Where the Minister Meets

A few items today.

I've been going through and weeding the collection some more.  I do one hour on, one hour on something else.  I find if I spend more than 60 consecutive minutes on weeding, I start to second guess my choices and start saving things that should not be saved.

At  11:30 my supervisor informs me that I'll be meeting the Minister for Education at 1:30.  Yippie.  Seriously, I nearly skipped a beat there.  With only two hours to prepare myself, I began writing briefing notes, a summary of the timeline I had submitted yesterday and my thoughts on an ILS.

When we actually met the minister though, I was asked to give a 2 minute summary of what I was planning to do to the collection and its status.

And... well, I think I did a good job.  At first, I went in thinking "It's the Principal's Office all over again!", but the Minister himself was actually not a crusty, bitter old Mandarin, but a very affable, charming fellow.  All my tension just melted away and I found myself declaiming very well and, out of character for me, being very succinct.  Those who know me know that there is nothing I like to do more than speak, long and loudly if possible.

I was made to feel very welcome and once more, the tasks that had seemed really big got a lot smaller for me.  Positive reinforcement - seems to work.

I think it's also important to note that while I am down here I also feel that I am somewhat of a representative of Canada and as a result, I have done my best to embody all that is fine, decent and just about our society.  As I was leaving the Ministers office, he stopped to ask me if I was enjoying myself (I was), had a gotten a chance to meet people and get to know Basseterre (I had) and if I was going to enjoy myself on the weekend, maybe at the Strip (Yes, I was).  Good, he asked, did I drink?  To which I so elegantly responded:  "Well sir, I'm Canadian."

I took his laughing to indicate that I was indeed, a good example of Canada... or at least our sense of humour.

Finally,  many of us are observing what's going on in Egypt right now and much of the tension seems to be coming from young men and women, educated in all the latest arts, sciences and technologies venting their frustration at how their country can't provide them any opportunity.

While I was weeding the collection, I found a book donated from the Egyptian office of UNESCO from 1994.  It was basically a rundown of what they were doing to update and modernize the educational system of their country.  I won't bother going into it, because it was so dated and half of it was propaganda, but there was a lengthy foreword from our good friend President Hosni Mubarak who is currently in some hot water.  It read:  "Today we are faced with a world where competition between nations will not be with weapons of war, but with the weapons of education."

Yes, President Mubarak, in that you were correct.  And it cost you your presidency.