After three month’s time at Ya’axché Consevation Trust, I have found versatility and patience to be the two most valuable qualities of an international volunteer. Being brought down to Belize under the title of Sustainable Land Use Management volunteer, my role has danced around between Community Outreach and Livelihoods, Protected Areas Management, Accounting, Here’s a Document for You to Edit, Can You Make a Compost?, and most recently, project manager of an Operation of American States medium-sized project. I am grateful to have received such a large responsibility, and have made some key observations about how projects get managed down here.
-“Right now” does not mean this very second in Belize. In fact, very few actions are completed in a timely fashion. I’ve noticed that one of the hardest cultural differences to which we Americans have to adjust is that this part of the world moves a little bit more slowly.
Clutter is king with limited workspace at Ya'axché
- A lot of my time has been spent rewriting sentences and attacking spelling and grammar. Coming from a country where it is expected to receive at least a high school diploma, it was a bit of a shock to find that many of my colleagues have very limited education. I have found it very rewarding, albeit time-consuming, to revise and discuss documents with my coworkers. A little effort now will help them infinitely in the future.
- Handcuff your laptop to your body and start introducing it to people as an extension of yourself. As most international organizations are strapped for cash, it is unlikely to find a good, reliable computer. Having a laptop is a luxury, but I might say a necessary luxury in order to maintain control over your work and have a haven of personal organization.
-The funder is God and therefore must be treated as such. This means that if they want you to put their logo and a paragraph of recognition on every single document, you go that extra mile and start putting it on your résumé and your Facebook. If they want you to produce monthly progress reports in addition to comprehensive follow-up reports each disbursement period, you thank them for giving you the opportunity to get carpal tunnel from typing so much. We all know the principle: Help grandma reorganize her photo album every couple of weeks and count on a fat birthday check each year. The same goes with tedious requirements from grant providers: Jump through their hoops and you, and your organization, will be rewarded.
Latest posts by bridgeterin
- When Your Own Hypocrisy Becomes Too Much - November 29th, 2010
- Partners in Poverty - August 31st, 2010
- Culture Shock in Central America - April 22nd, 2010
- Cooking in the Jungle: Meals Without an Oven or Refrigerator - April 8th, 2010
- When Doing Good Makes You the Bad Guy - March 25th, 2010
- "Don't get your reading material from the dump." - March 11th, 2010
- Scorpions, Tarantulas, and Rats, Oh My! - February 11th, 2010
- "Are You Peace Corps?" - January 14th, 2010
