My Solomon Experience!

By Emma Hunt – Assistant Manager The Body Shop Maroochydore

6.00 am on a Sunday morning is a time that I would not normally be feeling awake let alone particularly inspired, but Sunday the 24th of August was never going to be an ordinary Sunday.

Having been fortunate enough to be chosen to represent The Body Shop on the 2008 Solomon Islands Inspiration Scheme, I found myself heading down the highway to the airport thinking what the hell have I got myself into?

Some reassuring words from my husband and a phone call from Adam wanting to know where I was helped to focus my mind on more important matters – like getting to the airport on time!

(Ta-da! From left to right: Gabrielle, Mel, Steve, Kym, Adam and me)

It was good to meet the team in the check in area, I could finally put faces to the people I had only previously encountered during a conference call to discuss arrangements. As you can see they were an odd looking bunch, little did I know that only a week later I would find it so hard to say goodbye to them.

Melinda (Geelong) had been on the scheme before so it was a comfort talking to her and getting a bit of the inside track on what to expect. The flight to Honiara was three hours from Brisbane and gave Kym (Indooroopilly) Adam (Values man) and Gabrielle (Trainer extraordinaire) time to chat and get to know each other, this probably set the tone for the trip!! It was about a 15-20 min from drive from the airport to the Pacific Casino Hotel, and it was great to check in and see our rooms which were clean and comfortable, a great relief!

The first night, we caught up with the rest of the team from Commonwealth Youth Program, the United Nations Development Program and Steve our fearless leader to discuss the week’s schedule.

The first thing that struck me was to find out the lengths the participants had gone to just to be selected for the course. As a result of newspaper articles, over 100 applications had been received with 50 participants finally selected. Their commitment was undeterred by a small course fee, on top of which many participants, we would learn, forfeited a weeks pay to attend. Add to that, the commuting methods many had to employ just to travel to the centre, they truly were a keen and proactive group. Makes our Training Management Program look like a breeze!

The Solomon Islanders are naturally shy and the first morning was definitely a bit of a get to know you scenario as we split the group up into teams, a few ice breakers and burst balloons later everyone was relaxing and even beginning to talk!

Amongst the participants we were working with we had many levels of experience from people looking to build new skills to help in current employment positions, people who were looking to start up a unique resort, to mechanics, taxi drivers, hand made jewellery businesses, some already operating and some still dreaming! You name it we had it in our mix. All however displayed that engaging Islander warmth and displayed a desire to learn.

During the week we worked individually with the participants and in group tasks:

• signage
• role playing good & bad customer service
• merchandising
• the 6 steps of selling

Setting up mock shops, which was the biggest eye opener for me with participants showing the most amazing creativity using what was lying around outside for displays ie. Coconut shells stuck together to make amazing vase’s for decoration, palm leaves, old rocks, glass, shells etc. they were amazing!

We were all very proud of how hard the participants had worked over the week. It was mind blowing to see articles in the local paper talking about how lucky they were to have these "EXPERTS” from The Body Shop in Australia come over to help build confidence and strengthen the skills of these young entrepreneurs of the Solomon Islands. We just felt so lucky and privileged to be part of this experience!

Before I left I was expecting some 'personal growth', to hopefully inspire the young entrepreneurs of the Solomon’s, to be a good ambassador for The Body Shop, I was even expecting to learn as much from them if not more than they would from us, however what I wasn’t expecting was the amazing relationships being formed between the TBS team, the CYP, the UNDP and the participants from the very first day.

We laughed, ate, sang and cried over seven of the most amazing days ever, and that was just with the participants!!! I feel truly blessed to have been part of this experience and to work for an organisation that has enabled me to be part of something really special, and for that I thank you!