6.30am Get up and put finishing touches to workshop/speech/flipchart.  It's a bit chilly, but the showers are steaming.

7.30am Go to breakfast - an eclectic mix of porridge ("Do they grow oats in Ethiopia?  Isn't this rather a traditional English dish?" asked one Cameroonian delegate this morning), French toast, scrambled egg (with chilli), peanut butter (without chilli), and spicey tea.  Comment on people's outfits (many and varied, but all brightly coloured and voluminous), check that everyone has slept well, find out about new ailments (25% of participants have experienced some form of minor illness already and Paul is thinking of changing career and taking on a medical recognition of some sort), and generally do a lot of smiling, milling around tables to check that all is well.

8.15am Go to training room and sort out the chairs littered about from the group work of the session the day before, the empty water bottles strewn around, and the flipcharts filled with ideas, pictures, lists and top tips.

8.30am First session of two hours - warm up African style, then two intense hours filled with "I'm sorry we don't have time to go into any more detail" and a treasure trove of activities, presentations and exercises.  The wealth of experience and knowledge is overwhelming and so many fascinating discussions remain unfinished.

10.30am Much needed tea break, lots of photograph taking and story swapping

10.45am Resume sessions and fill even more flipcharts with pearls of wisdom (look out for the full Conference report).

12.45pm (or usually closer to 1pm) Lunch of the traditional Ethiopian bread, injera, a rather bitter pancake made of wheat, which you cover with one of the various meaty gravies.  Lots of salad and steamed veg also on offer and a daily dose of of shirot (curried bean paste).  Every partner wants to discuss their project in detail with you, and wants to know why you haven't been to visit them yet.  Some have brought cds and photos - when will they have a chance to show them, they ask?

1.45pm Meeting of the Chefs de Village with some of the staff, those delegates elected to channel the problems and issues of the conference attendees.  Discussion on how to deal with the issues raised.

2pm Go and get room ready for afternoon session.  Where's the technician - why won't this powerpoint work, it was fine this morning, where are the flipcharts I so carefully placed under the table???

2.15pm Next workshop begins.  All the staff are either facilitating or supporting (or very occasionally, like today, fulfilling another support role such as writing the blog, or typing up flipcharts) in every single session so life is fairly hectic.

4.15pm Much needed tea break which usually ends with someone leaning over the balcony and clapping loudly to call everyone back to their sessions.

4.30pm Last training session of the day.

6.30pm Dinner - the same as lunch and as much as you can eat.

7.30pm Quick catch up for the staff - issues that have arisen in the workshops, partner questions or requests, swapping of money and information.

7.45pm Evening session (see previous entries)

9pm A look around the main session room shows everyone trying very hard not to yawn, but the topic is so interesting, but the day has been so long, but there are questions to be asked, but you can hardly think straight.....

9.15pm The bus leaves and takes half the delegates off to their hotel.  Those that are left wander the short distance to the accommodation block where there is a small tv in the lobby with around 6 chairs.  We shoot the breeze for a little while before people start drifting off to their rooms.

9.30pm The remaining MRDF staff gather - one continues to write up notes on the flipchart, another sorts handouts, another makes expenses notes and (yes, ok, last night we allowed ourselves a well earned drink) we share the kind of jokes we haven't heard for decades and laugh slightly hysterically until at around...

10.15pm we troop off to bed ready for the whole cycle to commence again.  We think about the emails unsent (the email centre is open office hours), the phone calls not made (no-one can get reception), the tasks awaiting us back home (the House of Commons reception is the day after my return) and the loved ones thinking of us back home.

And then, we sleep.