the Pacific side.

On our return to the tour bus across the protective moat, we quickly caught up to the first boat tranversing the lagoon, since we had to take two separate boats for our group. They had snagged a submerged log on their exit. I shouted out a un-thoughful comment of, we'll send food back!. I once again have spoken without thinking, but my comment of dispair was based on the influemce of my recent completion of an account of Theodore Roosevelts' (he is much on my mind this trip - I own, and have read repeatedly, a first edition of his African Game Trails.) ill-fated trip down an Amazon river where this stout heart despaired of such jungle conditions that he contemplated taking his own life to avert negative affect on his fellow travelers.

We all arrived safely, with myself confident of long-term survival in case of mishap due to my obvious well-fed nature (the caimans would head for me first!). Nearby, we stopped at the Gamboa resort hotel who generously provides the wireless internet connection to San antonio. What a place! I need to return here with my wife for an extended stay.

Panama - A Paradigm Shift

2007-10-23T03:36:00.000-07:00

I have arrived in Panama City to attend the biannual NetHope conference at the Ciuadad de Sabre (City of Knowledge). I am staying at the Country Suite Hotel immediately adjacent to the Pacific terminus of the Panama Canal.

This was an easy trip, especially to Central America. A short 6 hour flight from Seattle (yes, short) to Miami and then three hours to Panama. I've been flying a lot in the last 4 years so my mileage on American Airlines earned me a coupon to stay free at their Admirals Club. A bit over-rated, but definitely more pleasurable than the main Miami terminal. Plus, free coffee! That's a bonus to keep expenses down, and a boost after taking the 10:30PM red-eye flight out of Seattle!

I always love returning to Latin America. The culture is so easily engaged, plus I have a barely functioning grasp of Spanish (that is in positive comparison to my knowledge of most languages of the countries that I visit). Also, El Salvador, a couple of countries to the north, was my first trip out of the United States for Save the Children. That trip changed my occupation and future outlook on life globally. It also changed how I viewed myself. I am still pretty much a whining, self-centered norte americano fully entrenched in rampant consumerism. But I have noted some changes...

Panama is distinctly different than Honduras, Guatemala or El Salvador. I can see that it is much more stable here politically and financially. This is going ot be fun.

Field Testing in Tranh Hoa

2007-08-19T05:25:00.000-07:00

Our training concluded at the Hanoi Country Office in Hanoi on Wednesday. Khahn, the Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist caught on very quickly. I soon discovered that he has a broad background in the PC database application Microsoft Access. This helped him to write the form scrips that enabled the skip questioning and other form objects that extends the basic design software.

By the end of the day, we had pretty much completed the test form which we were to take out to two health centers in the Tranh Hoa province about 4 hours south of Hanoi. During lunch I learned that Khahn is married with two boys, the youngest being less than two months old. With less than an hour until office closure on Wednesday, I could see that 90% of the form was finished, but could use some tweaking of a particularly elegant navigation script that was not quite working. I could see Khahn valiantly trying to change it to become functional. He, at last succeeded, but was running out of time to make the form fully usable in small ways. I suggested that I finish it up, but his work ethic was making this suggestion uncomfortable to him. Knowing he had a wife at home with two small children, I pulled rank on him as the consultant and told him it would be complete and loaded on 5 PDA's by the morning.

We discovered that the native Windows Mobile keyboard lacks sufficient Vietnamese accented characters. This was of great concern to me, but Khahn said that the Vietnamese characters are Latin-based, but understandable, to most all people even lacking the accents. The forms were fully translated into Vietnamese, sans accent marks, for our field testing on Thursday and Friday. Ngoc anh would accompany us, and she would provide logistical support for our trip in order to allow Khahn his full focus on the field testing. Ahn is a health program assistant and also very fluent in English. She will also conduct some of the interviews on our first day. I appreciated that I would be able to observe the differences in how the mothers experienced interviewers from both genders. I love this part....

I had also wanted to place a branding logo for Save the Children at the beginning of the form, as well as the form title. This might seem like candy-coating, but those PDA screens are tiny compared to a big sheet of paper. It is simple to determine the form your are going to select while in an air conditioned office, but not so for a health worker in the clinic environment.

We arrived at the Bach Lim hotel, which was rather nice, early in the afternoon. It was very warm and humid, but I was delighted to see an air conditioner in my room. I am finding that hot water is irrelevant in many tropical locations since the water is already warm. After a brief rest, we packed up and headed for the first health center.

But first we would stop at the District Health Clinic to meet the Director and his staff. Save the Children partners with the Ministry of Health providing management of the health program and technical assistance. I was soon to discover that protocol and visibility was important, especially for a foreign visitor - me!

After a demonstration of the PDA's, the director wedged into our vehicle and we arrived at the first health clinic as the mothers were arriving. Pre-planning was evident, with two tables set up outside the clinic for the interviews. One by one, them others sat with either Anh or Khahn and went through the interview.

We had placed a digital signature field on the form asking for each respondents permission to conduct the interview. I have added a data security and data privacy section to my training package, so here was another opportunity to see how trust is engendered between interviewer and respondent with technology squarely in between.

We quickly went through the 20 interviews and I thought we would then depart. Was I wrong. Khahn inidcated that we would have a summary meeting. It was towards the end of the interviews that I saw the director walk over and greet a newly-arrived group of men. I now found out that this was the People's Committee for the village.

Now then, in 1970, after finishing hish school, I awaited my lottery number that would determine if I would be drafted unvoluntarily into the U.S. Army for a trip to the southern portion of this then-partioned country. I had strong feelings, like many students of this era about going, however I am not confident of my altruisitc beliefs at the time. I did not want to go. A high draft number kept me at my production assistant job for an electronics firm (not bad for just out high school. My father had me working part-time with him at small electronics companies since I was 14 (post-high school, I was able to avoid a fast food franchise income like my friends).

So, here I was professionally representing one of the largest NGO's in North Vietnam, and the local Party leadership had come to see what was going. I knew that news of my arrival had been given to these particular men before I had ever disembarked off of the plane. I had emailed my Statement of work and a copy of passport for the visa application process. Now, they wanted to see in person who I was and what I had come to do. This was fascinating.

We all sat at a table as I listened to dialogue which seemed more like speech-making ot me - ery formal and deliberate. It was hot and humid and it had been a long day and I was ready to go. But, I knew that this was, once again, a rare opportunity to represent not only Save the Children, but also America. I am very aware of this representation. I, unlike most toursits, often travel to remote locations where the polite stares tell me silently that, other than on CNN, I am the first glimpse of a Westerner. A chance not to be passed up.

Ahn was translating for me as the speeches continued. I knew what was coming, so I opened up Pocket Word on my PDA and began jotting down a few remarks. Sure enough, Ahn asked me during a pause in the conversation if I would like to say anything.

I do not know how well it translated, since my translators all over the world oft freely adjust my comments to our mutual benefit. After thanking thme for allowing us to conduct the surveys, I told them that I was impressed with their leadership for encouraging this pioneering effort in their village. This seemed to go over well, and smiling faces and eyes turned my way. The People's committee leader directed refreshments to be brought and we soon toasted each with Vietnamese beer (Halida).
Grievences redressed, at least on a personal, local level.

We returned to the hotel and went out for dinner at a nearby eatery. Khahn in particular has enjoyed watching me encounter various foods with an abundance of invertebrates. Aha, but he did not realize that I was passionate about invertebrate zoology in my first college foray. In fact, I described to him how my personal email address is actually the genus of a nearly universally-distributed fresh water snail (the cloak comes off...) which happens to be rare in that it's shell whorl is left-handed (yes, I too, am a south-paw). My rule overseas, is if my hosts eat it, I will eat it. Except for those fried chicken feet in the Philippines (I don't knw where those chickens had been walking!)

The air conditiong went out late at nightr after Khahn and I made some last minutes changes to the forms. all had gone realy well, and my PDA field feedback notes that I took during observation indicated no problems. In fact, I was surprised at how easily the forms worked and the respondents interaction with them. The next morning everyone asked how I slept, partly in curiousity in how a sweating Westerner took the heat. I actually fell asleep quickly and awoke refreshed. A quick breakfast of Pho and we were off for an early start to our 2nd health center.

The People's Committee leadership was noticeably absent, so the beer and my well-translated speech did the trick. This time the interviews were to be conducted by the health workers (HW), therefore we would quickly train the HW's to the PDA's and how the forms work. I just love this part, because it is at this level of interface all of my work proceeds.

I watched as Ahn and Khahn expertly emonstrated the use of the PDA's and the intend and function of the health questionnaires. I noticed four of HW's trying to look over their shoulders, so I grabbed another PDA and gently approached them from the side. Now, before all of this started I noticed a rather severe dispositioned lady walk in. She stood nearly a head taller than the rest (my height) and seemed to be the senior member. When she entered the room and looked and me and made a comment without smiling. I asked Ahn, and she told me that the lady asked if I understood any Vietnamese. Put into my place again. Anyway, as I began to demonstrate, the serious lady moved immediately towards us and displaced me with her newly-acquired knowledge of the PDA form and began instructing the HW's. Instead of a slight, I just moved away and reveled at the success of peer-to-peer training unfolding.

Oops, it is late Sunday night, I must do a little packing before I head into the office for a final bit of training and my summary and recommendations presentation to the CO Director and his staff.

This is why I do this work:

More later on my visit to the huge, elaborate mausoleum/museum (etymologically related, those two words?) of Ho Chi Minh, and the Army War Museum to view downed U.S. planes....

In the City....Vietnam

2007-08-15T06:09:00.001-07:00

As I had hoped, the staff here at Save the Children have let me gain liberty to do it on my own, albeit very selectively. It is a very safe city. I needed some Vietnamese currency, so the hotel suggested I walk to an ATM a block away. This was very fortunate since ATM's are few and distant here. The hotel doorman walked outside onto the street and just pointed down a side street. One must constantly be aware of traffic, even on side streets. This city is filled with hordes, no armies of motor bikes going everywhere! I used my credit card to withdraw some Vietnam Dong for our visit to the countryside - 4 hours to the south by vehicle. I also wanted some extra money for shopping this weekend, etc. So, by pulling a couple of hundred US dollars equivalent, I found myself a millionaire by Vietnamese standards: 2.6 million Dong! I also took a taxi both to and from the office today. I am enjoying this city unlike all others. Very exciting, clean and safe.

By the way, in the picture above, the bowl on the left is filled with tiny live crabs - very fresh!

When I returned to the hotel this afternoon, the fresh bowl of fruit had been replaced with a different variety. Usually, it contained what appeared to be small chestnuts, but actually something like tiny kiwi fruit. These did not interest me and they must of noticed my lack of interest. Today, it was filled with short, stout bananas. Now, I often see the banana type all over the tropics which are the starchy plantains used for cooking. I thought that these were those. Oh, to my delight, this was absolutely the most succulent, delicious bananas I have ever had anywhere in the world. Not only were the bursting with flavor, but seemed combines with flavors of peach, cherry, orange. They were incredible. Vietnam has delightfully surprised me.

Above is a picture of my partner, Khahn, studiously and earnestly developing his health form for testing the next two days. I put a few touches to it this evening, so all ready....

Oh, And I Almost Forgot....What Almost Happened

2007-08-14T05:56:00.000-07:00

8/12/2007 - London Café,
Addis Ababa Airport, Ethiopia

Well, I almost pulled a Jack Nicholson from Five Easy Pieces. I sat down and looked at a menu and finally decided on a egg sandwich. Hoping to make it quasi-McDonalds, I decided to ask for it with cheese, since I noticed that there was also a toasted cheese sandwich on the menu. When the waitress inquired as to my order, I replied that I would like the egg sandwich with cheese. Confused, she asked if I wanted the toasted cheese sandwich or the egg sandwich. I replied that I wanted an egg sandwich with cheese, to which she solemnly shook her head. I then began to suggest that since they had both a toasted cheese sandwich and an egg sandwich available in the kitchen, could they not simply take the cheese from....and there I stopped myself. I paused, smiled, and said, "just the egg sandwich and a water, please". That was close.....

The waitress brought this huge egg sandwhich with ripe tomatoes, sliced hot peppers and french fries. After two Ethiopian oranges sodas, I was amazed that it came to only $5.00 US.

If you are wondering what connection this episode has to do with Jack Nicholson, you would need to see the movie mentioned above with the interaction between Jack and the diner waitress...

In Hanoi

2007-08-13T19:04:00.001-07:00

My flight from Bangkok arrived at the airport here in Vietnam a little before 8PM and I was comfortably installed in my 4th floor room at the Green Park Hotel in downtown Hanoi before 10PM. I was able to get a pretty good nights sleep, but the time zone difference with my departure country of Uganda the prior day had me predictably up at 2AM.

