01 - Back again
27.02.2009 (Siem Reap)
After coming back to Germany last December, I felt a bit confused. In the six weeks before I have tried a lot in Siem Reap, but didn't achieve much. I was somehow disappointed about myself and had no good idea, how to proceed. Then M, a friend of mine, invited me to participate in an international four days seminar on "Multi-Stakeholder Dialogues" in Siem Reap. Participating there and meeting people from different countries with more or less similar interests as mine, was very helpful. Perhaps one of the most significant insights at this point was the simple acceptance, that problems in intercultural cooperations inevitably arise and that it does take time to overcome them.
After the seminar, T, A and me started to work with the help of M on the Garden Shuttle again. Along with the topic of the seminar, we decided to clarify our ideas and objectives more systematic than we had done before.
Therefore, as a first step we collected our notions of what we have learned in the process of our cooperation during the last three years. The result was finally displayed in a mind map which turned out to be quite informative. From my point of view, it showed, that we all obviously learned much more, than I had actually expected. And it showed that we were able to express ourself very frankly. This is not as obvious as it might seem, since Cambodians tent to hide their emotions more than Europeans and Europeans tend to hurt Cambodian feelings by their frankness. Also many perceptions of each others strengths and weaknesses were similar among us. Then again, some (positive) emotions have become more public or clearer, that were not as clear before.
As a second step we clarified our objectives, i.e. what we would like to achieve within the next three years, and our vision what we would like the Garden Shuttle to be like then:
Of course we all wanted the Garden Shuttle to operate profitably by then. T might be taking care of the business contacts, talk to people and develop ideas how to improve and extend the business. Besides, he might prepare his private business school with courses in English, Business Processes and Self Management for motivated young Khmer students. A could manage the paperwork, take care of accounting, controlling and logistics.
Besides, the GS could provide an opportunity for the kids to learn from their parents how to run a business.
In addition to that, the GS could have more business branches like input supply for farmers or solar technologies and could also operate in other parts of the country. Perhaps it could also provide jobs for other people like T's brothers or members of the troupe.
And personally, I would very much like the idea to keep social contacts, that allow me to stay in touch with Cambodia, to come over twice a year, to help to keep things going and to develop things.
After coming back to Germany last December, I felt a bit confused. In the six weeks before I have tried a lot in Siem Reap, but didn't achieve much. I was somehow disappointed about myself and had no good idea, how to proceed. Then M, a friend of mine, invited me to participate in an international four days seminar on "Multi-Stakeholder Dialogues" in Siem Reap. Participating there and meeting people from different countries with more or less similar interests as mine, was very helpful. Perhaps one of the most significant insights at this point was the simple acceptance, that problems in intercultural cooperations inevitably arise and that it does take time to overcome them.After the seminar, T, A and me started to work with the help of M on the Garden Shuttle again. Along with the topic of the seminar, we decided to clarify our ideas and objectives more systematic than we had done before.
Therefore, as a first step we collected our notions of what we have learned in the process of our cooperation during the last three years. The result was finally displayed in a mind map which turned out to be quite informative. From my point of view, it showed, that we all obviously learned much more, than I had actually expected. And it showed that we were able to express ourself very frankly. This is not as obvious as it might seem, since Cambodians tent to hide their emotions more than Europeans and Europeans tend to hurt Cambodian feelings by their frankness. Also many perceptions of each others strengths and weaknesses were similar among us. Then again, some (positive) emotions have become more public or clearer, that were not as clear before.
As a second step we clarified our objectives, i.e. what we would like to achieve within the next three years, and our vision what we would like the Garden Shuttle to be like then:Of course we all wanted the Garden Shuttle to operate profitably by then. T might be taking care of the business contacts, talk to people and develop ideas how to improve and extend the business. Besides, he might prepare his private business school with courses in English, Business Processes and Self Management for motivated young Khmer students. A could manage the paperwork, take care of accounting, controlling and logistics.
Besides, the GS could provide an opportunity for the kids to learn from their parents how to run a business.
In addition to that, the GS could have more business branches like input supply for farmers or solar technologies and could also operate in other parts of the country. Perhaps it could also provide jobs for other people like T's brothers or members of the troupe.
And personally, I would very much like the idea to keep social contacts, that allow me to stay in touch with Cambodia, to come over twice a year, to help to keep things going and to develop things.
posted by Nihilissimus at 9:13 AM
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