A few days ago a friend went on a rant about international conferences. She hates how people here are so concerned with attending trainings or conferences abroad. There is a certain status that comes with attending trainings abroad. It often seems silly, from my eyes. People will say things like “I have a degree from University of Liberia and I attended a diversity training in Holland in 1999.” The two things just seem to be on completely different levels, but somehow the international factor elevates a one-week training to the level of a university degree.

Anyway, I helped facilitate a workshop recently. There was a group activity that involved role playing. One group member played the role of an autocratic coalition leader who didn’t listen to other coalition members, and the other members diplomatically tried to get him to change his attitude. The leader started going on this spiel (sp?) about a training that he just got back from attending in New York. “It was so amazing. We had all these strange beers and I met all these beautiful women and we went up on the hills with the strange beers and beautiful women. I had such a good time. I didn’t want to return to Liberia, but I did.” It was so funny because it perfectly put words to the attitude that people who go to these trainings often return with. (Not all, of course, but some.)

And by the way if anyone in Liberia is reading this post, the Gender Ministry is the an excellent place to host workshops. I’ve now facilitated and attended workshops in several venus. Gender Ministry staff are by far the most professional and reliable. They have separate rates for international and local groups. For international groups it costs $100 for a day, plus about $30 for generator fuel if you want the lights and AC on. They do little things that I’ve come to appreciate–like supplying toilet paper in the bathrooms. And they have a transparent accounting procedure for venue fees.