Traffic, even at night, is different here. The two lane roads coming in from the airport has many motorcycles in the right lane, and the cars and trucks in the left lane. As we entered the heart of Hanoi, many young couples were out for a cooler foray on their motorcycles. It is hot and very hunid here, much more so than any other place that I have been in the world, even Bangladesh and the Philippines.

I am awaiting my ride to the nearby Save the Children office after having breakfast up on the top floor of the hotel. This is one of the better hotels that i have stayed at, which I partly rate by having a in-room hot water maker for coffee!

The Mothers in Bukuma Village

2007-08-12T01:56:00.000-07:00

The actual field testing occured Tuesday afternoon. The mothers would not be back into their houses until then since like most women in developing countries they needed to transport water and firewood to thier households. I turn on the tap and hit the thermostat when needed and complain bitterly if the power goes out for a few days and the well pump ceases back in the U.S......

The team armed with PDA's fanned out after the two Save vehicles deposited us just a few kilometers from the office. Still, we were in a far different place with small brick or wattle houses separated by a few hundred yards. Each house had a cleared perimeters being well swept. As usual I was drawn to the anxious and inquiring stares of the children, always the youngest standing behind an older brother or sister. I am always cautious in approaching groups of children, not only to not frighten them, but to assess the appropriateness of it. I ask staffer about this and here it was fine, but I do not want ot turn and deflect a rock or a stick thrown my direction. But, as always, the tall, well-fed, blued-eyed, pale-skinned stranger is welcomed. Take pictures of them, then after showing them themselves the exclaim with glee and crowd about me. I love it.

After each interview, I asked the HEW how it went. They all mentioned that it went well with no problems. Now, culturally, it is always difficult to determine if I am being given the polite answer or the true assessment. Probing questions often help, but the consensus was in. They had no problems. Even when it began to rain, the mother took the HEW indoors to finish the survey. People normally do not remain in puring rain to converse. A plastic bag serves as an inexpensive moisture deterrent (this I learned from my managers' daughter while sampling with a PDA on high volcanic slopes).

A typical interviewer is shown in the following picture:

Note the male interviewer on the left of this picture and half of the team (the team split into two different villages) sitting on the right following the interviewer with their own PDA forms. There is an enacted timer on the PDA form and each interview took on an average of 16 minutes. The grandmother (who happneded to be blind) is seated to the mothers right. I have seen this scene so many times all over the world. It is fascinating to see it duplicated in so many different environmental and cultural contexts. We at Save the Children have strong technical advisers who maintain contact with the current trends and methodologies for our programs across other NGO's. They also provide a uniform methodology by remaing in constant contact with our Country Office program managers all over the world. This takes great effort and requires a high cost to do so. Donate to your favored NGO (how pretentious of me!)

What I am accumulating is a trans-CO knowledge of certain programs across many of our areas of program delivery, and not simply from the programmatic view, but actually in the field. Food Security in Save is based on the same model, mostly linked with health provisions (the two are undeniably linked), but I am able to talk to the managers who have to get the food rations delivered by truck over impassable roads to the villages in time. How do tell they communicate to the mothers who are going to carry their malnourished babies many kilometers in hot humid weather the next day that the trucks broke down or that a political demonstration blocked the road. The mothers simply arrive without the food distribution. I have never seen this happen and it seldom, if ever, does, but Food security managers always describe it as their biggest fear - the logistics. If it happens, some of those babies might not have reason to return next distribution cycle.....go figure.

I must finish packing. It is Sunday and I will be picked up in a couple of hours to go to Entebbe Airport to depart to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. A few hours layover (I will be vigilant Lee...), a connection in Bangkok Thailand, then onto Vietnam. This is great.

In Luwero

2007-08-12T00:01:00.000-07:00

Olivia and I left Kampala for the trip to the Save the Children sub-distict office in Luwero on Monday. It is about 60 kms north of Kampala, and I am excited to get out of the city and into the project areas of Save. They had some pretty bad rains here and the roads out of the city are clogged. Not far north of Kampala a large and impressive bridge is being built which is at right angles to the main north-south highway. I have no idea how long it has been constructed, but there was no noticeable evidence of activity going on. The bypass that went below and around the bridge, was filled with muddy water, some of which was pouring into the adjacent shops lining the bypass. A low car had attempted to cross through the flooding water and had stalled, effectively stopping the heavy traffic of vehicles, over-crowded wildly decorated buses and myriad trucks. Fortunately for us, our direction was fairly clear since most traffic mid-morning is back into Kampala.

After but a couple of hours we arrived at the municipality of Luwero where Save's office is. The area that we had just passed through was hilly and filled with trees and lush shrubbery. Banana trees abounded. I have found that the diet here is high in starches and rather uninteresting for my palate. I tried cassava for the first time, and potatoes, both sweet and Irish (our regular American Idaho variety), rice abounded. Chicken was omnipresent, but I found that is was rather tough and sinewy. We were greeted warmly as we entered the compound. I was met first by the administrator, David. There was a moment of confusion since we both thought we were repeating the others' name rather than providing our own (mine is David as well, in case I have not identified myself prior...).

Also, a quick note, I always have a predilection for both drivers and the lonely compound gate guards. At one point, after having always greeted the gate keepers upon entering each day, I went and sat in the tiny guard booth for a chat. These booths, as I have seen all over the world, are so small an afford essentially a place out of the rain. I noted after I left the booth after concluding a delightful comparison of cell phones, that I was cast a few glances. Perhaps, one does not fraternize in the guard booth. It had 2 windows and an open door, but I am somewhat egalitarian nature so I did not inquire. The picture of the guard follows this text.

We were graciously conducted to a large meeting room and provided with refreshments continually. Luc was busy in the Kampala office but would join us later today. The purpose of this training was for the Health Extension workers (HEW) who would actually use the PDA form for the Family Planning survey. this frankly the most exciting aspect of my visit, since these are the persons in direct contact with the beneficiaries. this is where the mobile processor connects with the people in need.

I was really surprised at how quickly and eagerly the HEW's took to the PDA's. I never noticed any sleepy eyes during the next three days and I was plied with questions. The HEW's explored the PDA's beyond my introductory training evidenced by needing to re-configure in preparation for my upcoming training in our Vietnam CO.

To go backwards in this time line, at the conclusion of the PDA training with the M&E, IT persons at the Kamapala office, Luc and I knew that we needed a form to be used by the HEW's in Luwero. The LQAS Family Planning (FP) form that Luc had derived from the Flexible Fund FP master form was one of the most articulate and well constructed form that I have seen introduced during on of my sessions. While it was strait forward, it needed a series of scripts behind the scenes of the PDA form for control of data. for example, a interviewer can literally record with pencil any numerical value for a persons age in years; in this case the LQAS FP survey is inclusive only of women from age 15 to 49. This might seem a low possibility happening, but actual field survey circumstances are less that optimal. Crying children distract a Moms attention, cooking chores, husbands, hot, humid, precipitation. So, inadvertent values are records for the simplest questions, and unless found by the interviewer, the person who then receives the form to hand-transcribe the survey data into a computer perhaps miles and weeks later has no idea of the correct value.

So, in our form, over the weekend, I placed an implicit value range allowed in the age field and made it it a required field, i.e."you must provide a value and it must be correct. This increases the data accuracy and frankly incorrect values are difficult to surmise post-interview and are either discarded or altered. The LQAS-type survey contains mostly dichotomous questions, Yes or No, etc. Also the LQAS statistical model provides a high degree of confidence with only a sample count of 19 (really). Therefore, if only one survey is inaccurate of the total of 19, the degree of confidence diminishes quickly.

I realized that Olivia, who I observed had both the mental regimen and eagerness to build these mobile databases, did not yet have the knowledge to build this type of form. However, I invited her to give it a try and then we will compare ofrms for our Monday training. I later told her that this put her in an almost impossible position, but I wanted her to give it a try independently of my instruction. I worked most of the weekend, only going out once to walk a mile or so, in order to the have a viable test form ready. In addition the LWAS FP form incorporates a skip questioning pattern. Th is simply a built in logic. If the respondent answers Yes, then the interviewer asks the succeeding question. However, if the respondent answers No, then the interviewr goes to question 42 in the 3rd section. Using a paper form in the field, this seems fairly straight forward once again, but there can be many distraction during the interview. also, paper forms, although much larger than a PDA screen, are often crowded with details and instructions and can be disorienting. On a PDA-designed form, a simple scrit automatically moves to the correct question based on the response. The scripts are simple in construct and actually make sense:

exitscreen:
if answer == Y then
goto [FP303A]
else (which is equivalent to a "No")
goto [FP301B]
endif

The [FP303] is actually a question code within the form, as well as [FP301B]. It's pretty simple. So, by monday we had a form to train with. Of course Olivia was stopped at something she had not encountered in the training, and quickly resolved it. So, with 7 PDA's passed out ot the HEW's we began our training!

A Clean Sweep

2007-08-04T22:45:00.000-07:00

This being Sunday, it is a quiet day. The hotel is sleepy as well as the surrounding streets. I am pretty much finished in preparation for our trip to the program impact area tomorrow, so I will get a start on my assessment report, which I will deliver verbally and in paper form to the Country Office Director at the end of the week. Already, I can see the report recommendations emerging in my mind - all I have to do is to write it.

I have observed that after newly arriving in a country, I am struck by peculiar disconnected images. There is much to see here, just in Kampala. But, I seemed ot have taken particular notice of the street sweepers. These are likely paid municipal workers who patrol the streets. I have seen these sweepers in other countries as well. Here, they are all women. I saw a mother and adult daughter (I suppose) arrive to the area directly across from my breakfast table this morning. The mother first emerged from up the street dragging on a rope what looks like a large plastic 5 gallon vegetable oil container cut in half vertically. In her hand was the typical straw broom. Its bristles are similar to those in our long-handled straw brooms in North America, yet without the handle. Instead the 3 foot long bristles are fasted and the hand end. This lady was carrying an older, well worn broom barely a couple of feet long. This necessitates bending over at a back-breaking angle all day long. But, behind here came here daughter with a new 3 foot long broom. After sitting their parcels down, the mother picked up the new broom and began sweeping leaves, paper bits and dust from the broad sidewalk to the street gutter. I have watched these sweepers before, executing long broad sweeps for maximum effort. She had not swept long, for as soon as her daughter changed into a smock, she unceremoniously threw down the longer broom and walked a short distance away. Her daughter then picked up the new broom and began sweeping, all the while her mother shaking a finger at her less-than-elegant sweeps and speaking to her.

What a job. Again, I am struck oddly for even noticing this,even though it unfolded below me. I know that I would of looked at this scene rather than possibly more interesting scenes. But I think that I have left that paradigm that I used ot have before I traveled so much when I used to mentally criticize, "why do they not use a gasoline-powered blower? Where are the municipal street sweeper trucks?" Labor is cheap in developing countries. A gasoline blower would be beyond income reach of a street sweeper, not to mention the gasoline cost. A street sweeping truck would employ ONE worker. Employment is preferable than efficiency....

Another observance difficult to avoid is the security guards walking through town. I have always seen the guards with shotguns standing at the entrance ot banks, ATM's, and in Central America even at the McDonald's fast food restaurants and most all middle class dwellings. But here in Kampala the preferred weapon seems to the AK-47 automatic machine gun. When passing them on the street, they are simply gonig to and from work. Still, it is unnerving....they definitely have the advantage for I carry but a folding Swiss Army style Leatherman knife. I feel that it is much more useful in the long run, perhaps even for survival in a non-human threatening situation.

Still Tethered....

2007-08-04T04:44:00.000-07:00

It is Saturday. It was beautiful sunshine as I ate my breakfast at the Terrace Restaurant on the Hotel mezzanine. So, I decided to don my cultural spacesuit and venture out onto the streets of Kamapala. Of course, I first prudently inquired at the front desk as to the saftey for my excursion, but the response was consistant with my security briefings before I left the U.S. One must just be aware as in any large city. Pickpockets could jostle you for a wallet, but I always keep all valuables (in part, the rest are ALWAYS locked in my room safe, never the hotel safe where several persons have access) in my fanny pack which is situate on the front of my waist and clipped to my pants belt loop. The biggest dangers overseas statistically are for pedestrians being hit by cars, or on the road. I took extra care on Kampalas congested streets since the follow the reverse street travel direction of the U.S.

I stepped out onto the street corner opposite the hotel and was immediately targeted by taxi drivers offering a ride. I have watched them from the safety of the hotel and they keep a watchful eye for hotel guests, so I expected this and politely declined with a shake of my head and a smile. Still, as in most overseas location, I draw curious stares. I always try to move this towards my advantage and practice a bit of American ambassadorship and smile. Not far from walking south along Nile Street, a main thoroughfare, I spied a group of workman placing flat paving stones along the median of the road. Kampala is preparing for the CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) coming in November. Representatives from 29 former British Commonwealth nations are arriving along with the Queen of England.

