Colleagues helping me out

Bob Crane may (or may not) remember the time I complained that it was too quiet in the Housing Policy shop.  It was not long after I had switched from Communications, and I generally found the lack of workplace buzz disconcerting.  So Bob, being the good guy that he is, looked at his watch and said "I'll drop a book at 2:05."  It was ten in the morning.

Two days ago, I made the same complaint here.  Usually there's quiet chatter, the sounds of people collaborating.  But that day, there were five people in the workroom all quietly tapping away at their keyboards.  A few people are in Bali, training.  Others are working from home. Many of the drama group were just somewhere else. Filming ended last week, and only Manuel is here editing the latest video.

An hour after I complained, I started to hear a cat meowing.  I looked around, not sure if I heard properly.  No cat.  More meowing. Then the animal sounds changed to a goat.  I laughed, quite loudly, and thanked my colleague. 

Yesterday, Manuel brought in a dart board. It's a great success since most people are equally bad at darts.

Today, almost everyone in my office and the other one dropped what they were doing to find pictures for me to put on the global giving website.  I thought I'd share some of them with you.

 This is the one I wanted to use as my main picture.  The woman looks strong, generous and wise.  However, the role that I'm highlighting doesn't allow women.  Women can take the training alongside men; they just can't be traditional leaders who solve disputes in their villages (they can fill other roles, and apply their training).

This young man could fit the bill, but I didn't want him as my main picture because his hat says Bali, and when I first saw his shirt, I thought the shirt had blood dripping.  When I looked closer, I saw it's a guitar player.  At a glance, it doesn't convey a violence-free image. 

This could have been the main image, but the contrast isn't right with his headdress.  It blends into the trees behind.  It also needs to be a horizontal shot with a 3:2 ratio (width to height).

This has promise, but the light is not right. 

What a great shot of an old man. Unfortunately, he looks like life's troubles have been plentiful and not many have been overcome.

The money shot! He's approachable, confident, modern and ready to apply his new-found knowledge in conflict resolution.

A conflict-resolution class.

 Classwork in action.  There's a yellow ball midair, mid-screen.  As a thumbnail photo, it's too hard to see the action, and the participants are too far across.