So it turns out "Varzob" does have a lot of "ob". In fact "Varz" means "full of". Only 15 minutes outside Dushanbe towards Khojand we were quickly into rolling hills/mountains with rivers and waterfalls lining the route. The actual training venue was right next to a lake which I ran around in the mornings before training began, making a nice change to my Davina McCall fitness DVD (which Habib did join me for one morning!)
I arrived in Varzob with the in-country volunteers and an Afghan volunteer who'd flown in from Kabul in the night so that they could prepare a welcome for the UK volunteers who were catching up on sleep after their early morning arrival. I'm not sure their UK counterparts expected their first morning in Tajikistan to involve singing and dancing but they quickly got to know each other and were even exchanging ukulele tips in no time!
On the second day of the training, the volunteers split into different nationality groups and prepared presentations about their cultures. The group then looked more closely at case studies about the sensitivities involved in working in a multi-cultural team. After lunch the volunteers considered the opportunities and challenges associated with living in host homes and did some role plays about some common situations that may arise. They finished the day with group dicussions about group dynamics and how to resolve conflicts/difficult situations when working in a diverse team.
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| The road to Varzob |
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| Lots of ob! |
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| Training venue in Varzob |
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| View from the training venue |
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| Location for my morning runs (-: |
I arrived in Varzob with the in-country volunteers and an Afghan volunteer who'd flown in from Kabul in the night so that they could prepare a welcome for the UK volunteers who were catching up on sleep after their early morning arrival. I'm not sure their UK counterparts expected their first morning in Tajikistan to involve singing and dancing but they quickly got to know each other and were even exchanging ukulele tips in no time!
On the second day of the training, the volunteers split into different nationality groups and prepared presentations about their cultures. The group then looked more closely at case studies about the sensitivities involved in working in a multi-cultural team. After lunch the volunteers considered the opportunities and challenges associated with living in host homes and did some role plays about some common situations that may arise. They finished the day with group dicussions about group dynamics and how to resolve conflicts/difficult situations when working in a diverse team.
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| Tajik group present back about their culture |
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| Host home role plays |
On the third day the volunteers split into two groups, with the UK volunteers learning about the history of Tajikistan and the in-country volunteers learning about UK history. After being an observer for most of the training, I then got the chance to facilitate a pilot session on volunteer learning (linked to the focus of my visit). In order to help the volunteers personalise their learning they set three individual learning objectives that they will reflect on throughout the three month placement and beyond, taking a more proactive approach to their learning than has previously been the case.
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| UK volunteers try to put the history of Tajikistan in chronological order |
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| Afghan and Tajik volunteers discussing UK history |
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| Facilitating the pilot session on volunteer learning |
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| The volunteer learning tree of individual learning objectives for the programme |
Tomorrow the UK volunteers will be heading off to their host homes before beginning their in-community orientation with the in-country volunteers on Thursday, getting to know Dushanbe and their host families better before starting work on the project they'll be working on for the next three months - to organise and deliver a tourism festival in Dushanbe to promote tourism and increase employment. In the meantime I'm off to the VSO Tajikistan office for some staff meetings and training debriefs. It's been a fascinating visit in so many ways - just a shame I can't stay longer. Back in the VSO office in London for quarterly reporting deadlines on Monday....
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| VSO ICS Team Dushanbe, Summer 2013 |
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