So, Kamapala is sprucing up its image! I crossed the street carefully and approached the work crew. Of course they all eyed me curiously as to why I approached them. I could see that the foreman was also there, as I knelt adjacent to the paver. I finally indicated his good craftsmanship since his paving stones followed his leveling lines for both straightness and height. Oops, this drew the foreman's attention and he suddenly noted that the paving stones' height exceed the curb height. Soon, I departed as the foreman heatedly discussed this error with the worker.

I then walked a few blocks in a round about fashing. I had established a "home" breadcrumb back to the hotel with my GPS unit before I left the hotel. Kamapala is, like most developing country capitals, jam-packed with many people traveling about - even on a Saturday. A motorcycle taxi driver that I encountered told me that it would rain later. I remarked that it was difficult for me to "read" the weather since it was not my native country. It looked sunny and warm to me. He was right. Back at the hotel I was distracted by crashing thinder and flashes of lightening as I did some PDA form testing. This is not even the rainy season!

Moble Data Collection In Uganda

2007-08-04T00:28:00.000-07:00

It is Saturday and the team of Luc, Olivia, Sammy, Rhoda and Edna have finished their first three days of work together. As usual, the important part is forming the team for effective communication. The technical aspect of learning how to build forms and put them on the mobile devices seems to be why I am there. That is but the medium, for the real importance is to be able to leave the comfortable offices where all technology seems to work, and to ensure that the data collection instruments work in the field AND are usable by the persons using them. I repeat this over and over, alas I also find myself focusing on the technology.

The individuals on the team I have found are quite capable, well educated, and vitally they are curious and eager to learn. Fortunately the test form that we are building is perhaps the best form construction that I have seen. In part, it is because it is an Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (LQAS) sampling form. It is a dichotomous (meaning the questions seek an answer of either Yes/No, blue/green, male/female, pregnant/not pregnant) statistical approach providing a high degree of confidence using a sample of only 19 respondents. After a day or so of learning about using the PDA and forms development software we spent an entire morning on Friday reviewing the structure and logic of the form in detail. What I was looking for as the facilitator was all the team members heads nodding in agreement as to the forms function. You cannot produce a viable, usable form without understanding it.

By end of day Friday Olivia was sitting at my laptop building the form with team consensus and myself in the background. Success. On Monday we will leave early in the morning and travel north about 60 kms to the programs' Family Planning project area in the district of Nakasongola. This is the part that I enjoy best. The team will largely provide the cascade training to the Health Extension Workers who would actually collect the data. My interest at that point, beside supporting the teams efforts, is to observe the interaction between the interviewers with the PDA's and the respondents - the human element encountering technology in a developing world environment!

Freezing At the Equator

2007-08-02T10:52:00.000-07:00

I was quite unprepared for this climate just a half a degree north of the equator here in Kamapala Uganda. Several times I wish I had my coat nearby. Here it is July and early in the morning if there is any breeze it is quite cool. But, I am located over 4,000 feet in altitude. Amazing. After a couple of weeks in Uganda, I continue flying East to Vietnam with a final flight through Japan back to Seattle - my 2nd round-the-world trip.

Once again I have departed from the familiar and comfortable - thankfully! I left from Seattle, WA Saturday night late and finally arrived 11 jet-lagged time zones later Monday afternoon. A connecting flight in Washington Dc, then onto Rome. It was early morn while we sat on the plane, unable to disembark due to security concerns while the 767 aircraft re-fueled. I always like to have a window seat (I can sit motionless with a cast iron bladder for hour upon hour it seems) and I was fortunate on this full flight ot have the adjacent aisle seat vacant until Nairobi Ethiopia. I was able to stretch out but still did not sleep due to the excitement and a bit of prepatory work.

This is another mobile computing assessment trip to our Save The Children office in Kamapala. I prepared by reading a bit on Uganda and watching the movie on Idi Amin, "The Last King of Scotland". I am here due to a continuing dialogue with the local M&E advisor, Luc Vanhoorickx whom I met over 2 years ago at a conference in Mombasa Kenya. Finally, this trip materialized and I am excited.

After arriving at the notable Entebbe airport and waiting a long time for my luggage I was met by Julius the staff driver who took me ot the Hotel International. Unfortunately after my 1st night I asked to be moved to other lodging. This is a first for me. It was actually a nice hotel and i was given a beautiful corner room on the top floor with a stunning view of the 2nd largest lake on earth - Lake victoria. But the bed lacked a mattress, the phone did not work, and I awoke with mosquitos in my room due to a broken window slide. There was no hot water nor air conditioning (not needed). My repeated requests to the manager resuulted in avoidence. I have found that you do not call, nor visit the hotel desk, you simply request the desk manager ot come to your room to describe the problems. He never showed. Only after informing them of my early check-out and their loss of 13 days of $US, did I receive my phone messages and a Save arrival info folder. However the room was well-ventilated due to screened louvers at the top of each window. All night i heard howling yapping dogs nad all the street traffic below. I am whinning, but I could actually enjoy all of this but the risk of malaria in this WHO malaria zone. And this malaria plasmodium kills.

As I entered my room and opened the curtains looking out over the Lake, I was standing opposite the largest bird i had ever seen (later I was told it was the 2nd tallest bird on earth - many 2nd's here!) It was at eye level and but 10 feet from my window perched on top of a palm tree. We stared at each other and it then flew away. Then, the porter brought in my luggage and i inquired about this stork-like bird with a gullet like a turkey. The porter gave me a strange look as I motioned towards the noe vacant perch. He turned and waled away - another jet lag hallucinating tourist. But, aha, I had taken a photo with my PDA!

After a quick morning phone call to dear Olive in the Save office I was picked up and taken to a hotel much further from the Save office. this was very unfortunate since I hate to add cost and inconvenience to the office. I was taken to the classic British-era Grand Imperial hotel in the heart of Kampala. As we drove to this hotel, I was secretly hoping that it would be some improvement. I was stunned. For slightly more, this was a world class hotel. I was first taken to small but comfotable room on the ground floor. Before i unpacked, I was interrupted by a person who conducted me to a top floor room. The bed (with a mattress) was the most comfortable I have ever enjoyed. It was a big room with in-room internet (lacking in my prior lodgings). I need this since jet-lag seemed to hit me hard. The food was good and above bacteria-breeding temperature.

My first day in the office is always the best. I love the unpredictable as I must quickly adjust my training plan to the individule team members assembeld for me. I was warmly greeted and introduced to the Country Office director. Everyone state that they were eager ot see what can be accomplished with mobile data collection technology. Next week we travel to the impact area in Nakasongolo to train the health workers to use the PDA's. I cannot wait...

Majiid - the Freedom Fighter and my Friend

2007-06-17T05:56:00.000-07:00

I am thrilled. I was informed that our Save the Children driver, for our journey to the Barisal impact area where I will be reviewing our implementation, is none other than Majiid! This professional driver will conduct us across wide rivers, using ferries and on into the remote areas of the river delta of Bangladesh approaching the Sea of Bengal.

Majiid was our driver to this same area on my last visit in March of 2005. As seems to always be the case, I am given, against my continual protests the world over, the passenger seat next to the driver. Majiid has driven for this office longer than any driver, over 22 years. He is an older man, as myself, but he is tall and distinguished. It helps that he speaks and understands more than functional English, as most Bangladeshis do, but Majiid and I seem to have that additional non-linguistic link of communication that I rarely encounter.

On the last trip, we had arrived at our first river crossing, the wide, swollen Ganges river that had coursed across eastern India from its source in the Himalayas. This particular river transit is more than simply crossing, but rather a meandering trip across and down the river to the next river landing. These smaller ferry landings are most exciting places, reminding me of small Western towns of the 19th century U.S. The ferries are typically huge and filled to the brim with vehicles and people, an opportunity to obtain a condensed sampling of Bangladesh. After we had entered the ferry with our vehicle, I quickly, and excitedly, got out to mingle with the vendors hawking their exotic foods and wares.

Soon though, Majiid found me and motioned for me to follow him. I was initially dismayed since I wanted to stay on deck, but I figured it was a security precaution to move me to safer location on board in case we capsized. Instead Majiid conducted me up a series of stair wells to the bridge. I, of course, was greeted with surprised looks, but I saw that Majiid was recognized and greeted with some honor. I was introduced to the Captain, who briskly demanded that another person on the bridge get up and give me his seat. I was given a glare from this man, which the captain noticed and quite harshly told the man to remove himself from the bridge. I sheepishly then sat in a prime location where I had a wonderful view of the ensuing hour-long voyage. However, the displaced person hovered about the bridge too long and was ordered to return with tea and biscuits for my pleasure. This made me very uncomfortable, but who was I to argue with a Captain!

What i found out later was that Majiid was well known. He was a freedom fighter during the war of liberation from Pakistan in the early 1970's. Imagine, if you will, the 1840's in the United States on the East Coast during the 4th of July and all the remaining soldiers from our War of Independence being given honor during the parades of the day. This was Majiid.

I recall well my first instance of hearing of the newly-created state of Bangladesh. George Harrison, late of the Beatles, had crafted a benefit concert to aid the people of Bangladesh who were suffering the twin-pronged effects of a devastating cyclone in the very area which I will re-visit tomorrow which killed thousands of persons with it's floods, and the effects of a virtual genocidal advance by the Pakistani Mor. Harrison sing of Bangladesh in my studio apartment with some friends, wondering where in the world Bangladesh is!

This afternoon, Majiid and I reacquainted ourselves. I told him that I had spoken of him the world over and that I considered him my friend after three days of travel together last year. We laughed and exchanged news of family and he congratulated me on my marriage to Heidi.

So, tommorow, I wil once again have the opportunity to travel with Majiid, the freedom fighter of renown! By the way, Majiid is the gentleman on the right in the photo at the top of this blog entry.

Where Are the Utensils?

2007-06-16T22:50:00.000-07:00

Since this is my 3rd trip to Bangladesh, it is so enjoyable, the re-acquainting with past friends, familiarity with local customs (no, those bottles are not filled with alcohol! ) and knowing what to do in a given situation - mostly.

Again, this is my third trip and I am still amused with myself for what I encountered on the first couple of trips and how I reacted to those situations. Like the time it was time for lunch on my first day. I half intended to see bottles of alcohol at each place setting in the office cafeteria on the top floor (see Pre-requisite - Must be Willing to Travel Long Distances, and Appear Foolish at Times.... 6/17). In the absence of the bottles I also noticed an absence of familiar utensils - fork, spoon, knife. Now, I mean this meal is essentially heaps of rice, a small dish of meat with a gravy, and a lentil soup to cover all. There were only a couple of persons enjoying there meal, but the cafeteria attendant had likely seen this bewildered look before from Western visitors. He caught my attention and slowly guided me over to a corner where a little-used set of utensils lay. alternately, I looked down on my symbols of comfort and safety, and back towards the others eating their meals. Yes, I remember in my research, one eats with out utensils in a Muslim nation and the (and this is vitally important!) only with ones' right hand. Alas, I am left-handed, so I am doomed from the start no matter what i do. Yes, I am gauche, sinister, whatever marking that you prefer. But, this was, and is, my south-paw birthright I have learned to accommodate you right- handers all of my life (those excruciating marks left across the back of the left thumb by those deviously-constructed right-handed scissors; am I whining again?)

Still, I stared at those utensils. Comfort and escape was possible if I only picked them up. But the stares of the onlookers i could not escape if I grasped my Western lifeline. Should i reach, and then pull back my hand from the fork, just to amuse myself. No. I turned and thanks the gentleman and offered a polite decline with a slight downward turn of my head and found myself seated facing but a plate and three bowls. You try scooping up a loose concoction of gray and boiled rice and raise it to your mouth before it slides down the inside of the palm of your hand to your lap. Well, I have, and am willing to, provide amusement to onlookers before! Finally, my host approached and exclaimed that I was doing it right, since food always tastes better when it reaches ones' mouth directly from ones' hand. I was not sure about this since I was still trying focusing on trying to get the food wholly in my mouth. Later, I was told that I made a favorable impression on my onlookers and word spread of my disdain for utensils.

By the way, one significant change in my life since i began traveling for Save the Children to other, non-touristy, countries, is that whenever I am back in the U.S., and I spy an obviously bewildered foreigner struggling through a simple transaction at the cash register, I am much more tolerant and patient with them. I know....

Pre-requisite - Must be Willing to Travel Long Distances, and Appear Foolish at Times....

