Tanya Knudsen 7/27/23 Tanya Knudsen 7/27/23

Working for Now. There is No Later.

The quality of now. The problem with later.

What if you spent most of your time today gathering or preparing food? You might be at one end of the food chain in catering or hospitality. You’d probably be processing already processed food.

At the other end of the food chain, you might be the individual food processor hulling rice, for example.

To say that rice processing is hard work is an understatement. I am numb watching this activity. The hunching, the hacking, the pounding, the shaking. It’s relentless. And for perhaps questionable results in terms of nutritional value. White rice is linked to diabetes in Madagascar. Villagers eat rice nearly three times a day. Backbreaking. Heartbreaking.

What’s the difference between food service in a poor country vs a rich one? Both are vital. Both provide a range of options. Both are poorly paid. Both significantly define culture.

Farming rice, fishing and tending cattle is what the villagers do on Nosy Be for food. Parents are either too poor, too needy for labor or both to send their kids to school.

I sense how families are torn. There is money to be made from tourism, lots of it. Money is essential. But if kids pursue education, who will be around to work the farm and pick the fruit? Real problem.

Meanwhile, island life is island life. The environment is bustling with tourism. Greater numbers of visitors are coming to this ‘big island’ from further and further away.

There’s more. Tropical, artisanal life is bucolic, seemingly peaceful and undisturbed. Except for garbage of course. Garbage is everywhere.

Destroy the environment and the tourists will move on.

In what ways is it possible to maintain traditional life that is sustainable and revenue generating while raising awareness among island visitors and residents about health and sustainability?

What comes first, management or vision? They go hand in hand for something, conscious or not.

It’s befuddling. While some go on holiday to tropical islands for sun soaked beaches, others are forced to flee the heat due to climate change.

Cleary, we in rich countries are living for now as well. Vast tracks of land and sea are literally burning up, melting down and wreaking havoc around us.

Go on on holiday these days and you may be cut short, caught in an environmental crises. For real.

There is power in every decision.
- UN Secretary-General Antόnio Guterres, 2020

We have this idea in the West to save for later. Later, there will be more disruption from fires, from heat, from flooding. I could go on.

Yeah, I’m thinking working for now is not such a bad idea after all. And when supported by vision, decisions now move in a direction of intention.

A drip feed of decisions got us here. What if we imagine something different? #creative leadership.
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Tanya is a PhD candidate for creative leadership. Action research dissertation requires reflection on lived experience. This blog captures some of Tanya’s experience as a researcher on sabbatical in Nose By, Madagascar where she teaches for Creativity at www.wingsofchange.co and facilitates for complex problem solving.

Many drops make a bucket,
many buckets make a pond,
many ponds make a lake,
many lakes make an ocean

- Percy Ross

Tanya Knudsen 7/23/23 Tanya Knudsen 7/23/23

A Wild Corner for a Connection

My intellectual fantasy to write this still mythical PhD mountainous work seems doable. Right now.

Disclaimer: this sentiment can change at any time, for any reason.

I had this big dissertation plan all mapped out before departure to Africa. Stall after stall after stall since arrival and I had to redirect.

I know what my fellow creative leaders would say, Tanya, what might be all the dissertation topics?

Not so fast forward (island life..) and I’ve found my destiny. Relieved.

A dissertation is on the horizon. Excited!

The happy dance gives way unforeseen stress of a different kind: intermittent internet connection. Power outages are random, ongoing and constant.

Remote tropical islands are reserved for disconnection. I get it. Me, I have the plain excuse that I am driven to get online to complete this dissertation.

And so, here I am on a Sunday, exactly one month before my return to the US and I have no internet connection, somewhat of a dissertation and high anxiety.

Where might be all the places to get online? A ha! Ask a creative question and let the mind wander…wait for it.

The only way to get around Nosy Be is by foot, by tuk tuk, or by pierogue. Ok, not quite true. Private cars are around. Car taxis tend to be completely stripped out. Dodgy options.

I’m anxious in paradise. I came here to write this dissertation. At the very least, I have to get the bulk of it done. And by that I mean 90%. Ok, that puts a number on it. That’s now a bit more clarity and focus. Better.

Becoming more stressed will only bring on more stress. And what will I show for myself when I get home? I feel ill at the spontaneous vision of my return without a solid piece of work.

Incubate. Read. Do something else.

An answer comes to me. Bingo! For real.

There’s a place further along the bay complete with solar panels.

K, new plan - go to the accessible-by-boat-only eco-loge and sit seaside to write.

Yep, I’m a creative problem solver.

They say the dissertation is a journey. That is it, by whatever it takes to get ‘there.’ Gotta stay open of this for possibilities to emerge.

On to work, with of course a break for a true Italian meal served to me by a former student.

The world works in beautiful ways.

Creative questions stimulate the mind to seek for possible solutions. More often than not, there is more than one answer to a problem, and that’s the secret sauce to deliberately becoming more creative.

Setting a new course on the PhD journey..

These auto body parts must have a new home..

Tuk tuks, with complete interiors, rule the roads.

What might be all the ways to find an internet connection?

Tanya Knudsen 7/4/23 Tanya Knudsen 7/4/23

Notes

Perfectly normal, from another perspective.

Sign of Strength

Confirming women are the greater sex. Case closed. Whether coal, bananas, bags of groceries, women do this too. Like its nothing. Ok men carry heavy things too, but not on the top of their head in a balancing act that defies gravity.

What an inspiration in balance, control, and that there sure are lots of ways to do most everything. And another lesson, on just how environment matters. What is considered normal largely depends on environment. Can’t imagine doing this back home, right?

Laundry, this way.

This is how it’s done. Once a week, all laundry is washed by hand. Rinsed, and squeezed, by hand. Find a good spot on the rocks and lay those babies out.

Airing your laundry. It has to happen. This way out here.

Room with a Serious View.

Still somewhat dazed and confused, and now by astonishing beauty and tranquility. This will be my spot for now, a long now. It’s tropical and there are no bugs. Ok, I’ve seen some ants and a few bees. Travel to the tropics during the dry season for a bug-free experience. Limited wild life too..

Made it!

Nosy Be is the largest of a group of Malagasy islands to the northwest of the grande terre, as the locals say. The big island, Madagascar, is across the bay for me now.

Cameraman - Dani.

Are we documenting this?? Yeah, we are. More to follow….