Tweet tweet SQWAWK

I like tweeting. Especially when the organization for which I'm tweeting has a strong point of view. And I'm given the freedom to push that POV with few restrictions. It makes Twitter so much more fun when there aren't what feel like a million rules and regulations hanging over my head before typing each and every character. Goal for the next three months: increase the number of people following the organization to be more than the number of people the organization is following. Starting numbers: 18 following, 14 followers.

Today my big task was organizing a press conference on the state of affairs at the safety site/refugee camp for Zimbabweans displaced by xenophobic violence in November 2009. I wrote and distributed the press statement announcing the conference; did follow-up calls to encourage journalists to attend; and organized other interns and volunteers to film, photograph, and tweet during the conference. I was feeling pretty good with four hours to go before the event started.

Silly me to think that the preparation was done. Silly, silly me. An hour before the conference was set to start, the boss decided we needed to have a team meeting to delegate eight tasks that needed to be done in what ends up being 47 minutes after the meeting ends. I never thought I'd miss the rigidness of my previous office, but I did at that moment. The team rallied and got most of what was needed done. It was a good bonding experience to work under that kind of stress. For the people who have been here for a while, it seemed that this is how things work. Not my ideal work style, but it'll be good for me to learn to be more flexible. And it'll be a continuing education for me about what management styles I want to emulate and those I do not.

It was great to actually sit back and get to enjoy the conference once it started. Only two journalists came, and they were both from the same media outlet, but they came! The speakers were great. One of the interns posted a LOT of tweets with quotes. I'm not sure how the photos came out, but some were taken. And now I need to go through my notes and write something for the web. I think the team's strategy worked really well. Even if outside media do not want to cover the important issue of the displaced Zimbabweans' ability to survive in the deplorable conditions at the rugby-stadium-turned-IDP-camp, that doesn't mean we have to accept their silence. We will use all available tools to make this issue known.

Other news: I have plans to go to a wine tasting festival of some sort on Sunday with one of the American University grad interns and her fellow grad students. I'm excited about finally having concrete plans to go the Cape winelands!

Upcoming news: Most of the team is going to the safety site/refugee camp tomorrow to distribute humanitarian assistance - basic food stuffs and blankets. I feel bad saying I'm excited to go, but it will be good to finally replace all I've heard about it with actually seeing it. I'll take photos and maybe video to post tomorrow.