My apologies in advance for another work rant about the difficulties of getting things done in Vanuatu.
The ecotourism project’s busiest month should have been June however many of the committee members were busy in the capital. So I was stuck being the only one freaking out about all the work that needed to be done. I could have just let it go and said hey this is their project and if they are in Vila well then it’s their fault if the work doesn’t get done. Anyway I didn’t do that. The biggest work was preparing the venue for the big tourism events coming up over the yacht season. The first event was going to take place on Thursday the 16thonly ten days away. However our venue had no roof, or chairs or table and there were only 10 days till the event. I get the tour guides together to try to make a plan to work on the house. They say ok let’s do it this Friday. I go talk to the chief to arrange his support to get more community members there. I then make an announcement at the two community churches to let the community know that they are expected to come give a hand.
On Friday, I go to the prospective venue and there is no one there. Nobody, not one person, showed up to work. I just stayed at the house all day waiting. Honestly it wasn’t so bad waiting. I visited a good friend who lives across the street and met a tourist that was passing through. I still felt pretty disrespected. Plus I was freaking out because of the approaching deadline. But I also knew that the fact that they disrespected me could be my best bet to get the job done.
That night, I go to my host family and tell them the story over kava. They were appalled. “They made you wait all day and nobody showed up!” (by the way the people saying that should have been there too.) The mamas in my host family then go walk with me to the various workers houses and shame them with the story of how they made me wait all day for them. The word gets spread all over about the horrible offense I suffered (though it really wasn’t as bad they make it out to be). All this sympathy drummed up a lot more support and awareness than my announcements and meetings. It just goes to show that people pay more attention to gossip than what’s said in church. Next thing I know the chief is coming to me saying he’ll have the whole community down there Wednesday. “You no worry You no kick.” I tell him that’s cutting it a bit close but he says well that’s our way of doing things here, wait till the last minute.
The American in me couldn’t deal with leaving it to the last minute so I managed to recruit some boys to get building supplies for the house on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday when I go to the venue low and behold 30 people are working away on the house. It was a miracle. For the first time in my Peace Corps experience everyone who said they’d show up, actually did show up. As I walked up to the group and grabbed a knife to help descale the fish for lunch, I couldn’t help but smile and laugh. You have to go about things in the most roundabout way to get results in this country. But I guess I’ve kinda got the hang of it. Look at me, I used my cultural knowledge for community organizing.
Thanks for the attentive ear. I feel a lot better now.XOXO
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment