The other reason I was so busy this past week is that I double-booked myself, and scheduled a training session for MAJ members the Sunday of the Project Fair. But it still worked out and I think the training session went really well. The International Conference on Family Planning is happening in Dakar this year (what luck I have!), and this will be an excellent means of showcasing both ASBEF and MAJ's involvement with family planning and reproductive health in Dakar. The conference is taking place at the end of November, and so much of my time and energy related to the service project has been helping MAJ get ready for the conference. This includes helping them generate as much buzz as possible about the conference and the organization's role in it. So, the training session held this past Sunday was aimed at helping MAJ members become more familiar with social media tools so they could spread the word about the conference and MAJ's role more effectively online. We specifically focused on Twitter and blogging, as MAJ already has a great Facebook page. I had so much help with MAJ members and other ASBEF staff-members (especially with the French), and because youth typically know a lot about technology anyway, the training session was more about sharing ideas and skills than a formal presentation. Here are some pictures from the event.
Opening slide, translates to: "Training session on communication and social media tools." Basic, and straight to the point.
Getting set up for the session. Everybody who had a computer brought it, so that MAJ members could start Twitter accounts during the session and get to try out all the Twitter features.
This is me with Mandiaye Pety Badji, who helps MAJ and ASBEF with their communication and media needs. The two of us led the training session, which usually meant me bumbling along in French and then him reiterating what I had tried to say in comprehensible French and Wolof. As I said before, I was very grateful for all the help from ASBEF and MAJ.
Tweeting in action!
One MAJ member deep in thought apparently....
Pety Badji explaining the nuances of Twitter. Nuances were very difficult for me to explain in French, let alone Wolof.
This is not the best picture of him, but a picture nonetheless of the National MAJ president, Pape Momar.
We are hoping to get MAJ up online soon with a website, hopefully before the conference. Stay tuned for more updates!
Sounds great Shani. Looks like it was a really busy weekend. I would've loved to be there for the training session. I'm sure I could've learned a bunch. :)
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