2007-06-16T22:34:00.000-07:00

This is rather a late story which occurred on my first visit ot Bangladesh in October 2005. But, I have been reminded of it of late on this visit.

On my first entry into the Save the Children offices in Dhaka city here in Bangladesh, I was ushered up to the 4th floor where my office work would be conducted. Of course, all Bangladeshis' are exceedingly polite and I was continually greeted and made well at home. As is my custom, I read as much as I could prior to my departure from North America so that it might be a richer experience and also so that I might be a more informed guest and effective worker.

Since this was my first visit to a Muslim nation, I knew that it would be best to attempt to lay aside most of my pre-conceptions. But here i was standing in the foyer of the office on the 4th floor, and before me was a tray of hard liquor bottles at various levels of consumption. I was startled, but decided to avert my gaze of the vodka and gin bottles noting they were all expensive brands. Later, as i puzzled over this noticing that most cubicles in the office had a neatly place gin bottle at the work place. I then spied a westerner, who happened to be an American. Ah ha, i would get the real scoop on this conflict that I was wrestling with; open alcohol consumption in a Muslim nation, and in a non-profit no less. I mean I never had seen such brazen display at out home office in Westport, CT!

Well, the American set me straight. He told me that" it was a happy place!". At trips' end two weeks later, I was invited over ot attend a dinner at the then Country Office Directors house, Ned Olney. After the meal,and knowing that I was flying out tomorrow morning, I had to ask this apparent paradox of values. Ned almost fell out of his chair laughing. He explained that empty alcohol bottles were salvaged and carefully washed and filled with drinking water. This was to avoid the contamination of the water by the plasticizers used in the manufacture of plastic water containers. No, they were not filled with alcoholic beverages. I explained to Ned that I had been stunned these past two weeks over how well his entire staff could remain so effective at their tasks while consuming obvious amounts of strong spirits (I watched the bottle levels change...). I told him that I was most impressed by the tolerance level to alcohol as well.

It is good to ask questions quickly....

Mobile Computing in Developing Countries

2007-06-14T19:20:00.000-07:00

I used to work at Boeing in the factory where the assembled the major sections of the twin aisle aircraft. Sometime back, a Boeing engineer had the opportunity to view how their competitor assembles major aircraft section. Airbus rolled their aircraft very, very slowly along a track within their factory as workers brought parts to the airplane as it moved at a snails pace across the floor. This was opposed to Boeing's tradition of transporting parts and people to a static position as the aircraft was assembled. In other words at Airbus, the airplane was brought to the workers as it passed by each assembly discipline. Before I left Boeing in 2002, the final assembly of 737's and 747's were on the rolling assembly line.

I am writing this blog on my mobile computing device. Instead of bringing my computing/data/image tasks to a desktop computer to process and analyze, I take my mobile computer processor to my tasks.

That is why I am here in Bangladesh, to introduce mobile computing to an NGO in a developing country. To be able to take mobile computing devices to the point of service delivery, instead of transporting reams of paper to those area, and then returning them back to areas with sustained computing infrastructure (i.e. electricity, network connection, etc.) .

On Monday we will deploy the 15 PDA's that were delivered ot the Save the Children USA office here a couple of months ago, as well as testing the wireless mobile device that I brought with me. We have already tested this in the main office in Dhaka, but after validating it's connetion ability withe the Save network via the ubiquitous cell phone coverage in the impact areas, then they will not need ot plan the mobile device transportation logisitcs after data is obtained at the health and food distribution areas. They have alreast directed me to order 135 additional devices for use in their program.

The assembly line slowly moves along, in fact here it comes toward me now...

Upon Being Accomodated

2007-06-10T15:57:00.000-07:00

I am staying at the Royal Park Hotel about 5 minutes from the Save the Children office here in Dhaka. It is 4:30 AM and I am not up, suprisingly, due to the effects of jet lag, but polishing up my training script for the new GPS PDA's that I smuggled into the country.

http://www.royalpark-bd.com/photo.htm

It happens to be the exact same room (205) that I've had each of the past two trips, which I am really pleased with since it is familiar to me. I could live in a closet, like I did in that tiny cabin the last 4 years. It is a small room, but it accommodates me. This is a fancy hotel. I had a chance to speak to the new Country Office Director here at Save and when he asked me how I liked it. I told him that I could afford to be a lot more uncomfortable for the price that they are paying to have me stay here. But, it is nearby and very secure. The traffic here is horrible, with what I saw in Cairo only being worse. Lee knows...

I mean, when you go into the restaurant and sit down, THEY lay the napkin on your lap and a waiter stands about 20 feet away watching you and filling your glass or removing your plate. I definitely do NOT like that stuff, not at all like the treatment I used to get at the truck stop restaurant in Niland, CA! For that reason I had room service last night night deliver me a chicken sandwich and fries so I did not have to endure the attention of the waiters. I sure whine a lot!

The point of a hotel while being away from one's home is to make one feel "at home". I enjoy traveling to see something different that my home, I mean, I've been there! I cannot wait to get out in the countryside of Barisal south of here. Lots of "wild west" river towns bordering the ferry landings here. I just get giddy when we pull up to those and my hosts indicate we will need ot walk into one the tiny restaurants (restaurant?) to have a meal. I typically get a small crowd of people standing near our table silently staring at me with curious looks. By smiling and making small gestures it is so easy ot gain their smiles and portray perhaps a different view of Americans that they might have. In turn, I am also being changed from my view of the actual people in Muslim countries that I have long held as fact based on watching and reading the media.

A Downpour

2007-06-09T17:42:00.000-07:00

Now I am beginning to understand the word monsoon. for me personally, this is largely what all of this traveling is about. Removing my encyclopedia/library images from my mind and replacing (juxtaposing?) them with real images.

I arrived in Bangladesh yesterday morning. Of course it felt like late evening since Dhaka (the capital city, where Save the Children has it's main office) is 14 time zones forward of my home state of Washington in the U.S. Interestingly, this jetlag is getting to be less of a problem. Perhaps I received the secret jetlag inoculation during one of my travel health appointments amidst the plethora of needle pricks.

Here I go again... On my last trip here I was "taken" by a man during my Immigration inspection. Since that time 15 months ago, I have thought of it often and related the story ot others to demonstrate how gullible I can be and how things work when we are unaware in developing countries. The story goes like this...

I had just walked off the plane after arriving in Dhaka at Zia International Airport. As I approached the array of immigration officers sitting in their booths to inspect our passports and visa's an older man approached me. He walked directly up to me, offered me his official looking credentials as he began to speak. He simply said to me, "Please come with me". Believe me, this is the last words that you want to hear as a foreigner upon entering a country. Bangladesh has had more than its share of internal strife and suspicions are often cast on Western visitors.

Like the time I serendipitously arrived in El Salvador on the eve of the national elections. El Salvador has had suspicion cast on it's voting practices and prior ot my departure, former U.S. president Jimmy Carter announced that his team of fraudulent election observers (were they "authentic" observers) would arrive in the country prior to my menial arrival. Sure enough, after I disembarked a military person had his automatic weapon pushed against my chest wanting to deny me entry. This was before i even made it to the immigration area. As I fingered mt Save the Children picture ID which has an text offering on it's backside pleading that I be given expeditious and safe conduct across international borders to provide humanitarian response. The soldier was not interested. Fortunately my host explained in rapid fire Spanish that I was okay.

Back to my "immigration" official. This serious-faced man then asked me to hand over my passport to him (a big no-no) and when I hesitated I found it hard to to comply as he reached toward it. He then conducted instructed me to follow him as he walked me over ot the VIP immigration desk. Oh, my orifices were aching already. As he approached the officer who was currently engaged with an immigration case, he turned towards me and directly me not ot approach the immigration officer. This was all in a very low, authoritative tone of voice. Well, after a few moments he returned with my passport stamped and ready ot go. Then he said, "Do you have something for me?" I had been conned. This statement becomes familiar overseas. This man had been credentialed to 'assist" travelers through the immigration process. Occasionally Save the Children will provide someone to do this for me, but I am notified ahead of time. As I fumbled for something, I argued inwardly the notion of, "I did not ask for you to provide this service", but I had gained about 10 minutes of line waiting time back into my life. So, all that I had available, I gave to him, a 2 English Pound coin. I normally do not keep cash on my person except for that carefully hidden away $100 for drunken border guards in remote areas. But i never pull out this stash of emergency money. Besides, I would probably be arrested for doing so in public.

Well, I had been ready for my "immigration" official. I had made sure I had some additional British coins at hand when I disembarked. This time, if i was approached, I was going to ignore his official stature and calmly ask, "For what services do you offer to me?" I would then negotiate on the spot so that we both knew what was going on. Ah, fragile ego that I have! Well, the best laid plans of mice and travels are often disappointed. He was no where to be seen. Perhaps he was pummeled by a suddenly enlightened traveler after learning his true quest. But, yes, is that him over there by a young disheveled traveler. Yes! Sure enough (what horrible grammar), there he was with his well-practiced approach. I was like in a time warp watching myself as this young man fumbled for his passport and the sweat on his forward exceeding the monsoon temperature and humidity. "Next!", I heard from the immigration official that I was awaiting. Time to move on...

I am so petty, just like the British comedian, Mr Bean who takes childish offense so quickly and plots his revenge.

I love Bangladesh. In part, because it is the first exotic locale I visited. The first time was part of a round the world trip (my 1st) in October 2005 soon after I started doing this. The excitement has not worn off, rather it has increased i would say. I returned in March 2006, so I have made many friends.

Oh, and for some inexplicable reason I was upgraded to business class on my Boeing 777 flight from London Heathrow. More on that later!

Back to the Monsoon. I found out during my first visit to El Salvador in 2003, that our northerly (and southerly) notions of season do not exist. That in the tropics (betwixt the latitude delineations of the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn) there is a rainy season and a dry season. The former in Bangladesh is produced by Monsoons. It is pouring rain and thundering this morning as I enjoy my small pot of coffee and toast. The movie "Elephant Walk" comes to mind, and "Rains of Ranchipur", the former which I read the book. Here I am.

Asia - Bangladesh

2007-06-07T08:34:00.000-07:00

Yes today is packing day. In some ways, for me, the preparation time is almost as exciting as the trip itself. I think this stems from anticipating Christmas or a trip to Disneyland. Ya gotta enjoy the whole trip - even before you leave! I'm searching through my bag of coin and currency to see if I have some Bangladeshi "Taka" left from prior trips. They are worth very little, but I can use them for tips to the desperate persons battling (literally) to carry my luggage from airport security to my hotel shuttle, about 50 feet.

I leave tonight at 6:40 PM and arrive there at the equivalent of 4PM Seattle time on Friday, routed through London. Not bad at all, a couple of 9 hour or so flights with 3 hours layover at Heathrow.

Oh, how I know Terminal 4 in Heathrow. I have spent several multi-hour layovers there, with one being a 12 hour early in my flights overseas. The seats throughout the terminal single with arm rest in between each, and are made of metal with little cushion. I am not one to sleep in a terminal (too much to see), but this 12 hour stint was on a return flight and I was pretty beat. So, I noted a three seat set off in a corner, likely re-constructed by a tired traveler.. i awaited the fortunate travel laid out, and saw a stirring as they needed to run for their flight. I made my move and arrived for possession with my hip bag, briefcase and travel bag just as another man arrived tardy. I stretched out entwining the straps of my bags in a Gordian Knot both through the seat arms on my arms. 50 minutes of sleep did the trick. This seat arrangement was on the south side of the terminal 3/4 of the way from the food court. By the way, a bit further is huge handicapped restroom ideal for a quick wipedown with baby wipes, shave and tooth refresh.

I got smart later on and would book a room at the Airport Hilton which is connected to the terminal. A great few hours stay, but very expensive. I still have great problems with spending Save's moneys for things like that, but the option is arrving in Tajikistan "thinking" that you are doing well with 12 hours of jet lag and no sleep for the past 30 hours and noting the curious stares from the audience during my first presentation to management. I guess it is worth it. My manager Lee always tells me to be rested and ready.

Back to packing. No, where is that passport....?

Through a Peephole....

2007-05-19T05:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Roseval, The Save the Children M&E manager of our Haiti office, accompanied me with his two young darling children, for a circumnavigation of Port au Prince. "APY", the broad smiling M&E analyst, who emerged as the peer trainer during the training sessions (I try to fade quickly as the training "leader" and guide the group through needed topics) also accompanied us.

I had never seen downtown but from my hotel balcony a good 5 miles away or further. We were able to walk about the main Square and see the the Presidential Palace, the monuments of the liberators of 1803. Afterwards, we stopped in at a pizza shop surrounding the huge square, and I delighted listening ot the chilren describe how the one can eat more pizza than the other. Roseval's son hung close by me, even grasping my hand as we walked through the square. I see, at the least, a future M&E anlyst. I saw, and experienced, a couple of difficult events, but it was enjoyable to get out after a long week.

