Staff Personal Seminar

I have just come back from 3 days in Blestølen with my collegues on something we call a personal staff seminar (dont ask why?). This staff seminar was an opportunity for us as co-workers to spend sometime together, get to know one another, have some interesting discussions and last but not least HAVE FUN. It would certainly not be the scout office if the word fun was not there. So off we all went, and i for one was looking forward to my skiing debut.

The staff seminar had a theme and the theme was Ubuntu. Ubuntu is an african concept which is not easy to translate but for me it means humanity to others, acknowledging the next person as a human being, therefore respecting them as a human being and knowing that human existance is depended on other humans. This being said for me its always come down to the fact that i know i dont live in an island all on my own, and that human relation and relationship is important to me because i am human. Its a hard concept to explain but from the information i read up before leaving for the seminar i found things such as i am because we are, and on being community upliftment orientated meaning that even though you should aim for individual enrichment, these enrichment should also benefit your community. This is definetly not a new concept to be as it something i grew up witnessing and seeing in my everyday life. I can still remember my mom telling me things like umuntu ngumuntungabantu which translates as you are a person through other people. I can also still remember growing up my mom would say oh you know this person has ubuntu and she would be referring to someone that is kind to others. Ubuntu is the building foundation of the new South Africa.

A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can't be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality - Ubuntu - you are known for your generosity. This was a great theme because it meant i could share what ubuntu means to me and i was able to eleborate more on things from my personal life lessons.

Pretty complicated but achievable and makes alot of sense atleast for me. We looked at ubuntu with regards to our relationships with others, the work place, as an indivisual ect. I wont go into too much debt about the discussions that came about but i just wanted to share what ubuntu is. For me personaaly i dont believe in individual happiness that isolates or diminishes others or individual happiness at the cost of alot of other people. I want and long for success that will contribute to other people's lives and that will make even a small difference to the lives of people around me. I want to share my happiness with others and be generous to the next person. To keep with the African spirit we also had South African food, South Africa quiz and song and dance. This seminar to me was the closest i could bring my co-workers close to my country and i would like to thank them for opening themselves up for something so new.

To the more interesting part, i tried skiing for the first time. Anda what a challnge that was i feel but kept picking myself up i got angry but calmed myself down, i got frustrated but carried on and towards the end i actually had fun doing it especially when i got a small hill downwards. I always believe in trying something atleast once before being judgemental to it and thats excatly what i did with skiing. I tried it and had fun doing it but i would not do it again. I skied for 6 km in total, and you can imagen how long it took me. When i was skiing back to our cabin that was when all hell broke loose, there was alot of downhills that were much longer which meant i was going much faster downwards and then i would panick towards the end and stop myself the only way i know how to and that is by collapsing myself. Now i should not even be saying i was falling because in avtual fact i was crashing lik ea ton of bricks on the snow, with my skies up on the air and my face full of snow. The first few times was fun i ctually laughed at myself but by the 4th downhill and crash i was absolutely feed up. I wanted those skies of my feel but was told i would not be able to walk on the snow without them. At one point i was on the grould with my legs in a position that i had never seen and i could not pick myself up. It was at that point that i told myself, 'You are never doing this again'. It was fun while it lasted though and i am glad i was able to push myself to do such a long distance and finish it. Right now i have pains in muscles i did not know i even had. It was great trip and i had t ons of fun with my co-workers.

So with just about 6 weeks left till my jorney in Norway ends. I feel like i am coming close to end of the road and it feels good to again know that i started something i am seeing it through and i am finishing it no matter how challanging it was. I guess i see a personality trait in myself which is i dont give up and once i start something i always finish it even though i might complain a bit.