Day 3 of the Training phase of the Lotud workshop in Malaysia was rather discouraging for me at first. I made my plans about what I was going to do for the day, then learned when the group gathered that a number of people who were essential to my plans were not present, due to other obligations. I had to improvise, and I don't do that very well. Also, I was unable to do certain things that I had hoped to do because there was insufficient time once all of the necessary people were finally there in the afternoon. Nevertheless, I did what I could.

After talking with Anita via Skype the next morning, however, I realized that I needed to change my perspective a bit. I realized that I had come to Malaysia with the hope of proving to the world through this workshop that the best-practice formula that our team had devised really was the key to collecting lots and lots of words, as well as to having a highly usable database at the end. Day 3 of the Training phase was discouraging primarily because I could see that things were not in place to achieve the goal that I had—consciously or unconsciously—set for this workshop. Instead of 6 word-collection groups, enough people were available for only four groups. And because of limited funds, a cook couldn't be hired to prepare meals; instead, the workshop participants themselves are doing the cooking, so that means that people disappear from time to time, leaving some of the key roles empty.

After talking about my discouragement with Anita, though, I realized that this workshop is different than most that we will be organizing. This is a language community that is so motivated to move forward in the development of their language that they are paying for the workshop themselves, instead of waiting for outside funding to come through to help them. I believe they got some help with the purchase of my airfare, but otherwise, it is my understanding that they are paying the expenses involved in holding the workshop, including the rental of a facility at $200/day.

Some time ago, a delegation of Lotud contacted the local SIL office and asked for help to produce a dictionary in their language. One of the SIL members here then contacted Verna (my supervisor), who then told me about the possibility of coming here to lead a RWC workshop. Now it's really happening, but not at the ideal time of year for the Lotud people. It had to be held now or not at all, because of the schedule of the SIL member who is involved. He and his family will be leaving for a year in the U.S. in just another month or so. So the Lotud Language Association decided that they should move ahead with this workshop at this time, even though it would mean that many interested people would not be able to participate because of work commitments. Even those who could come would only be able to come for one week of word collection, instead of the usual two.

All of that means that I needed to revise my goal for this workshop from the collection of lots and lots of words to the training of the Lotud people in the RWC technique, so that they will be able to do this on their own when they schedule the necessary follow-up word-collection session(s). And when I look at what has happened during the three days of training I have given them, I realize that the participants who've been here have really caught on well to what this is all about. As we go through the actual word-collection process these next five days, they will understand more clearly how to apply what they have learned, and then they'll have an opportunity to see what problems occurred in the process as we look at the data in the computer and fix mistakes that were made. That will help them to do an even better job the next time around. So, with that new perspective and revised goal, I am able to say that the training phase has been a great success.