That evening, I noted another correlative of poverty. At night, as fireworks erupted from the Square and the Presidential Palace, I knew that tomorrow my flight would take me out over the city towards the ocean before banking north towards the U.S. I would also see that sprawling shanty town south of the city. Tonight, it was dark. In any developing country, especially the capital cities, you know where the pockets of poverty are, and the areas of the more affluent; the former is dark, while the latter is lit.

There has been something that I have observed each morning that has evoked a couriosity in me. About a mile west of me there is another hill nearly as high where the hotel is located. Even though it is relatively flat, there are no houses, nor farms on it. Perhaps it is because of the nearby cell phone towers. Each morning, I would see a score or so of people wandering across this hilltop in either (that I could see) white shirts or the ubiquitous bright red Digicel (the local cell phone company) T-shirts. The people seemed to not be going anywhere but walking about, a sort of Brownian motion that describes a random motion of microscopic particles in fluid.

I am mentally preparing to leave Haiti. I know that even though I have spent a total of two weeks here on two separate visits with time travled to the rural areas, I still do not know the Haitian people. I have just looked at this country, but I have not understood the poverty, the customs, the politics, nor the economics.

This morning, I once again saw the white and red shirted figures arrayed across the hilltop opposite my balconey, but this time it was perhaps 4 or 5 persons standing in a clearing. It seemed that that were facing me, but I knew that I was invisible to them from this distance. I was if I was still 4,000 miles away in the U.S. to them.

As a child, my grandfather would take me on long drives out into the farmland of the deserts of the America Southwest of Imperial Valley. On our many excursions, he would invariably pull off the side of the road and not speak for perhaps 20 minutes or longer. Then suddenly he would ask me what did I see. He would ask me this since he understood how I thought, and I would begin to describe what I was looking at, all the details. After my pause, my grandfather would then ask me, "but David, what do you see?" He would never just let me look, but to really see what was ocurring with the group men digging a ditch, baling hay, or the thermal steam well construction.

I still largely only look at the world and people about me in this superficial manner. As I looked at the small group of Haitians on the hill opposite me, who appeared to be facing me, I found myself inexpliably raise my hand and wave to them slowly and highly. I thought that I imagined a response. This was absurd on my part, but I did go in and get my small pair of binoculars to perhaps see them. Well, they all were gathered with hands raised while facing each other, oblivious to this affluent American. It is as i thought. Hands raised in this manner is something of a celebratory and ascending motion. with hands raised, one demonstrates lack defensiveness and an acknowledgement of someone, something higher. I do not know what, nor whom, they were acknowledging, but it was certainly not this American peering at them from afar.

There is a book by the American author Erskine Caldwell (Tobacco Road) that I have, but I cannot recall the title. Towards the end of the story there is a curious event of a man who begins to spend increasing time peering through a peep hole in a shack on the back of his farm overlooking a valley. This man had seen this view from outside the shack all of his life, but he became entranced by the peep hole view. His friends and neighbors began to come by and ridiculed his absurdity, but one by one, they each became curious, then all would sit individually for hours peering through the peep hole and not being able to explain to them selves, nor each other why they had become entranced by this view of their immediate world.

When I read this account by the author, it made no sense to me as I read the book, and in fact it seemed a distraction in the novel. But, as I read on, it seemed to occupy a key structure in the books' thesis. I think that Mr. Caldwell was describing how difficult it is for us humans to really see and not simply to look at the people and world about us. Perhaps I had found my peep hole here in Haiti from my secure and elegant hotel balconey. Perhaps...

Haiti Images

2007-05-18T06:14:00.000-07:00

It is Flag Day here in Haiti, so the Save the Children office is closed, but soon I will be picked up by the M&E manager, Roseval Supreme to return to the office for a project summary and next steps.

This morning, I was watching the workers finishing up the new hotel parking garage that was being constructed on my last trip to Haiti. The workers were pouring concrete into the top of one of the vertical support programs, clad in wooden forms and surrounded by reinforcement rod. There was a brigade of workers carrying buckets of concrete up the three stories and then one person poured into the top of the form. Of course, I wondered why they did not simply back up a concrete truck and just pump the concrete up to the top of the pillar. But I have observed this manual labor in many locations. Once in El Salvador I watched from my air-conditioned hotel room 4 older men demolish a huge tree stump at the sidewalk with axes during the week. It was brutal work. When I mentioned to my host that a mechanized tree stump grinder could finish the job in minutes, he replied that those men would then not have jobs and their families would go hungry.

The Save the Children PDA Team

The two IT persons (Philippe and Rivolino) were off in a corner at the end of our training session yesterday. They had two laptops out and had commandeered the Pendragon manual. Suddenly, they both rose from their chairs and made some commotion. When I asked what was going on, they demonstrated a successful (1st time I've seen it) wireless transmission of data from the PDA to the Pendragon form design "client, to a database "server" laptop.

They had loaded the Pendragon forms design application onto a "client" laptop, but loaded the Pendragon MS Access backend database onto the 2nd laptop. then the data they entered on the PDA went across the wireless network to their server laptop and appeared as a new record on the database. This is where they jumped up.

As i mentioned earlier, they were able to establish contact with the VPN network in the Dessalines and Maaissante impact areas from Port au Prince. Next step, create a MS SQL Server database on a SC office server (might need some support, licenses), allow the M&E group to build test forms from their client laptop, then send the PDA's with the Education manager to give to the program supervisor (both of whom attended all of our training sessions) to collect test data in the Dessalines impact area. Then, they will send the data back to Port au Prince using the VPN network connection at the Dessalines office. In the future, the Port au Prince M&E office will send the forms to the impact office as the PDA is docked there and new data is uploaded).

The other CO's using PDA's have achieved 4 values; increased data accuracy while using the PDA's at the impact areas, elimination of non-value added cost of paper management, elimination of data hand transcription costs, decreased time to analyse data. Haiti has added the 5th value now; elimination of transporting PDA's across rugged roads (cost and time).

I overhead the Country Office director, Lee nelson mention that their office here in Haiti can receive a dozen visitors am month. Even though my visit is fully funded for air transportation, lodging, etc, by the agency, I fully realize that my visits require an additional workload that takes the staff away from their regular busy workweek. also, there are additional costs and time to accommodate my visit.

But I received a very flattering comment yesterday after our PDA team lunch (funded by the CO) that makes it all worth it for me. Upon entering the restaurant, I sat at the far end of the long table to accommodate my left-handedness. As we waited for our meals (I enjoyed delicious braised goat), the team were engaged in animated conversation in Creole with occasional group glances towards me. Later, Roseval asked me if I knew what they were talking about. My french is poor and my Creole is non-existent, as he knew. He explained that sometimes visitors arrive and have difficulty establishing contact on a personal level, likely due to their schedule and visit content. He said that the team was remarking at the restaurant that I did not seem to hold myself in high esteem and they had seen me make efforts to make contact with all, to the delight of drivers, janitors, and other staff. I understand how it can be when someone approaches and I do not know the language, and this has been a particular change in my life when I return ot the United States and meet someone not of native birth.

I do enjoy this part, making every effort to greet everyone, regardless. Often I am met with surprise and even awkwardness by staffers as I bend down to look in their eyes and greet them while taking their hand after I learn the local customary greeting. I am obviously well-fed and tall having taken my multi-vitamins since a child. I have seen the other visitors do this as well, including the recent visits by Charlie McCormack and the other Alliance persons during their visit. Everyone works so hard ot make my stay so productive and comfortable, and i have really been struck by the friendliness of everyone in Haiti. What a joy.

The PD1 Team

2007-05-17T06:05:00.000-07:00

The mobile computing team that I am teaching is doing great. At this point, I am doing a fad and the leaders/ teachers have emerged and are reading the manual at night and teaching by day. The team has several levels and sub-groups that I have observed. There are 8 persons on team, compared ot the usual one or two. The two IT persons are always present between server/computer service tickets. The Two M&E persons are there who are pretty fluent in MS Access. There are two other persons from M&E who are really enthusiastic, but perform mostly administrative roles in their office, and then I have the Education sector manager and the an Education program manager who traveled in from the impact area. I continually remind them that he is a very important person, since he is the target of what they are doing. His supervisors will actually use the PDA's, and they must be usable!

The fun part about using PDA's are that they are mobile. They liberate you from your desk, or even the required placement of a laptop. The first training day, most team members brought their laptops, in part to stay connected to their co-workers via the wireless environ. There is a curious aspect ot PDA's. A PDA is a small hand-sized computer with a small screen, but able to a lot of which you can do on a computer. PDA's now can do what a laptop did 4 or 5 years ago. Still, you generally connect your PDA to a laptop or desktop in order ot synchronize information between the two and to utilize the applications. In order ot connect the two you usually place the PDA in a socking station or cradle which not only connects the PDA to the laptop by a USB cable, but also holds the PDA at a slightly inclined viewing angle os the screen can be seen while seated in front of the laptop. As we build PDA mobile survey forms on the laptop, we then transfer the forms ot the PDA so that we can view and test them by actually typing data into the forms using the virtual PDA keyboard that is on-screen.

Invariably, after the team member (anywhere on my trips) finishes loading the form onto the PDA they still leave it in the cradle to scrunch over at the waist and attempt ot type information on the the screen. I gently remind them that because these are mobile devices we can detach ourselves from our computer-tethered location and move about as we were meant to as human beings. Well, no one brought a laptop on the 2nd day of training except myself and a manager (he had work to do). By the time that I had arrived (I had encouraged all, as is my tradition, to take take the PDA home and sleep with it), the team members had configured the devices to the wireless network and we conducted most of the training standing in a group, leaning against the tables, or out in the hallway.

Also, i returned from a break to them team obviously haranguing a fellow team member in fun. I kept to the team margin and determined that one of the administrative team members (yes, a young lady who was trying very hard in the predominately male computer world) had called her PDA, a PD1. At that point in the discussion I had returned from giving them a moment to establish a server-client password between the PDA and my laptop. I walked up to the lady and asked her what the all the laughter was about. She, as I was aware, was reluctant to tell me, but another quickly told me about her calling her PDA a PD1. I then stepped back and suggest that they use PD1 as their password. I got some surprised faces, but a small smile from the afflicted lady. Later that day, the team unanimously voted to name their group, "The PD1 team". She is a hero.

Buttons, Diplomats and Carafes..

2007-05-17T04:59:00.000-07:00

I almost added guns to the title, but...

I have just returned from breakfast on my fourth working day at our Save the Children office in Haiti. As I approached the elevator to rise to my room, I had to side-step a couple of UN gentleman in full battle gear; the goggled helmets, automatic weapon - the regalia. I have no critical comment here, but I was in the delightful throes of a full pot of delicious Haiti coffee and the run or flight reflex needed no priming at that moment You never no what you might encounter in life, but isn't something different nice, especially as content to tell others?

When I returned to my room on Tuesday, I was surprised that my laundry was back from submitting it that morning. Well, there was two identical, not one, exquisitely typed (not computer-generated, letters on water-marked stationary neatly enclosed in hotel stationary laid on my desk. The writer curtly stated that one of my shirts had been damaged by a machine and that the body was being returned for my disposal and I was being credited five times the laundry charge. Ha! I got them, They over-credited me by three times the original price of the shirt obtained from El Salvador three years ago. Actually I loved that powder blue (my favorite color (hence my consulting business name, SixBlue Data)guyavera as it is called. It is the traditional latin american businessman's shirt, very comfortable. Well, if that is the worst that happens on this trip....

Oh, regarding laundry. I recall a Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon from the 1930's peering into a laundry service. After (significant this) the washing and ironing, there was an individual with a hammer smashing the buttons on each shirt that rolled upon a conveyor in front of him. I guess if your shirts buttons escaped unscathed then the button-smasher had missed his quota that day. Well, it seems that the button smasher got laid off or replaced by an inefficient optical-targeting system. But nowadays, they insert insidious little tags identifying your room number ot obtensiously ensure return to the owner. I must reveal myself here, it was several trips abroad before I began to discover these irritating tags placed at strategic points in order to cause a welt on ones' body over time (neck, waistband...and other locations) The tags can be as innocuous as a tiny strip of that medical adhesive tape (remember, it came in curiously enclosed metal rolls?) , or worse yet a small piece of cardboard attached to your underwear waistband with a pointed tie-wrap. I recall discovering these adhesive strips on the inside of each of my socks after my third or fourth trips overseas. After examining each of my clothes for their removal, I began to understand why I had grown increasingly grumpy in the last few months - you would too!

