Corruption Stories and the Work Update
Hey everyone!
Well after many requests to talk about my work and to basically get you caught up on something that is not taking place on a weekend... I present you with this.
Just to let you know... it took me well over 3 hours to load those pictures below.. as the picture site crashed twice while I was uploading. So I really hope you enjoy them. In an effort to save myself some money and give me the ability to type with some sort of serenity I have also locked myself in the AIESEC office here in Nairobi. By locked I mean.. I can't get out until 6AM in the morning, so i am here for the long haul tonight just to get you all caught up and finish my video for Canada about Kenya!
Work has been taxing to say the very least. It is not that the work is overwhelming.. on the contrary really.. but it is just the reality in which I work which has been discouraging.
I have basically been the application writing bitch around the office. I admit.. I like writing proposals, and I think I have a knack for being able to write what people want to hear, but it has been really discouraging to think about all of the things I could be doing instead of simply hammering on the keyboard. I have since created a template and have refused to do anymore proposals until some of the issues I have with the current financial policies are cleared up. There is no control on how money is spent, and there are some major loop holes in terms of how money is accounted for. I have a meeting on Monday to review the policies with the National team VPF to see what sort of changes I could recommend in order to create accountability systems and double-checks for all money exiting.
The team structure here is very difficult, and I have been really conflicting with members regarding the way even the simple things are decided upon. Not everyone has a voice... even on the MC team. There is an extreme top-down approach here in Kenya and if conflict or even certain topics which conflict are brought up the people are silenced are warned not to interfere.
In fact, I have already caused such a stink that I have not been invited to some key meetings which concern my role as NST and MC CEED. It seems as though my role is appropriate as long as it does not point out some areas of weakness in the country itself. If I am causing trouble here, making people think hard about the issues that face them and giving them the courage to speak up against it then I have one very heartfelt thing to say about it. "HELL YES!" Problems don't get solved by sitting and letting them stew and brew until they finally result in someone quitting. If my role here was supposed to be to play nicey-nice with everyone then they picked the wrong Joe for the job. If they want positive change that is going to affect the country for the long-term, then they picked the right shit-disturber.
An organization like AIESEC is dependent on the membership and the charity of people of their time and money. People should not have to feel afraid of losing their position or be afraid of making mistakes regardless of position. This organization has been designed as the breeding ground for tomorrow's future leaders. This doesn't mean that everyone is a born leader, making perfect moves all of the time. It means that people are free to make mistakes, try new things and for god sakes.. speak their mind. This is an organization of volunteers; not professionals.
The infrastructure is bad news, and the response time by people is worse.
I still live far away from my work in a room without a door. With a 2 year old running around the house a few things have went missing which really adds to the stress of the whole situation. I have really found that when you go away you need a place of solitude and safety in order to feel like working. I am still struggling with that, but I have tried to adapt by basically taking one day to sit in my current house while no one is there and actually get work done. It makes me feel a lot more organized.
But here comes the good news:
I have decided to now move out to the individual local committees across the country. I will be spending a week with each of them, deciding on whether or not they are sustainable enough to have this sort of a project running (HIV/AIDS). The major push this year has been numbers and quality of internships has taken the beating for it. We have more potential complaints for quality then any story I have heard of before and it is finally starting to hit home and become a priority which is totally kick ass. So I hope to smooth things over with the existing interns, pave the way for the new interns coming in, and work with the LC's to build sustainable systems for measurement of quality and implementation of quality internships after I leave. We are talking about an overhaul on not just the ASK project (HIV/AIDS) but the entire system here in Kenya.
After I have my initial meeting I am going to try and come up with exact step-by-step guides for the 3 LC's which I feel will be able to best fulfill the duties and requirements of this particular project. After coming up with these guides, I will head back to the LC's to ensure that these plans are carried through and adapted by the LC's to suit their needs. I will also be coaching them on various aspects of the program.
The reason all of that is good is because now at least I have a plan of attack for this project. Up until now I would say the program has been a failure. It wasn't followed up by MC or LC members and really goes to show what can happen when LC's are essentially pushed into doing programs before they were ready for it.
Support is getting better from my buds on the MC and National Support Team, but there is still much work to be done.
Essentially the best way to get work done is find a way to do as much work as possible separately from everyone else.
I have also decided to try and work with babies and youth here in Kenya. As a completely separate project from AIESEC. I feel like right now I am not doing anything to really benefit the people who need my help the most and I want to make a difference here to those who could not even afford to think about school, let alone AIESEC. So I hope that gives me more of an appreciation for the current program I am trying to run.
I am also seriously considering spending Christmas in India! There is a really good offer up for flights and a chance to live in the mountains with one of my fellow interns and really get to experience life in India for a while. I have to decide by tomorrow.. so I will let you know tomorrow on what I have decided!
Onward to a brief corruption story:
I was sitting in a Matatu today, when two police officers climbed aboard. I felt very safe with them being around so I was happy.
We were moving along at a steady pace, not quite as crazy as normal as you could tell the driver was nervous about getting a ticket from the men inside the Matatu. The conductor did his usual tap on the shoulder to indicate paying, and did so to all of the men except the police men. Even when the police men tried to offer money to the man he refused it. A little bribe to keep the police from handing out tickets.
It’s the little things like that which really hit you when you come here that give you an indication that corruption is still very much alive in this country. They have made huge steps in ensuring that some of the major scandals result in jail time. But if corruption is still seen as an answer to some of life’s little problems there is a deep-rooted culture barrier that is going to take years to overcome.
Phew! So much about work that is still yet to be discovered! I still have to submit my video and it is 530AM here! Thanks for reading about my work and sorry if it was highly AIESEC.
