My up and down week

During training, and even before I started my service, I was told by many people that there will be ups and downs during service. I remember thinking that this was an inevitable part of life in the first place, but since getting to my permanent site I have fully begun to realize what that actually means in the context of the Peace Corps. Take for granted the week that I had last week. It started on the up side, the weather was great, there was a considerable amount of rain which hides the blistering sun and cools off the tin roof of my room, but a good week for weather turned into some frustrating days of work.
I showed up Monday, which I was aware was a holiday for all of South Africa, and even though I was told by my supervisor that we would be in work on Monday and our “work plan” had tasks to accomplish, no one was at the office. It was not too much of a surprise, but the lack of communication threw me off. I did manage to install new anti-virus software onto the work computer and type up the agenda for the stakeholders meeting that was to be held on Wednesday, so not that bad of a week.
Tuesday was the kind of day that I think will seem pretty normal after awhile, but it was definitely a down point for the week. I showed up at 9AM, the time I get to work every day, and didn’t have much to do. I finished typing up a proposal for the gender based initiative that my counterpart and I are going to start, and then waited for another three hours until my supervisor showed up. He strolled in around 12:30 and I was very happy to get to work. Unfortunately, I had finished the work that we were supposed to be doing for the day in a half an hour, so I took the opportunity to talk with some of the staff about their perception of how everything was going in the organization. It was at this point that I started the long and tiring process of trying to understand the politics of the office. Office politics exist everywhere, and I was not shocked to find out that they existed in my organization, but the most salient problem for a Peace Corps volunteer like me is the ever existent issue of culture. While I can handle office politics relatively well in my own culture, I am always questioning my responses and actions as to not be culturally insensitive or worse yet, culturally biased. It was a big part of my stress last week, and will continue to take a toll on my days while I am trying to resolve the issues that are seemingly simple to solve, but much bigger than I will probably ever understand.
I came into Wednesday with very high hopes. My organization had planned a meeting to introduce me to the important community leaders and the invitations had been distributed, the agenda typed and ready to be printed, and the money in place to buy the food for the event. While the United States places a lot of attention on time, the SA culture, and most African cultures in general take a more event oriented view. This means that for my supervisor to be late on a day like this, even though someone would still have to go to town and get back to start cooking the food so it could be completed before the meeting started at 11, was really no big deal. My nerves were already on edge trying to fine tune a speech I prepared in Xitsonga and English, and things just couldn’t seem to go right. The agenda that I had typed up on Monday was saved on a computer that for some reason did not have the power cords accessible, and the printer to print the agendas was nowhere to be found. Of course, everything ended up working out, the man who had the power cords showed up, and the agendas were printed. The food was delivered with the printer, and the meeting started, albeit 3 hours later that it was scheduled. I guess I should consider this right on time from now on. The meeting was a relative success. My speech was well accepted, other than by one man who I think was trying to manipulate me into giving his organization help, under the assumption that I came to Africa with a truck load of money. I was later told to steer clear of this guy and that he was not very respected in the community, no matter how loud he is at community meetings. The day ended with the paying of the stipends to the staff of my organization, and the meeting was tense and tiring to say the least. What little I understood seemed like it was causing very high anxiety to everyone in the room and I was not left out of the mix, even to the point where I was offered part of the stipend for my work. Something that is strictly prohibited by PC policy, and unnecessary due to the PC stipend that I receive every month. I was pretty well exhausted at the end of this day, and was relieved as the rain started to pour right before I went to sleep.
My supervisor was absent on Thursday, but the day was relatively productive, but still filled with politics from the other members of the organization. I am lucky to be uninvolved in the power struggle that exists, but I did get a chance to make it clear to a few members of the staff that I am not here to work for my supervisor, I am here to work for the organization and more so the community as a whole. This seemed to get a positive response, and I also got a chance to strategize how to make the relationships and communication better in the office.
Friday was a day void of work. I was told to go into town early so that we could do work around town, and once I got there, and waited an hour for them to show up, I was told that we didn’t have anything to do and we should “knock off” (be done with work). After the tiring week that I had, and looking forward to going to visit another volunteer the same day I didn’t fight it. We did manage to open a post office box for the organization so that they don’t have to share with the college that backs the project, but that was truly the extent of my day. From there I met up with another PCV and we spent the afternoon shopping for food and cooking a delicious dinner at her site. It was a great end to the week that was full of ups and downs.
It’s now Sunday, and I am ready and prepared for the week of work. I have a game plan of things that I want to complete, and the knowledge of the politics that affect my work every day. I don’t think I will be relaying my weeks like that anymore, it was stressful just to relive last week through typing it. I will also try to post some pictures this week when I get a chance. Stay sharp. Peace out.