My Personal Feelings About the Agta/Ayta Workshop
I had no intention of saying yes to the 'pressure' I mean invitation of coordinating a workshop. I do not believe I would know what to do in leading people to work together and train other MTTs. I could blab away with all my inadequacies and feelings of uncertainty but that would defeat my purpose of writing this blog entry, and that is to glorify my God for doing His work in spite of a defective instrument such as myself.
The first two days started not so smoothly but rather of unpreparedness on my part. A week before, I emailed all the topics that are to be covered during the workshop to all the staff as well as the SIL mentors who will play a very significant role in the workshop. So after that, I sat back and forced my mind back to the consultant checking at hand in my own language project.
During the first day of the preparation week (which was only two days--my mistake again), we had to look over the topics again and make sure that everybody is happy with the modules they will be doing and that it really suited the needs of the Agta/Ayta learners. During the workshop proper, I thank the Lord because, yes, there were gaffes but no major blunders. All because the Lord's hand has been moving in our midst.
There are things that I would be happy to see again on the succeeding workshops and some things also which I would like to change or at least improve.
JOYS:
1. The learners' enthusiam in learning is very contagious and encouraging. Although, there were sleepy hours, still I saw that the participants are really serious when they made the decision to take part in translation training.
2. The mentor's support for both the facilitators and the learners. Thank you for being there and helping us.
3. The facilitators' dedication to training. We believe that we learn by teaching and so even if saying yes to facilitating in a workshop meant that we lost :) some precious time from our own translation projects, we still think that it is worth it because we are not only giving back what has already been given to us freely (utang na loob..hehehe) but actually serves not only to have an opportunity to serve our Lord (which is of course the ultimate purpose) but it is also definitely an opportunity for us to grow professionally.
4. Foodtrip. I messed up with the budget but still we were able to have a feast everyday. PTL for His abundant provision.
CHALLENGES:
1. Medium of Communication. We are Filipinos, alright. But boy, was it hard to speak in Filipino. The language groups that attended the workshops have different language preferences than that of the facilitators. The materials were in English, but the facilitators had to speak and make teaching lessons in Tagalog. We really had a hard time translating especially the key terms in translation and linguistics. A longer preparation time would have been more helpful even if it would not totally solve this communication problem.
2. Culture. Again, we are all Filipinos (except for Roger) there and you would expect that we could have found a common ground in our culture as Filipinos to be able to be just be Filipinos. But of course we all know that we are not only Filipinos. Among the Teaching staff, we were Kalanguya Filipinos, Balangao Filipinos, Subanen Filipinos, Ifugao Filipinos, Bontoc Filipinos, Palanan Agta Filipinos. Among the learners, there were Ayta Mag-indi Filipinos, Ayta Abellen Filipinos, Palanan Agta Filipinos and Casiguran Agta Filipinos... we have no other common denominator than our love for God and the desire to His Word translated. But that was enough to sustain and unite us throughout the duration of the workshop.
PERSONAL CHALLENGES:
1. I am definitely not a people person. I get a terrible headache if I interact with a crowd of more than 5 people for more than an hour. But as a workshop coordinator, I had to push myself to the limit and talk and deal with people (not pc, pen, paper) even of it means psychological stress on my part. The result was not really impressive but it made a significant difference, I would like to think. :)
2. It was my first time to coordinate a workshop and I really don't have the experience to think of all the things that I should take care of as a coordinator.
A teacher of mine said, "... it is not really the report that is important (referring to the write up that I should file after the workshop, which I have yet to do), but whether you are happy with what you have done." Honestly, I am not very happy with myself and the way I handled things and dealt with people in the workshop. I could have done better, but that's alright, because I realized that I wouldn't have found out that I could do better with God's guidance if that workshop didn't turn out as it did. So even if there were so many things that I wish I have done differently, I am happy that I was given the opportunity to play a part in the Agta/Ayta Workshop.
To my colleagues and mentors, thank you for your patience and I apologize for any shortcomings on my part. We'll do it better next time... so let us stick with it... Workshop in October??? Let's pray about that..
Lastly, I would like to thank everyone who shared in anyway towards the success of the workshop. Thank you and looking forward to working with you again.