This hotel is overrun with high level diplomats, VIPS. My Save the Children ride does not show up until a little before 9AM each morning, but I always excitedly run out there to watch everyone depart for their days' activities. Of course, the proper persons always stand within the marble foyer waiting for their Mercedes SUV to arrive. As for me, I stand outside adjacent to the circled driveway near the parking attendants (a lot more friendly group once they accept you as a blan (this took a couple mornings of friendly greetings and surprised handshakes with them). But from my posted angle I was able to have a view of the VIP's shouting at the drivers and attendents for their vehicle being late (it got there when it got there), the slightly visible holstered huge pistols inside the drivers coat as he jumped out to open the door. My favorite was, since my vehicle left after the majority of vehicles had departed (I only had 1/4 mile to go, but was advised not to walk it for security reasons), the increasingly angry VIPs pacing further and further out into the arrival zone as my attendant friends amused themselves over the pacing.

Also over time, I had met my glum waiter at breakfast. This is the gentleman who and I wrestled momentarily over the carafe of delicious Haitian coffee i had absconded with from a nearby table last year on my prior visit. I had mentally wrestled with this incident since, and had planned to approach it in a more humane manner on this visit. On my first breakfast morning here, I had be-friended the sub head waiter and now when I approached the breakfast area and gained his eye, I just motioned with my two hands in a vertical position, palms horizontal, separated by the approximate height of the small treasure of a carafes' dimensions. If I was early enough, we would have a chance to talk with our synthesized English (his) and French (mine). But, on Tuesday, after requesting a small carafe as I whisked through the area on the way to my balcony table, it was delivered by my uncooperative waiter from last year. We recognized each other. He then, instead of placing the carafe on my table after pouring the tiny cup full of coffee, he turned to leave with my carafe (possessive, aren't I?). I raised my eyebrows and stated, "Un moment, monsieur". The monsieur appellation caught him off guard, since I have not heard anyone call a servant/waiter by this entitlement. Her paused, and looked my way, then I met his eye and said, "Ici, por favor". Well, he tried to hold back his mirth, but let out a chuckle that I had combined both French and Spanish in my desperate attempt to not have that carafe depart from my presence. He returned it and I did my best to thank him in the proper linqua franca (I should learn Creole!).

The truth of this matter is that this young man is likely constantly harassed and demanded upon by guests even more rude than myself. He is also at the bottom of the hotel economic caste level (although he has a significant employment opportunity compared ot the rest of Haiti). Also, he probably has a wife and young children, or at least, an elderly mother. And based on his age, he has likely observed first hand atrocities that I have only read about. Coffee is not very important.

Also, one of the significant accomplishments of this trip on a personal level. I have become highly respectful of all, and I mean all, of the Save the Children vehicle drivers I have met. Never once has a Save staffer allowed me to sit anywhere other than the front passenger seat on our long, bumpy rides. I have tried, but always routinely get kicked out of the rear seat where usually three staffers crunch in. I am told that I need ot be comfortable and to have a good view of the country side. I suspect that it is so that i will not get carsick and ruin the trip. No, everyone is so thankful for my showing up (thanks Lee, Ed, Vicki). But these drivers are real professionals, and i ma amazed at their skill. There are drivers that I will never forget, and what a relief to see one holding the sign at the airport after a 10 hour flight.

Well, here in Haiti, I have been able ot ride the short distance with Anon, my driver who drove us for three days over the roughest roads I have ever experienced in the world. Anon, inexplicably, never warmed up, even after hours of sitting next to him. Last year, I attempted to gain his friendship by offering small gratuities e.g. ensuring that I leaned my head back in the car so he could see the approaching ox cart (this was definitely self serving), or pouring his coffee at breakfast before mine. He would have none of this and for those three days he never turned his head towards me or met my glance. I was knowingly peeved at his spurning of my advances, but I also realized that he knew no English, and i am aware of how this dispense one towards not engaging in communication. also, he was, by nature, to just drive and had probably been strongly admonished not to speak to passengers (my rationalization for him).

Anyway, Anon picked me up at the hotel, and I was met with the same indifferent gaze. On my alighting from the vehicle, I did my best to tell him that i felt that he was a professional driver and that he had always made me feel safe. I had spoken this to him before in broken French. Well that afternoon, I found myself standing next ot Anon during a hosted lunch in the garden honoring our Save the Childre CEO, Charlie McCormack (another story) who had arrived with an Alliance group. Anon actually smiled at me and Roseval asked to take our picture with my PDA camera. Anon replied with a surprisingly enthusiastic, "Oui". Anon threw his arm around my shoulder, pulling me in and leaned his head against my shoulder as Roseval took the picture. Unfortunately, the thumb was obscuring the lens (lack of training). So, once again, I had been wrong. My smallish rants had been just that, small. I have a lot more ot learn, and thankful for the opportunity to learn more, not about others, but myself.

Changes in Plans

2007-05-15T05:26:00.000-07:00

I know that my first day in the Save The Children office is my favorite. I have spent quite some time preparing for that day, with the advantage that I have made a visit here a year prior. So, the fundamental logistics are already in place (where is the bathroom, how do I navigate back to the tiny office where I am working, etc.)
But even Sunday night, I am aware that plans and agendas will certainly change. In fact, it is what I hope will happen.

This predilection for change in work tasks likely stems from a few months working on the Boeing AOG team supporting hand tools about 15 years ago. AOG means "Airplane On Ground", meaning that for some reason a a customers plane can not be put into flight and the local ground crew cannot fix it. Boeing then send out a highly-specialized "rapid response" team the airport, or jungle or end of a runway where a plane skidded off the end and tore up it's nose in a near final nose-dive. The AOG team was legendary and I found myself at a desk with a red telephone and a list of contacts. My manager told me to do anything that they want regardless of cost, and that speed was prime (NetHope...?). I was bored to death, spending my time keeping my ad hoc database applications up and running, and reading kit specifications to be prepared.

Sure enough that phone rang and a Boeing AOG person in Thailand did not even say hello, but just started reading off a list of items needed, calipers, specialized sockets, the like. For years, I had worked with databases developing tool inventory applications back in the days of Apple IIE's. For many of those early years, I was always located in a loud, dirty factory; I loved it. I knew tools after researching and developing many a contract, first needing to be expert on what I was buying. Well, the guy on the other end of the phone read that list faster than I could write it down, then simply demanded, "when will they be here?"; no phone number, no name. I paused, thinking that I first needed to review available inventory located in the worlds' largest building by volume (the Boeing 747/767/777/787 factory in Everett Washington. He then hung up. I jumped on the computer and started looking for what I thought he told me. Less than ten minutes later that phone rang again. This was the AOG manager. there was no hello, simply, "did you get the Thailand airways request?". Before I could answer, he simply asked, "Have they shipped yet?"

Well, I loved that job, I would hand-walk, hand-talk those order through, even carrying boxes ot the shipping department and helping them unpack them from the vendor boxes, and re-pack them for overseas travel. I would often drive them the 40 miles to hand-deliver ot Fed-Ex or UPS. It was stressful, but i loved that phone call... I get bored easily.

Well, back to Haiti. I had not been informed when the Save vehicle would pick me up, but I stood out and watched the parade of diplomats and other NGO workers fume about their armored SUV showing up late. A most unhappy lot! I waited over an hour, not because they were late, but I wanted to ensure that I, was not? Besides, I was freely being entertained!

A familiar face arrived in a Save vehicle for the short 5 minute drive to the office

I was met my my friend Roseval Supreme, the Monitoring & Evaluation manager (data). Then a parade of familiar faces walked in to greet my return. All hugs, and cheek kisses from the women, all very polite, but warm. I love it here. Roseval then told me that, there had been a change of plans. Yes! "could i present to the managers (about 15) a explanation how PDA's could benefit them?". I replied, "Sure, when?". In 20 minutes. Also, immediately after the PDA Productivity for Managers presentation,instead of a small team to train, there would be representatives from most of the program sectors, some coming in from not-too-distant areas, but along difficult roads. Good, I realized that these persons were not the typical M&E, database fluent teams members usually assembled for my visits; these would be the persons subordinates would probably use the PDA's, and usually natives to the impact areas.

well I already had a customized training plan prepared which I would simply enlarge with more explanations ("what is a PDA, a database??) for the enlarged PDA team. But first, the manager presentation. A quick Word outline of my thoughts on mobile functionalities with Outlook, and other ME Office mobile applications, including email, cell phone, internet connectivity, including carrying PDF travel documents and a secure program to carry those pesky password and PIN numbers around. As the outline fleshed out, I began bringing images of the app's into a Power Point presentation. Had the wrong template, but no time ot change it, content not pretty. Fortunately I gained another 10 minutes while waiting for the room to fill, but I needed to walk around handing out as many PDA's as I could. The meeting went well, especially after the idea set in that they could stay connected with office staff and programs without being tied to their desktop/ laptop. Mobile computing, what an idea. this also gave me a chance ot meet some of the new managers and I gave a brief explanation of why I was there based on my prior assessment visit. Gratitude was expressed for the donation of the PDA's and software.

Onto the next meeting as the managers filed out. The team of about a dozen people walked in, five of them with the new PDA's. These had not been gathering dust, and i could quickly see that we would have to do some soft resets. This was one of the most excitecd groups that I have had. Of course, they wanted ot get right into the software, but instead we spent an hour and a half on a what i thought would be a 20 minute discussion of "First Questions", a sort of "have you considered who, what, where...? I was thrilled of the discussion, most of it in French, but i could "feel" what they were talking about, with Roseval intuitively translating for me the key points. They were already ahead of my next question in many cases, already discussing it themselves.

My main point that was new to them was laying ot rest the pre-conceived concept of taking an existing paper form and simply developing it in the forms design software and loading and testing it on the PDA. Harold Narcisse, whom I met in Guatemala at an M&E conference last year literally beamed when I diagrammed on a flip chart that we actually work backwards from their Results Framework indicators, build a database, then ODBC-link into the forms design database, which in turn produces the PDA form, thus ensuring that they only spend the time and effort in the field collecting data that they need.

Anyway, we had great fun, breaking for lunch from 1-2 outside in that glorious sunny Haitian weather. When we attempted ot leave for my hotel at 4PM, a huge stake bed delivery truck was blocking most of the vehicles in the narrow compound. Roseval laughed (Haitians always laugh at adversity - survival) as he described that the truck was unable to backup (transmission problem) and we were all stuck. The truck was too huge to push, so it moved forward and a sort of Keystone Cops struggle ensued of vehicles edging back and forth inches at a time ot escape the truck and depart from the compound.

Oh, and another change in plans. Friday is flag day, so not work in the office, but a trip for Mr. Dave to the city...Whoopee!

To the Office

2007-05-14T05:45:00.000-07:00

Well, I am not to the office yet. I am awaiting being picked up by the Save the Children driver. I love the drivers. They are always so professional and skillful. I recall in Bangladesh my favorite driver, a man my age, who was a "freedom fighter" (obviously held in great esteem) during their civil war from Pakistan. I noted how that while navigating the long roads through Barisal choked with people walking alongside the road edges that he particularly slowed around children and the elderly. I remarked once that it was good that he did so, since our organization was Save the Children, not Hit the Children.

I was up until late further developing my my implementation and training plan. I have used this one often, but I always like to customize it for each office and keeping in mind the skills of the team that I will be working with.

I have been doing this work for going on four years now and certain things are starting ot fall into place, or rather forcing their way in! By this, I mean the whole scheme of things. When I first began working overseas, and even before, I read voraciously on relief organizations and the countries that I would be visiting. My idea of a relief organization was of a gigantic C-140 transport plane pushing food pallets out the back as it flew low over a distressed area. I suppose that this idea of helping others was based on my ideal of not getting involved (being up in the airplane, but never landing), but also on what I had seen in the media as a child.

I recall the thrill associated with actual trembling when I first visited Save's headquarters in Westport, Connecticut. I absorbed the culture and structure every moment that I was there. The people were so different form the for-profit culture that I was so used to

But now, I have been putting it together in a more cohesive way, and it is only getting more complicated! Reading Mountains Beyond Mountains is further illuminating what I think that I already suspected. More later, perhaps....

Preciptiation at Dinner

2007-05-13T17:58:00.000-07:00

I have just returned to my room from a buffet dinner down in the hotel restaurant. I would rather dine in-room, but it is so much more expensive. It must be because I mostly dine alone, well almost always. It is difficult to encounter someone who speaks English, and when I do participate in a group, they soon tire of trying their English language skills and return to their native language quickly leaving me behind. Besides, meals are only provided there as one may not leave the compound ot search other fare because of security reasons.

