A Disturbance in the Flow

The objective of yesterday’s meeting was to allow each woman to review her final five photos with the group, discuss what was in the photo and how it represented a barrier to health care. I started the day tired as there was some type of cricket in our room the night before that would chirp loudly once and then be silent just long enough for me to fall asleep and then chirp again. Just like a smoke detector battery!

My previous calm attitude of “going with the flow” was absent yesterday. It was one of the hotter days we have had and the room that we are in has little ventilation. About half of the women were an hour late, so I ended up having to stop and explain what we were doing multiple times.  The women went through their explanation of the photos quite quickly (which I guess was good since the schedule got so messed up), but that was not the intended purpose. This left me having to improvise to fill the time. I know better than to not have a Plan B, but I didn’t have one yesterday. I was hot; irritated at myself for not planning better and explaining better; and frustrated at what seemed to be a lack of engagement and/or understanding.

However I pulled together an exercise to identify key categories that were shown by the photos. I was planning to do a more extensive exercise the following day but actually I think the improvised version was simpler and easier for them to understand. I asked each of them to tell me a category for the barriers that were shown in their photos. I gave them an example of “distance” as a category that was shown often.  Then we discussed and combined and ended up with about 15 different categories. They decided that they wanted four categories for the exhibit. I gave them four sticky notes and asked them to write down the four most important barriers to them. I counted the votes and they actually ended up choosing five. Despite my grumpy mood this exercise really went well.

Also, the women informed me that when they are inviting people to the exhibit they are asked if attendees will be paid to attend. Seriously! It seems that if there is anything to do with a Western person there is an expectation of compensation.

Some days just don't go as planned and you just have to take a cold shower, eat some Jelly Tots and regroup.