Working in Jamaica

I haven't said too much about work because up until now, I was getting a feel for the place.  Spent my time talking with a lot of people in my organization and have started to ease into things.  By now, I've got a good idea of how work flows here.  Slowly.

That's not to say work doesn't get done.  Things get done, but usually at the last minute, or late.  No matter how many times I ask for something, I don't get it.  And people will be doing just enough to get things done.  Nothing more.  At first I thought it was just my organization, but it seems to happen a lot; so much that if you see something different, it's probably the exception rather than the norm.

I don't know how I would manage people or try to motivate them here.  Lucky it's not the volunteer's job here to manage or drive.  We are the support and the capacity builders.  We work within the confines of the culture without trying to force our ways upon or against it.  We may be able to influence how people operate or see the world, but it's a slow and subtle process.  It's a process which is more about helping people see how things could be done better or how to approach a problem differently, which may or may not be congruent with what we would do if we had to do it ourselves - it could be a hybrid approach or something completely different.

I talked with one of the guys at my workplace and he put it something like this: You don't need a reason to celebrate or make a day special.  Every day is special and we should live it like so.

And that's how people will operate.  If something doesn't get done right away, it's not the end of the world.  Why work so hard and take the fun out of today for the sake of tomorrow?  Who knows what may happen the next day?  To me, there is sense in this train of thought but I think work ethic as with all things in life need balance.  And that balance is personal so it may vary from person to person and could also vary from culture to culture.  I'll finish with what I think is a funny example of how things are here.  Part of my role is to facilitate the process of getting the organization's records up to date.  Another part my role is to do some financial analysis for operations, which is the more interesting part.  But today was a catch-up day.  Today, I helped them do a bank reconciliation - for May 2009.

Borrowing a friend's picture: December 5, 2010 - 20 days until Christmas