James Mills is a web developer in the North East of England and founder of Refresh Teesside »
Mike Hughes is the Head of Business for the Evening Gazette. He will be blogging on all matters of importance to Teesside businesses - and some that are just worth knowing »
Jez Davison, business writer at the Evening Gazette, is a regular blogger on all things business - particularly finance, entrepreneurship and the state of the Teesside economy » 
Karen McLauchlan is the Evening Gazette's deputy business and features editor - with special interest in all things industry, property and arts related » 
Jeremy Middleton is a venture capitalist and the co-founder of FTSE-200 company HomeServe » 
Deloitte, which has 23 offices across the UK including Newcastle, is among the country's leading professional services firms » 
ClimateNE & Climate Change Schools Project support the move to a low-carbon, resilient economy and help businesses avoid risk and realise commercial opportunities. Posts by Jen Atkinson, Krista McKinzey and Harriet Thew » Wow what a day yesterday. We managed to get through three projectors, 65 cups of tea, one bed sheet (which was used as a screen for the projector - very creative I thought!) and three different languages (Kinyarwanda, French and English!)
This all carried us through our workshop in Fair Trade and presentations on both COFTA and Shared Interest, with a seminar to follow to share knowledge and skills.
As I said yesterday, 40 people turned up for the Open Day. Now, I have to say that quantity doesnâÂÂt always mean quality. LetâÂÂs not forget the lady who turned up purely because she heard there were free sandwiches on offer!
On the other hand, we met some inspirational people who would make great trainers: enthusiastic, knowledgeable and with a great deal of experience.
The 15 trainers selected for an exclusive training programme will receive âÂÂtrain the trainerâ training (hmmm catchy eh?!) and will work together as a group to develop the materials used to train the targeted 50 organisations.
After a hectic day, we see the evening in from a nearby Rwandan Coffee shop, going over the plans for the week ahead. The coffee shop is set on a hill that over looks the city and we can see lights shining across the city from peoplesâ homes (there are no street lights.) In the background Frank Sinatra is playing and for this moment I could be in any city in the world.
This feeling continued (perhaps in a not so good way!) when Joan and I were almost mown down whilst trying to cross the road! It turned out to be three matatus (minibus taxis) with poeple screaming out of the windows - waving Rwandan flags.
They were off to Ethiopia to compete in a football competition - proud to be Rwandan and convinced that they will win. As I glimpse the Man United, Chelsea and even Newcastle United logos painted on the side of the matatus, I realise that maybe it is only football that can cross cultural divides and really bind the world together. And on that note, it was time for bed.
- Post to:
del.icio.us
Digg
Newsvine
Nowpublic
Reddit
« Previous | Home | Next »