The restaurant where I'm working has a new electronic system for payment. The waitress is using it to play spider solitaire on the computer, while her assistant waitress wrote out my bill by hand.
Yesterday, my driver pointed and said, "the office is down that road," and then he drove right by the road.
I was talking to a potential recruit on the phone to set up a meeting. When I got back to my computer, he had emailed me his phone number.
I was at a meeting where my interviewee burped three times. During our meeting.
Logic. It's something maybe we aren't born with, but at least we develop it from an early age - based on norms and societal rules, right? No? Not here. Logic is a foreign concept.
Twice in the last 2 days, I've given my introduction to Chemonics (my company), held the meeting, and then at the end - the interviewee said, "Now, what is this organization you work for?"
Yesterday someone told me his goal was to brainwash all the youth of this country.
The first week I got here, a plane crashed on the runway in Yambio. Nobody had any equipment to move the plane, so it just sat there - and travelers were stranded for several days in every direction.
Last night I had drinks with someone espousing the Do No Harm principles of disaster relief, while simultaneously admitting that that relief creates a culture of dependency (i.e. longtern development nightmare).
My bathroom has black mold growing along the grout, despite the fact that Bernadita, the cleaning lady, comes every single day to clean. So, I bought some vinegar and have begun scrubbing a little bit each day (thank you, LL, for that cleaning tip!). I thought maybe Bernadita would get excited or get involved, but nope - she leaves the black mold to me.
Foreigners in general are unwelcome here, but especially those from East Africa. So much for warm hospitality and African pride!
Two weeks ago, the flag raising ceremony was taking place - and a driver continued driving when he was instructed to stop (out of respect). SPLA soldiers shot and killed not the driver but the passenger. Senseless.
Everywhere I go, people talk about building capacity - capacity, capacity, capacity. Yesterday my driver told me, "these people are all raised in the bush - they only know the life of war." This is part of the problem - but it can't be the whole story.
Yesterday, my driver pointed and said, "the office is down that road," and then he drove right by the road.
I was talking to a potential recruit on the phone to set up a meeting. When I got back to my computer, he had emailed me his phone number.
I was at a meeting where my interviewee burped three times. During our meeting.
Logic. It's something maybe we aren't born with, but at least we develop it from an early age - based on norms and societal rules, right? No? Not here. Logic is a foreign concept.
Twice in the last 2 days, I've given my introduction to Chemonics (my company), held the meeting, and then at the end - the interviewee said, "Now, what is this organization you work for?"
Yesterday someone told me his goal was to brainwash all the youth of this country.
The first week I got here, a plane crashed on the runway in Yambio. Nobody had any equipment to move the plane, so it just sat there - and travelers were stranded for several days in every direction.
My bathroom has black mold growing along the grout, despite the fact that Bernadita, the cleaning lady, comes every single day to clean. So, I bought some vinegar and have begun scrubbing a little bit each day (thank you, LL, for that cleaning tip!). I thought maybe Bernadita would get excited or get involved, but nope - she leaves the black mold to me.
Foreigners in general are unwelcome here, but especially those from East Africa. So much for warm hospitality and African pride!
Two weeks ago, the flag raising ceremony was taking place - and a driver continued driving when he was instructed to stop (out of respect). SPLA soldiers shot and killed not the driver but the passenger. Senseless.
Everywhere I go, people talk about building capacity - capacity, capacity, capacity. Yesterday my driver told me, "these people are all raised in the bush - they only know the life of war." This is part of the problem - but it can't be the whole story.
No comments:
Post a Comment