I enjoyed conch (think abalone from a mollusk whose shell resembles those used to call out to ships from shore as they arrive) with an onion gravy, red beans and rice, small squabs braised, and macaroni and cheese. I usually try to stay away from fish since I do not navigate small fish bones well. I recall in the Barisal region of Bangladesh, where most meals were rice and stewed fish. I took a bite and instantly the tender tip of my tongued was lanced by a small fish bone. I recall a popping sound as I pulled it painfully from my tongue. I never accept American food, unless it is all that is offered though. Everyone assumes that I want to try global fast food franchises in order to feel at home. Not me, I've done that often enough! I have only gotten food poisoning twice.

Once on that first trip to El Salvador at a nice restaurant upon hitting the paved road returning from the campo (rural) area of our project. The meal was worth it though, a delicious shrimp soup (sopa des camerones). I remember that I was so proud that i ordered my meal in Spanish entirely by myself. After ordering though, I noticed the flustered cook hovering about my table. I had ordered a side dish of refried beans, but instead had asked for sopa des camerones con camerones (with) pintos negro (black beans). The cooled thought I wanted the refried black beans in the soup! My hosts realized my mistake and we all laughed. One must be prepared to be light-hearted while traveling and willing ot appear foolish.

The other gastric distress episode was last month in Guatemala at my hotel. I was just wanting to order in-room since ot was late and my flight left very early, so I ordered the hamburger well done. I should of known for the distress happened upon me in-flight. since then I have learned to carry extra underwear in my brief case. Of course, the anti-diarrheal Cipro works wonders, albeit several hours later.

I found a small table next to a wall this evening as watched as the other guests filed in. The dining area, like most in tropical countries is mostly outside with no walls affording a beautiful view of the city below.

But soon, a heavy rain began to fall driving the diners in towards the center of the restaurant. A couple near to me was getting splattered so I moved my table in towards the room and indicated that they do the same. It was quite a scurry for the other guests.

Back at my room, I was drawn to the balcony to watch as an attendent carried a large patio-style umbrella to ferry guests to and from their vehicles. Then, a whole section of the city below went dark, which is not unusual in developing countries. Of course, it was the shanty town section while ours remained electrified. Small recompense for the expense of hotel life. My favorite hotel was in a remote valley of the Altiplano of Bolivia where we arrived after a long dusty visit to the focus area. It was a resort at a hot springs, of which the hotel was built in the 1930's. I recall that the generators shut down after 8:30PM, and the running water was cold. I went for a walk on a jutting tip of gardened land above the hotel to view the Southern Cross for the first time. Electricity is vital, but one can find redemption in the manner that civilization has experienced for most of time.

Well, back to putting the finishing touches on my training plan for tomorrow. I'm excited.

Disturbing Views

2007-05-13T14:19:00.000-07:00

The title of this post reflects how I am feeling after reading in the book that was provided to me by Heidi just hours before I left. How serendipitous that Hertz rental agent would recommend this book to me. It is called Mountains Beyond Mountains by the Pulitzer Prize winning author Tracy Kidder about Dr. Peter Farmer who works tirelessly among the poor in Haiti.

The title of this post does not describe what I have seen, but rather how disturbing my "views" of conditions are here and in other developing countries. It is becoming increasingly disturbing that that I am enshroading my views of povery, disease, malnutrition and social and economic injustice in cleverly labeled and tidy views. It is an attempt, I am sure, to keep myself estranged from becoming really engaged and to somehow organize in a coherent manner my position in all of this.

The author has been somewhat (as termed in the book towards the author by Dr. Farmer as he hikes through the countryside towards patients to check on their progress) my own personal Virgil to me as a guide through Dantes' underworld.

Pick up the book, not only to better understand Haiti, but to better understand ones' self. I have not even left the hotel this trip....

Blogging...and More

2007-05-13T07:28:00.000-07:00

I want to thank my Save the Children IT manager, Lee Steuber, for this blogging idea. I had been hearing of blogs for quite some time, but I never fully understood, (out of ignorance, which is always the case for mis-understanding) why anyone would want to read of anothers thoughts. I guess after publishing my own mundane blog that I still feel that way, why would anyone want to read of my thoughts - we'll see. But one thing I have realized, that I never really understand what I am thinking until after I have written of it. This I heard on my first class in college on writing. It was a challenge from my instructor, and I recall that I vehemently (to myself, of course) denied this premise, feeling that I could understand in my own mind what I know of my thoughts, ideals, conceptions. At the conclusion of that quarter, I told my instructor what I had discovered about writing.

I am beginning to think that this writing-to-thinking phenomenon, if closely examined, would do much to reveal who we are as humans in our desire, need, and relevance to communicate, that is to connect with other people. Increased honest communication would certainly cure many ills we have as humans in living in close proximity with one another, if followed by proper action and deeds.

My room overlooks the city and I have begun to see that in developing countries I see, hear, and smell some common elements. There must be some correlative coefficient of some sorts as to slope in relation to poverty. The steeper the slope, the poorer the people who live and farm their. It is certainly the case in Haiti. The land use practices have forced many to live in seemingly uninhabitable areas by North American standards. Again, my paradigm of life is challenged, and I am continually amazed on the comforts of my chance of being birthed in North America.

It is Sunday, and I am, because of flight availability, here essentially a day early. This does give me the moment to recover from travel and to better plan for my weeks work. I was asked, for the first time ever, to present to the Save the Children managers an introduction to the use of PDA's for time management. What a delight! I have always offered this seminar to each Country office (CO) that i have visited, but i have also realized that in the context of humanitarian workers in developing nations, that managers have more important tasks than to learn how to use some technological gadget. Yet my PDA, coupled with Microsofts' Outlook with it's task, contacts and appointment functions is essential to my being productive as an individual, as a business owner, and as a Save the Children consultant. I hope ot be able to pass this skill to the CO managers here. A "pull" is always better than a "push".

Again, my room has a small balcony to view the hotel courtyard below, where I can observe the comings and goings of the guests. There must be some Sunday night entertainment this evening as I saw the creole musicians arrive and began unloading their audio equipment. I have a tendency to hide out in my room, as I am not much on partaking of the hotel social scene. The hotel grounds are filled with many tall, luxurious trees, which are always filled with birds. I should of brought my Audubon field Guide ot North American Birds. Oops, that would not work here in the Caribbean, but perhaps so with migrating species! As soon as the musician's moved their equipment towards the main compound, a flock of birds hastily flew into the tree directly beneath my room. They must be aware of the audio disturbance (delightful creole music to my ears) upcoming and the alighted being much disturbed and looking back towards the trees that they had retreated from in the main compound. I am sure that they are aware of the morsels that will be left behind after the diners retreat this even to afford an early morning repast.

Ancient history continued...

Back in 2003 on my first trip as a volunteer consultant in El Salvador on my PDA implementation project, I was amazed at the positive reception that I received. Yet, I found that I had a clash with my egalitarian mores when being served. This is not only with the preponderance of servants ("it provides jobs, senor Isaak"), but my sense of why should someone do what I can do for myself. Oh, us Americans with our self-dependency. I recall my first day in the San Salvador CO after my introduction speech that I asked where the bathroom was at. The kitchen attendant, whom I later tenderly appreciated on my succeeding 4 trips there, indicated ot follow her. She took me ot the bathroom, opened the door for me, and as I stood there, she lifted the toilet seat and wiped it down, before retreating. This was too much and I told the director that this was not at all necessary. She replied that this lady came from generations of servants and was providing this service out of respect and hospitality. I began to realize that I needed to change, but laying down my own well-intentioned, but ignorant preconceptions of how other people should be.

Later that first week in El Salvador we had traveled to to the focus area where an earthquake had leveled the peoples small homes in an area that had been resident ot guerrillas in the civil war. The government had seemed ot be "slow" to assist in the rebuilding, perhaps out of reprisal for the areas' support during the long civil war. Save The Children was leading the rebuilding effort along with USAID by building homes, water supplies (vital!), latrines and setting up schools and nutrition centers.

I will never forget while at a school at San Martin that Clelia, a SC staffer asked if I would like ot see one of the newly-constructed homes. As we walked out the back of the schoolyard, Clelia redirected out path away from a group of soldiers beating a young man. We then began to walk down a very steep path ("coefficient of poverty"?) through a corn field. Suddenly, we encounter an indigenous man, an obvious Quiche of Mayan descent.

He stood in our path tilling his maize plants with a machete at his side. I asked Clelia if I could take his picture as I, a well-fed, blue-eyed foreigner was stunned by this meeting. In response to Clelias' request he slowly lifted his machete towards the slope below and indicated no, that rather than himself, that I should take a picture of his new house. As we arrived, Clelia showed me the house that he and his grandson had been living in until that day as the concrete walls of the new house were drying. This house was little more than North American closet size consisting of interwoven branches sealed with mud. Clelia then translated as the man explained that SC have built this house for him and his grandson, the only survivors of the earthquake that had killed the rest of the extended family. I saw tears in his eyes as he he motioned ot his new reinforced concreted house with galvanized roof and fiberglass windows. Importantly, I found out that Save's strategy of also giving the title ot the land was a real struggle with the local authority. This strategy ensured that the house would remain in the man's ownership and not later taken from him by a corrupt legal system. A Quiche without knowledge of Spanish would have few rights in a legal system in the capital city.

On my flight back to America I began to consider this type of work compared with my prior occupation with the Boeing company helping ot make airplanes less costly and more efficiently. After several more trips abroad, I would always return to the U.s in a thankful mind for my indulgences. But I also found that I needed to guard myself from my emerging reactions to overhearing complaints of lack of perceived needs. I realized that our needs are always in context of the economy and culture. I see in the U.S an increasing difficulty for young families and young people navigating their way through our consumer culture and high cost of living. But, more importantly, I had begun to change. What I had seen as America being slight different each time that I returned from abroad, was in actually a reflection of the change in myself, and I could not hold others accountable for this change.

Morning at the Hotel Montana

2007-05-13T05:57:00.000-07:00

What a difference awakening after a days journey. Yesterdays flight time was easy comparatively. The flight departed at 10:25 PM from Seattle so I was up the whole day packing and preparing. All the work is done before you leave, the project plans, hardware configurations, etc. In that way, attention can be given to the people, not the "things". I arrived the following day at 11:30 AM

Life is busy once again. It is not only with travel and the usual days' distractions, but I have the thrill of transition in my life. I have found that times of change have always been quantum leaps towards new, exciting and beneficial times in my life. Also, Heidi and I are due to be married on June 1st after I return, I am moving out of my little 14 foot by 16 foot log cabin that I have occupied after my Boeing layoff (thank you, thank you) and entrance into college for my two year Environmental Science (aquatic invertebrates - a passion since the 70's). Within hours of my arrival back in the U.S next weekend my three sons will arrive at my cabin to help move my few large possessions with the truck that I gave my eldest since Heidi and I needed to downsize from our collective 4 vehicles at our new home.

Heidi has a much larger task of nearly emptying her two bedroom house with fenced yard and garage in order for us both to move into a small 2 bedroom house about 1/4 mile "above" to location of my little cabin. It has a spectacular view up to the glaciers on Whitehorse Mtn perched above the Stillaguamish Valley. Almost four years ago,I emptied my 3 bedroom house with a full basement and upstairs laden with 30 years of possessions and memorabilia. amazingly, after I finished giving away, selling (much more fun "watching" for single Mom's, young families, grandmothers to essentially give away) and taking ot the dump nearly THREE tons (yes, 6,000 pounds) of un-used possessions. Afterwards, I regretted very little of this dispensation of earthly goods. It felt sooo good to be unencumbered. I had little idea of what direction my life would turn after college, and I wanted to be light in substance for flexibilities sake.

I have really enjoyed that little place of mine. It was only 15 minutes from town, Arlington, WA and 20 minutes from Interstate 5, the main north-south corridor through Puget Sound. I am surrounded by tall western hemlocks and red cedars there, most 100 to 200 feet tall. A small ephemeral stream flows directly out the back of my cabin window. The street (gravel) is a dead end loop (how can a beautiful arbored road be considered "dead-end"?) that is silent after the few cars hasten to work in the morning, and the din returns for a time in the afternoon. It has been a refuge betwixt trips overseas for Save the Children, 17 countries and it must be towards 300,000 miles since I started with them as a volunteer in 2003.

I recall sitting in a meeting room of NPower in 2003 listening to a proposed solution being offered ot the Country Office director of El Salvador for Save the Children. I was actually anecdotal to the meeting, hoping to stay closer technologically during my occupational sabbatical, than in a distant position relative to the bright young IT folk I saw as I exited the Boeing Company as a database designer after nearly 12 years. In that NPower meeting, I recalled them discussing PDA's (never seen one, but had heard of the term, "Palm Pilot") and a suggested PDA survey forms software program called Pendragon that would be much easier to use than a SQL Server design requiring a high degree of technological support.

