Oh, the joy and stress "thata" (a lot) of organizing events.
The theme for the month of March in Botswana is Month of Youth Against AIDS (MYAA). So a few, a very small few of us public service providers coordinated an event called the Youth Film Festival for the in-school and out-of-school youth in my village.
The main attraction was a film that was produced locally in Botswana. The film focused on promoting healthy decision making by educating about the dangers of having multiple concurrent partners, teenage pregnancy, and how to avoid HIV and STIs.
So here's some of the things that happened...
LEARNING THAT JUST "DOING IT" TRUMPS READING ABOUT IT
With no more than 7 months under my belt in the Peace Corps world, I'm already learning the valuable lesson of what it means to work with little, and then figuring out what to do when that "little" diminish into an even smaller "little."
For instance, we started off with a budget of P6,000 which equates to somewhere around $500 USD. With the funds we planned to to promote the event by purchasing movie snacks such as popcorn, candy, drinks, etc. Oh, and of course other necessities too lol. We thought this would market the event well, and make it more enjoyable for the youth who rarely have a fun outlet in the village. Unfortunately, about 2 weeks before the event, we were told the funds were cut. Not just some of it. But all P6,000 of it.
Fast forward to the day before the event. The location of the venue was locked, and the tent nicely secured. Things were looking pretty good one might say.
Well, of course there's always a curve ball ready to be pitched, and as I'm learning from my short time here in Botswana...You can prepare as much as you want, but the bulk of the action only happens hours before the event. Yup, and for those coordinating the event, well, that kind of "timing" can get your heart pumping faster than any triple shot of expresso could. And for some cryptic reason, the role of lead coordinator happen to mysteriously fall into my lap :/
GAME DAY
Jumping to the day of the event. The team and I quickly ran thru the checklist.
We had the place–"check," we had the tent–"check," we had the film, computer, and projector–"check, check, check."
We did some promoting the week of the event, but could have always done more. Aware of the minimal advertising efforts, I requested 30 students from my Junior school to attend. We got the "ok!" from the higher ups, yet still faced a giant hurdle. The monster, we Peace Corps Volunteers like to call, Transport showed it's gruesome face. For those that don't know, transportation in Botswana is a mathata thata! Translation = "HUGE problem!"
Now the fun part begins. I walked into one of my colleagues office, and he had this look of uneasiness written all over him. He began to tell me "Umm, we just found out the ______ department that's suppose to let us borrow the screen, is now using it for an all day meeting." Of course.... Adrenaline began pumping, making the veins on my forehead pop out from all directions. I played it cool. But in my mind I couldn't believe it. We had that thing reserved for weeks!!
Another colleague asked me "Ok, now what about the sound?" I responded "Yah, we have it, but so far no transportation to hall it." So, I checked the office and reserved some computer speakers for back up.
"What about the 50 chairs?" My other colleague asked. I answered "Not sure, the ________ department said their still working on it." 😫
The event was scheduled to start at 3pm. At about noon, I was running around my village like a mad man. Correction, more like I was skateboarding up and down my village like a crackhead. Talking to people, doing last minute errands, I was wired. No expresso shots needed! I learned that day that too much adrenaline makes my brain fuzzy.
IMPROVISE.
With only a few hours till the event, to handle the issue with the snack budget, we decided to take small donations from each other for snacks. We came up with enough to buy a few bags of candy. For the screen, we asked the hospital for a white blanket. However, the process they required was going to take way too long. So I ran to my house, looked around and ended up grabbing the white sheet hanging as my bathroom window curtain.
Now, if you remember what I mentioned earlier about the "action" happening within hours of the event, you'll see it unfold now.
With only 60 minutes left to go till start time, I magically bumped into one of the drivers from the EDU Center and negotiated with him to transport 25 students from my school to the event.
It gets even better. One of the teachers that I had been trying to track down for hours to transport the sound equipment, I finally found, hidden in those crevices of the Kgalagadi desert sands. He agreed to bring the equipment.
Unfortunately, the chairs were a no show. Nevertheless, we borrowed some mats and laid them out nice and neatly.
AFRICAN PRODUCTIONS
Three o'clock passed by and we had just begun setting up the tech equipment. I pinned up my white bathroom curtain, right in the back center of the tent. We later realized that the picture from the projector did not show very well on it 😞
Then suddenly, out of nowhere a large white wooden board appeared out of thin air! Nah, but was as if it did. Someone next door lended it to us 😄
Sound finally arrived, right at the time of the scheduled start of the event. From what I hear that's actually not too bad! And, it sure beat using those tiny computer speakers.
After a little tweaking here and there we miraculously managed to start only an hour late! Anyone familiar with Africa, or should I say Botswana events are clearly aware that this was early, or at the least, on time 😎
SUCCESS
In our eyes, the event turned out to be a success. We estimated for 50 youth showing up, which had included the 30 from my school. I guess word got out enough because a total of 75 in-school and out-of-school youth attended the event.
We passed out candy, the movie popped up on the white wooden painted board relatively clear, the sound boomed throughout the grounds, and the students gathered on the mats and around the corners and edges of the tent.
The discussion time following the movie demonstrated that the film did it's job well by catching the students attention and sparking thoughts about how they are living their lives.
I thought surfing, skateboarding, and riding motorcycles got my adrenaline pumping, but nothing gets me going like planning a Tsabong event!
