The Tanzanian members of our leadership team are Project Leader Gadlord Deuli and his Assistant Julieth Godwin. To help review and plan work on a weekly basis there is a ​management team meeting. Once the practical business has been agreed there is an ‘issues’ slot, when a variety of different problems and situations are discussed. One recurring theme of these discussions is ‘Pastor’s House’. Pastor Deuli has great skills in bringing people together and says quite unequivocally that to succeed in our work we all have to be working to the same goals or be ‘building the same house’. This led to a short se​ssion​ recently when a ‘helicopter view’ was taken of how ​staff​ should interact together, and the disciplines ​that​ must be​ develop​ed​ , to build our house successfully. One of the most fascinating parts of the discussion was how cultural norms impact on the nature of communication. It is a generally accepted part of European communication that women have the same ‘permission’ to challenge male colleagues as their male counterparts do. In Tanzanian culture this is not the same and so building our house through open communication and being critical friends is a challenge.

To her great credit  Julieth has taken this on and while it may only be in the confines of Busega Scotland that this ‘permission’ exists, she gives as good as she gets in robust discussions! Taking this approach into