The sun broke through the Swedish winter clouds. That was enough for Cam, who darted home to check his newly home built solar powered, aluminium can, heat energy collector. The report back, 0C in and 55C out!

Back at the office we can just imagine the satisfied grin on Cam's face. For most of January we heard about his can collecting and drill press rig and his thoughts on constructing this project. Google and YouTube sparked the idea and then fuelled his passion to test build and test run a home built heating system using over 200 recycled aluminum cans. Looking at all the evidence on the internet was enough to make the decision to spend some money to build the heater. With a running cost of 16 cents a day to power a fan, it seemed like a good deal to reduce home heating costs. All he needed was the sun to shine!

Initial testing on a freezing day in February gave an average rise of 21 degrees C over a six hour period from 10 am until 3 pm. For more information on similar builds go to YouTube and type in, Pop Can Solar Heater.

Could this be a daytime solution to supplement your home heating?

Over the last few months, we at Operation Mercy Tajikistan invited our staff to Dushanbe for two training events.

Personnel from our three branch offices Dushanbe, Khujand and Khorog;

• Became acquainted or reacquainted with each other

• Used new project-planning and problem-solving tools to address real issues

• Explored personal learning styles

• Joined one of these learning tracks: Orientation to Working in Operation Mercy; Development, Community and Operation Mercy's Role; Poverty As a Cross-Cutting Issue; Logframe and Results-Based Budgeting; Case Study: Setting Up a Local NGO

• Gained management skills and a deeper understanding of human nature from Arley Loewen PhD, a recognized leadership trainer in the Persian perspective; and Amir.Gh.Zardouz, Office Manager, and Azadeh Bahramji, Women and Youth Empowerment Project Manager, from Operation Mercy, Iran

The training days really helped to bring us together as a larger organisation. I had the feeling we were one big family!

What did we learn during training days in October?

• That Operation Mercy is a much larger organisation than any one of the offices.

• Our work is quite varied and it extends into so many different areas of the country.

• It was good to have group discussions with people working from different offices. We recognised that our colleagues in one city often have similar issues with their projects as colleagues in another city.

• How to assess and work through problems.

• How valuable it is to have a team working on a project to receive each others' perspective on the work and its progression.

• That planning is important before any activity begins!

• How to monitor, plan and involve the community in our projects.

• The concepts of aid and development and the role Operation Mercy plays in both.

• About growing a project into a local non-government organization and how much effort is involved.

• We like getting together with each other.

Arley Loewen helped us discover more about ourselves and each other – our basic needs, learning styles, emotions, ambitions and goals. He showed us ways to motivate each other with encouragement and how to bring out the best in those we supervise. Arley taught on the different leadership styles, what each style of leader seeks, and the effects each style has on the people they supervise. Arley also taught on understanding and overcoming conflict, the roles that shame and honor play in our culture and how important building relationships based on trust is in the workplace. We all discovered how good it was to have leaders in education, business and government communities joining us for the training!

After we went home, we explained some of our lessons to other staff that could not participate this time. We are keen to have more training, just like these, so we can continue to discuss our projects with each other!

Here is what one particpant said,

'I like seeing everyone together for meetings. It gives us a chance to show appreciation for others and their work. It also allows us to hear in people's own words about their projects. That's much better than reading a report! It puts faces to names on an email and makes an email a much more personal experience later on. We realize the scope of our work in the country! '

Dear Operation Mercy Staff,

We are pleased to announce the engagement of our only daughter, Johanna Inci Breslin to Simon Reuter. Simon is a good man who we are proud to have as part of our extended family. The wedding is scheduled for the 19th of May, 2012 in Örebro, Sweden.

Scott & Katarina Breslin, International Director

A grant contract with the Japanese Embassy in Tehran was recently concluded for 'Life Skills Training for Afghan Women's and Youth Empowerment in Tehran Province". This project is to have vocational training courses in literacy, English, computer skills, tailoring and hair styling for female or youth Afghan refugees in Shahr-e-Rey city of the Tehran province. One of the highest Afghan refugees' population cities live in this province and the project is expected to directly impact 600 Afghan refugees that are planning to take part in the training sessions. We are very happy and grateful to have this partnership with the Japanese Embassy in Tehran.