The suggested program used Microsoft Access as a back-end database, so when they turned ot me and asked if I could do "it", I said, "sure!". Actually, I was not quite clear on what"it" encompassed. I was told to get my passport and travel to a foreign country in a couple of weeks. I was left the laptop that had the SQL Server product on it and I was asked if I could also figure out why it would not work (I figured that this was a test). Boy, did I luck out. All that was needed was a severing and re-attaching of the database objects.

Well, I have been to foreign countries before. A couple of forays across the Canadian border into Vancouver (those red street signal lights seem to be synchronized to "my" sense of traffic flows. Also, I had seen Tijuana, a less than attractive city bordering my home town of San Diego (left with my ex-wife and four small children in 1989 to find some green and moisture from the dry, brown 'burb).
But I was unprepared for El Salvador. I took a quick class in Spanish and received the most dismal grade ever in my multiple college careers. I received the PDA's just two days before my flight, so I quickly laid them out on my dining room table to charge their batteries and perform some utility configurations. I begin reading in earnest the Pendragon software manual in-flight.

I was up for 30 hours for that trip (no problem) and the following day awakened to swarms of parrots circling over the city of San Salvador. That morning, I was introduced to the Save the Children office and provided my memorized speech in Spanish that simply gave my name, where I lived and the names and ages of my children. I concluded with how I was honored to have El Salvador be the first visit to a non-adjacent to the U.S. foreign country. As I sat town, the staff, and those who had traveled in from the field locations, arose and gave a seemingly heart-felt applause. I recall that I quickly retreated to my upstairs office wondering about this ovation. Was it real, or "normal" in a Latin country. I asked later and was told that the staff was thrilled that I would even consider traveling ot their tiny, impoverished for my first trip abroad. Hmmm, something is about to be changed, and I think that it will be me.... More ancient history later.

I am a morning person. Ah, freshly drawn coffee with the morning light slanting through my cabin. this morning, I awoke ("Que tal amaniciste?" - meaning did you awaken well? with empahasis on the awakening, not the sleep) refreshed, showered and shaved and hasten down ot breakfast. I was really looking forward ot this as this hotels' dining area is situated on a large balcony overlooking the city.

On my last visit of 2005, I sat down to a table and began looking for the coffee. I am a coffee lover and I regularly consume a french press of coffee each morn (you can make it stronger with full delightful coffee flavor without the bitterness). Since Haiti is a french-speaking nation, proper decorum is emphasized at such an elegant hotel ("no shorts or T-shirts in the dining area!") A very small cup was at my table which would contain two gulps (I guess that I should of said sips) of coffee after pouring from the waiter hovering nearby. Well, after his needing ot re-fill my cup in quick succession, he just brought the carafe from his nearby waiters' station and left it on my table ot my delight. The next morning, I spied the carafe of delightful pleasures and just picked it up and brought it to my table. Of course, I was a most un-civilized person in the Continental sense ( I really am often to negligent of manners), I had removed my new (to me) waiters' livelihood and he came right over and and placed his hand on the carafe to return it to his station. Uh-oh, don't touch the coffee buddy. We struggled lightly and momentarily, I was triumphant. I was given a glare and once again I was the ugly American. Hey, we're talking coffee here. I had given much thought ot this tussle in the last year, so upon arrival at my same table this morning I very politely "asked" the waiter (whom i recognized as the beneficent one from 2005) if I might please have a carafe of coffee for my table. This request was all in french, as a leftover from my four years of french language in secondary school in the 1960's and entailed most of what I remembered. I had hoped the using the lingua franca and requesting it beforehand that I might avoid the situation of last year. Soon, I had my own carafe, a delightfully buttery croissant (ummm) and a view of Port au Prince on a sunny day.

Port au Prince - Haiti

2007-05-12T15:07:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Port au Prince late this morning via Miami from Seattle, WA. I was last here in late June 2005. Images from that trip, and this, are posted at http://disaak.phanfare.com. During that visit we spent most of our time with the Save the Children staff visiting the field locations in Mirebalais at the Albert Schweitzer Hospital where Save lead the food security program. We were able visit health centers in Liancours in the Arbonite region which encompasses the wide plateau of central Haiti. An area which is far removed from any infrastructure or services.

We were also able to visit a rather remote village called Savanette near to the border with the Dominican Republic. It took us a nearly a half of a day to travel the 20 miles on the absolute worst road, actually just bouldered runs through the mountains, that I have ever experienced. I recall that immediately after my return to my home of Arlington, WA in the U.S. that my neighbor met me and complained about the deteriorating condition of the 1/4 mile of gravel road immediately prior to our homes. I almost broke into hysterical laughter over the absurdity of the complaint, since I also had complained of the 20 or so potholes along that 1/4 mile.

Heidi was able to get a book for me just before I left on this trip that I was looking for suggested by a service desk person at the Hertz auto rental agency while attending the Nethope conference last week. It is called "Mountains Beyond Mountains, which is a Haitian saying that after one steep mountain is crossed in peril, another mountain awaits. A reference to the uninterrupted travails of the people of Haiti. It is about a doctor from America, Dr. Paul Farmer, spending his life treating infectious diseases here, having established a hospital where thousands walked for many miles and even weeks on the poor roads for treatment.

On this visit I will assist the Country Office (CO) here of Save the Children to begin using their 5 sets of PDA's to be used for mobile data collection. Laptops are expensive and limited by but a couple of hours of battery life in these areas of non-existent electricity at the points of the data sources - the people and beneficiaries of Save the Childrens' programs. Currently, Save coordinated the printing, distributing and collection of data on paper survey forms in order to obtain information of their programs effects. I have seen this same scenario all over the world in their country offices. I am also aware that other non-governmental organizations (NGO's) that I have become acquainted with through Nethope (http://www.nethope.org) also endure the same non-value added costs and logistics to carry information to a from remote field locations in developing countries.

Late last year, I was asked by my Save manager, Lee Steuber in our home office in Westport, Connecticut, if some PDA's became available on a donation basis, which CO could most benefit. I immediately had Haiti come to mind, as it is the most impoverished nation in the Western Hemisphere, and Save's programs are in the most impoverished area in Haiti. So, the PDA's have awaited until I could schedule a visit to assist them in developing their mobile data collection project towards usability.

I always look forward with excited - and dread - arriving at airports in developing countries. Customs and Immigration is always a challenge, and often I am trying to "bring in" some PDA's for an implementation. Usually, once that you clear customs, you have your American sense of order and nice airport facilities challenged by throngs of people on the other side of security just outside the airport doors. Walls of people pressing forward looking for arriving family members, and the heat and humidity, all the while desperately hanging onto your luggage and trying ot ward off, with a smile, the army of persons looking to carry your luggage (to where, I am never sure!) to your vehicle for a small sum for maybe 100 feet.

I recall last time when arriving at the Haitian airport to depart for the U.S., I had to become equally physical with my elbows and hips to enter the airport security area. It can be a bit unnerving, but I am reminded that we Americans represent unbelievable wealth to them, and awaiting incoming foreign visitors affords a possible opportunity to extend their meager income. I, of course, am always met by a Save representative to conduct me to my comfortable, secure hotel. I have it so easy....

It was especially easy for this arrival to Haiti. My pre-departure information sent advised that I would be met by an airport official upon disembarking the plane and be conducted to the Salon Diplomatique where an official would take my passport, customs and immigration forms and process them along with my luggage while I waited up stairs in an opulent area reserved for VIP's and diplomats. This was actually very nice, but it made me uncomfortable due to it all being done for me, but security concerns, I am sure, dictated this new procedure.

I am now in the Hotel Montana in an area called Petitone-Ville, a very upscale area of Port au Prince, high up on a mountain overlooking the harbour and the city. It is a very beautiful, yet extremely expensive hotel (I hate hotels, I'd much rather stay with a staffer) with many armed guards patrolling the grounds and surround by a 12 foot tall steel plate fence. I recall on my last visit after my days' work at Save, I would sit out on my balcony and watch the United nations troop carriers pull into the hotel compound after their daily police action in the city below (national police security it seems is mostly absent). Then, about the time the troops arrived for safe abode, I noticed fires begin to erupt in the city below, near the harbor area. Upon inquiry, I was told that it could be vandals looting warehouses after to troops left. Desperation is everywhere. I would probably do the same thing if my family was in need, perhaps....I sense that the situation has improved, in part from my security review email to me prior to my departure.

So, I was up about 30 hours, but I feel refreshed, considering there is only a two time zone difference here from my home (GMT-6). Tomorrow, I will prepare for my weeks work in more detail based on the Scope of work that I sent to most always-smiling host, Roseval Supreme, the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) manager. He indicated that we might not be able ot get out to the field (where I always want to go, cubicle-designed PDA solutions do not always work under field conditions, I have found), due ot unavailability of transportation. That's okay, we spent a lot of time there on my last trip, and I understand the context of their M&E activities from then. Now, for a shower and watch the sunset over the Caribbean from my balcony. I have it so easy....

Return to Guatemala City 4/20

2007-04-20T19:43:00.000-07:00

I am back in Guatemala City at the Princess hotel. It is nice to be here, I ordered room service having an South American steak with an Argentine sausage, all very fancy along with a martini. Yes, I enjoy a martini - one is all.

The trip went very well, staying and working in a large, yet rustic town of Santa Cruz del Quiche. Think Latin western town, even with the occasional Latin horseman "caballero". Last night was a celebration for some departing staff members at a local house. It was so much fun, but most of the time I just sat, smiled and tried to follow the conversation and laughter. Latin's are very big on ceremony, so there was a time of giving gifts and speeches. I think that I surprised a few there by giving my own speech of thanks and expressing gratitude and friendliness towards them and Guatemala. I asked later of my host if it was inappropriate, but I was told it was timely and well received. I like taking chances.

The next morning we held our final report meeting where I verbally gave them my assessment and described their project strengths and risks. They decided to take 5 sets of PDA's of the 8 that I brought with me, pre-ordered for this trip to save shipping costs. They are all very excited about the project and asked for me to return the last quarter of this year to help with implementation. Their project is the Multi Year Assistance Program (MYAP) follow-on to their DAP program. The advantage here is that they are finalizing the development of their program indicators (thankfully following the Results Framework), which will define the data requirements, so they are able to integrate PDA data collection early on.

Also, they have three staff members who are fluent in MSAcess and developing normalized databases (Whoopee!). I explained that converting from a paper-based survey process to PDA forms is actually developing a database. You work backawards from the data repository through the deployment process which yields the PDA forms. In that way, you are ensured of adherence to the program indicators and final deposition into the database.

So, I have a free day tomorrow to go shopping at the tourist market, higher prices but a wealth of items from the country, especially the brightly woven fabrics. I already have the two woolen blankets from the interior. You'll love them. Then, I will board the plane at 8:40 AM Sunday and route through Dallas-Fort Worth (for immigration/customs) for my flight to Seattle. I hope they honor my request for upgrades since it will make for a more enjoyable flight, even though it will cost me some of my frequent flier miles.

Next county - Haiti.....a return trip

In Santa Cruz Del Quiche - Guatemala Save the Children field office

2007-04-19T11:15:00.000-07:00

I am in my 6th day here in Guatemala as a consultant for the non-governmental organization (NGO) Save the Children, whom I began as a volunteer in between college quarters while search for a post-Boeing career as a mid-fifties male.

It is warm here, but not at all unpleaseant for my constitution and health, since my Geographic Positioning System (GPS) has informed me that we are at approximately 6,600 feet here in the tropics (N15, W91).

My hosts at Save the Children asked if I wanted to eat at the local fast food locale (Pollo Campero) when I first arrived. I said that I can eat fried chicken at a fast food in the U.s., rather could we eat the local fare. To my delight, the arranged breakfast and lunch at a house of the aunt of a lady owrker at the Save the Children office. What a delight! Each time we entered the shaded courtyard to sit for a meal (each meal has been different each time), I am delighted ot great the elderly granmother sitting in the courtyard. She is perhaps 80 or so years old, and responds with a few words of Spanish from her beautiful bronzed, lined, face.

Even though I have made 6 trips to Latin American countries (16 in all globally), taken a semester class in Spanish, my language capabilities are terrible. i am unsure if I am just being lazy or lack the cognitive skills in adopting a new language. (I think both!). Yet, I always seem to be able to communicate by adding gestures smiles and hopefully genuine interest in their lives.

TO wrap up, I love traveling, always requesting window seat to gaze out upon even the mindless North Pacific for hours at a time. It is the people though, and i strive to be a traveler, and not a tourist....

A return to Washington state in the United States for a short while, then onto Haiti, Bangladesh, Uganda, and Vietnam,