To all of you who have been a part of the workshop, please feel free to post your comments/evaluations/suggestions here. It will help me/us.
margie/April 2006
The first two days started not so smoothly but rather of unpreparedness on my part. A week before, I emailed all the topics that are to be covered during the workshop to all the staff as well as the SIL mentors who will play a very significant role in the workshop. So after that, I sat back and forced my mind back to the consultant checking at hand in my own language project.
During the first day of the preparation week (which was only two days--my mistake again), we had to look over the topics again and make sure that everybody is happy with the modules they will be doing and that it really suited the needs of the Agta/Ayta learners. During the workshop proper, I thank the Lord because, yes, there were gaffes but no major blunders. All because the Lord's hand has been moving in our midst.
There are things that I would be happy to see again on the succeeding workshops and some things also which I would like to change or at least improve.
JOYS:
1. The learners' enthusiam in learning is very contagious and encouraging. Although, there were sleepy hours, still I saw that the participants are really serious when they made the decision to take part in translation training.
2. The mentor's support for both the facilitators and the learners. Thank you for being there and helping us.
3. The facilitators' dedication to training. We believe that we learn by teaching and so even if saying yes to facilitating in a workshop meant that we lost :) some precious time from our own translation projects, we still think that it is worth it because we are not only giving back what has already been given to us freely (utang na loob..hehehe) but actually serves not only to have an opportunity to serve our Lord (which is of course the ultimate purpose) but it is also definitely an opportunity for us to grow professionally.
4. Foodtrip. I messed up with the budget but still we were able to have a feast everyday. PTL for His abundant provision.
CHALLENGES:
1. Medium of Communication. We are Filipinos, alright. But boy, was it hard to speak in Filipino. The language groups that attended the workshops have different language preferences than that of the facilitators. The materials were in English, but the facilitators had to speak and make teaching lessons in Tagalog. We really had a hard time translating especially the key terms in translation and linguistics. A longer preparation time would have been more helpful even if it would not totally solve this communication problem.
2. Culture. Again, we are all Filipinos (except for Roger) there and you would expect that we could have found a common ground in our culture as Filipinos to be able to be just be Filipinos. But of course we all know that we are not only Filipinos. Among the Teaching staff, we were Kalanguya Filipinos, Balangao Filipinos, Subanen Filipinos, Ifugao Filipinos, Bontoc Filipinos, Palanan Agta Filipinos. Among the learners, there were Ayta Mag-indi Filipinos, Ayta Abellen Filipinos, Palanan Agta Filipinos and Casiguran Agta Filipinos... we have no other common denominator than our love for God and the desire to His Word translated. But that was enough to sustain and unite us throughout the duration of the workshop.
A session on translation team building/Attitudes would have been helpful.
PERSONAL CHALLENGES:
1. I am definitely not a people person. I get a terrible headache if I interact with a crowd of more than 5 people for more than an hour. But as a workshop coordinator, I had to push myself to the limit and talk and deal with people (not pc, pen, paper) even of it means psychological stress on my part. The result was not really impressive but it made a significant difference, I would like to think. :)
2. It was my first time to coordinate a workshop and I really don't have the experience to think of all the things that I should take care of as a coordinator.
A teacher of mine said, "... it is not really the report that is important (referring to the write up that I should file after the workshop, which I have yet to do), but whether you are happy with what you have done." Honestly, I am not very happy with myself and the way I handled things and dealt with people in the workshop. I could have done better, but that's alright, because I realized that I wouldn't have found out that I could do better with God's guidance if that workshop didn't turn out as it did. So even if there were so many things that I wish I have done differently, I am happy that I was given the opportunity to play a part in the Agta/Ayta Workshop.
To my colleagues and mentors, thank you for your patience and I apologize for any shortcomings on my part. We'll do it better next time... so let us stick with it... Workshop in October??? Let's pray about that..
Lastly, I would like to thank everyone who shared in anyway towards the success of the workshop. Thank you and looking forward to working with you again.
To all of you who have been a part of the workshop, please feel free to post your comments/evaluations/suggestions here. It will help me/us.
margie/April 2006
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