The difficulties of leaving, captured in Colombian graffiti.

Field work requires comfort with transience. Many development workers parachute into places, build their lives from scratch, weave themselves into communities and are subsequently yanked away, to a new project or some other life demand.

As I wrapped up my last workshop for women ex-combatants and victims of conflict in Colombia, discussing community organization strategies for sustaining the impact of our gatherings, the women had one question: “When are you coming back?”

The truth is that I do not know. My fellowship requires that I design and implement projects in conflict and post-communities worldwide, always charting new ground for myself, veering away from the familiar. If love for the community and the project were enough, I would not have left Colombia yet. But for now, I boarded a one-way flight with no firm plans of return. This begs two questions: First, how do field workers relate to their projects once they are no longer on the ground?

There are transitional mechanisms that can sustain impact after formal project completion:

• Training community leaders in conducting a version of the project in the future, thus multiplying its outreach effects;
• Compiling archives of materials and strategies used to preserve institutional memory;
• Establishing monitoring & evaluation systems to gather data and discussing future changes and applications.

The second question is more introspective: What role will this project continue to play in your life after your departure? Was it a chapter in which you gained experience and gave a bit of yourself? Was it a stepping stone to a continuing project? Was it an escape from another world? Trying a new career? Confronting a fear? Do you plan to come back? Explaining that “this may have been it” to project beneficiaries is always hard; it creates feelings of abandonment and sadness in all of us. Somewhere far away, another community awaits your ideas and your service. Once you embed yourself within it, what role will this community continue to play in your heart?

How do you deal with the emotional and professional consequences of leaving a project? In what form do you stay involved?

Following Colombia, Roxanne is now in Guatemala. For a sneak peek into her observations,  follow her on Twitter or read more thoughts about impact on her blog.

But to all of you out there trying to create change but who find yourselves discouraged because (for example) it rains too much and people don’t come to meetings when it’s raining…do not give up! I have recently had the experience of starting a girl’s softball team in a town where the average response to my idea was: “that’s a boy’s sport.” But through talking to anyone who would listen, giving it a little time, waiting for the right people to lend their hand in support, I have gotten a preliminary team together of about six muchachas, even before the official city-wide meeting has happened. And they are passing the word on to their girlfriends. I have gotten the gym teachers from all three schools in town to offer their technical support and equipment. And I have even been interviewed live on the local radio station.

My advice is to get down to basics: talk. Here in Latin America it’s not about sitting in your office shooting off emails all day long. It’s about coming face to face and having a real conversation. Talk to anyone and everyone about what you want to do: at work, at the club, at the market, on the street: basically anyone who will listen. For every 100 people that you explain yourself to, there is sure to be at least one who will offer you something with which you can move forward, even if it’s just a baby step. And even if you have to take a few steps backwards, once you have the momentum, you will surely be able to make leaps and bounds.

Farofa

You can’t just waltz in and think you’re going to change the world just like that. Because you’re not. You might be able to suggest modifications, but when it comes to implementation, it is your audience who needs to want to change.

As president Obama said so eloquently in his Back to School speech this week, “…at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you [students] fulfill your responsibilities.” You must want to fulfill your responsibilities. You must believe in fulfilling your responsibilities. It is YOU who must want to succeed.

In other words, change comes from within. An outsider can suggest reform, but it is the insiders who will make it happen. That is, if they want to make it happen and if they can see the benefit in making it happen. Outsiders are rarely able to make long-lasting reformations because they lack cultural sensitivity, community know-how, and credibility.

Although I have some great ideas, at least for the moment, I am an outsider. I will never look or sound completely Brazilian. I will never like Guaraná (national soda) or farofa (a side dish made from cassava flour or cornmeal). And worst of all, I don’t like soccer. I have a ways to go in order to prove myself, my credibility, and my intentions.

Guaraná

No one ever said it was going to be easy, and I am confronted by failure at every turn. Portuguese is a difficult language to learn. Malapropisms are an hourly occurrence. Dealing with the Federal Police to fulfill your visa requirements is nothing short of a nightmare. And I still get on buses before I know where they are going.

Nevertheless, I’m here learning how to draw the line between pushing and accepting my limitations and trying to fit in. You won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try. Luckily, failure is not all bad. Try. Mess up. And learn from your mistakes. There are so many opportunities and experiences to be learned through complete and utter failure.

In the end, experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. And when you do succeed, not only will you have accomplished what others could not; hopefully your accomplishments will be long-lasting. But you never know until you try.