Devan
Well after many requests to talk about my work and to basically get you caught up on something that is not taking place on a weekend... I present you with this.
Just to let you know... it took me well over 3 hours to load those pictures below.. as the picture site crashed twice while I was uploading. So I really hope you enjoy them. In an effort to save myself some money and give me the ability to type with some sort of serenity I have also locked myself in the AIESEC office here in Nairobi. By locked I mean.. I can't get out until 6AM in the morning, so i am here for the long haul tonight just to get you all caught up and finish my video for Canada about Kenya!
Work has been taxing to say the very least. It is not that the work is overwhelming.. on the contrary really.. but it is just the reality in which I work which has been discouraging.
I have basically been the application writing bitch around the office. I admit.. I like writing proposals, and I think I have a knack for being able to write what people want to hear, but it has been really discouraging to think about all of the things I could be doing instead of simply hammering on the keyboard. I have since created a template and have refused to do anymore proposals until some of the issues I have with the current financial policies are cleared up. There is no control on how money is spent, and there are some major loop holes in terms of how money is accounted for. I have a meeting on Monday to review the policies with the National team VPF to see what sort of changes I could recommend in order to create accountability systems and double-checks for all money exiting.
The team structure here is very difficult, and I have been really conflicting with members regarding the way even the simple things are decided upon. Not everyone has a voice... even on the MC team. There is an extreme top-down approach here in Kenya and if conflict or even certain topics which conflict are brought up the people are silenced are warned not to interfere.
In fact, I have already caused such a stink that I have not been invited to some key meetings which concern my role as NST and MC CEED. It seems as though my role is appropriate as long as it does not point out some areas of weakness in the country itself. If I am causing trouble here, making people think hard about the issues that face them and giving them the courage to speak up against it then I have one very heartfelt thing to say about it. "HELL YES!" Problems don't get solved by sitting and letting them stew and brew until they finally result in someone quitting. If my role here was supposed to be to play nicey-nice with everyone then they picked the wrong Joe for the job. If they want positive change that is going to affect the country for the long-term, then they picked the right shit-disturber.
An organization like AIESEC is dependent on the membership and the charity of people of their time and money. People should not have to feel afraid of losing their position or be afraid of making mistakes regardless of position. This organization has been designed as the breeding ground for tomorrow's future leaders. This doesn't mean that everyone is a born leader, making perfect moves all of the time. It means that people are free to make mistakes, try new things and for god sakes.. speak their mind. This is an organization of volunteers; not professionals.
The infrastructure is bad news, and the response time by people is worse.
I still live far away from my work in a room without a door. With a 2 year old running around the house a few things have went missing which really adds to the stress of the whole situation. I have really found that when you go away you need a place of solitude and safety in order to feel like working. I am still struggling with that, but I have tried to adapt by basically taking one day to sit in my current house while no one is there and actually get work done. It makes me feel a lot more organized.
But here comes the good news:
I have decided to now move out to the individual local committees across the country. I will be spending a week with each of them, deciding on whether or not they are sustainable enough to have this sort of a project running (HIV/AIDS). The major push this year has been numbers and quality of internships has taken the beating for it. We have more potential complaints for quality then any story I have heard of before and it is finally starting to hit home and become a priority which is totally kick ass. So I hope to smooth things over with the existing interns, pave the way for the new interns coming in, and work with the LC's to build sustainable systems for measurement of quality and implementation of quality internships after I leave. We are talking about an overhaul on not just the ASK project (HIV/AIDS) but the entire system here in Kenya.
After I have my initial meeting I am going to try and come up with exact step-by-step guides for the 3 LC's which I feel will be able to best fulfill the duties and requirements of this particular project. After coming up with these guides, I will head back to the LC's to ensure that these plans are carried through and adapted by the LC's to suit their needs. I will also be coaching them on various aspects of the program.
The reason all of that is good is because now at least I have a plan of attack for this project. Up until now I would say the program has been a failure. It wasn't followed up by MC or LC members and really goes to show what can happen when LC's are essentially pushed into doing programs before they were ready for it.
Support is getting better from my buds on the MC and National Support Team, but there is still much work to be done.
Essentially the best way to get work done is find a way to do as much work as possible separately from everyone else.
I have also decided to try and work with babies and youth here in Kenya. As a completely separate project from AIESEC. I feel like right now I am not doing anything to really benefit the people who need my help the most and I want to make a difference here to those who could not even afford to think about school, let alone AIESEC. So I hope that gives me more of an appreciation for the current program I am trying to run.
I am also seriously considering spending Christmas in India! There is a really good offer up for flights and a chance to live in the mountains with one of my fellow interns and really get to experience life in India for a while. I have to decide by tomorrow.. so I will let you know tomorrow on what I have decided!
Onward to a brief corruption story:
I was sitting in a Matatu today, when two police officers climbed aboard. I felt very safe with them being around so I was happy.
We were moving along at a steady pace, not quite as crazy as normal as you could tell the driver was nervous about getting a ticket from the men inside the Matatu. The conductor did his usual tap on the shoulder to indicate paying, and did so to all of the men except the police men. Even when the police men tried to offer money to the man he refused it. A little bribe to keep the police from handing out tickets.
It’s the little things like that which really hit you when you come here that give you an indication that corruption is still very much alive in this country. They have made huge steps in ensuring that some of the major scandals result in jail time. But if corruption is still seen as an answer to some of life’s little problems there is a deep-rooted culture barrier that is going to take years to overcome.
Phew! So much about work that is still yet to be discovered! I still have to submit my video and it is 530AM here! Thanks for reading about my work and sorry if it was highly AIESEC.
Devan
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home