This is why I´m here
So I’ve been working with a youth tourism group in San José. They’re trying to promote the “Jute Caves” in San José as a great tourist destination. They’ve been working with an NGO that’s supplied them with materials, trainings, field trips to the beach and national parks and waterfalls, all absolutely FREE. In exchange, they made a business plan and initiated a sign project. They would make two signs promoting the caves, and place one in San José and the other along the main highway. Awesome idea! Right?
Well I’d put the emphasis on IDEA, since after starting the project everyone did a whole lot of NOTHING—the two group members who most involved found work in the next town, and the other members sat and held meetings and complained that they couldn’t do the project without them. This has been going on since I got here. Every meeting would be like pulling teeth, it would inevitably start hours later when people finally showed up. Nobody had any ideas on what to do. Nobody had the name of the guy who made the signs. It was always a mystery. It’s been a frustrating group to work with, in short.
SO this past Friday I learned that the folks from the NGO are paying a visit to see the signs. The nonexistent signs. I thought this would propel the group into making the signs, and yet nobody did anything. No talk of signs. So I talked to one of the knuckleheads in this group about it, how I was frustrated and disappointed in everyone, and that I couldn’t work with them if they continued on like this.
This was Friday. I was out of my site over the weekend visiting fellow PC Volunteers and complaining about the youth group and the stupid signs. On Monday afternoon I rode into my site on the bus, and what do I see?
Three guys from the youth group… PUTTING UP THE FIRST SIGN!
I ran home and made them sandwiches, bought them coke and spent the rest of the afternoon helping with the sign. It was pouring rain, the half-dried paint was dripping everywhere, the little signpost turned out lopsided and the tiles on the roof are uneven. But we laughed and joked and exchanged swear words in our respective languages, and in the end we put up the beautiful wooden sign, to greet every person entering the town of San José. I finished that afternoon dirty and soaking wet and covered in paint, and about to cry from happiness. They did it. They put up the stupid sign.
That afternoon, there was nowhere else I’d rather be.
Well I’d put the emphasis on IDEA, since after starting the project everyone did a whole lot of NOTHING—the two group members who most involved found work in the next town, and the other members sat and held meetings and complained that they couldn’t do the project without them. This has been going on since I got here. Every meeting would be like pulling teeth, it would inevitably start hours later when people finally showed up. Nobody had any ideas on what to do. Nobody had the name of the guy who made the signs. It was always a mystery. It’s been a frustrating group to work with, in short.
SO this past Friday I learned that the folks from the NGO are paying a visit to see the signs. The nonexistent signs. I thought this would propel the group into making the signs, and yet nobody did anything. No talk of signs. So I talked to one of the knuckleheads in this group about it, how I was frustrated and disappointed in everyone, and that I couldn’t work with them if they continued on like this.
This was Friday. I was out of my site over the weekend visiting fellow PC Volunteers and complaining about the youth group and the stupid signs. On Monday afternoon I rode into my site on the bus, and what do I see?
Three guys from the youth group… PUTTING UP THE FIRST SIGN!
I ran home and made them sandwiches, bought them coke and spent the rest of the afternoon helping with the sign. It was pouring rain, the half-dried paint was dripping everywhere, the little signpost turned out lopsided and the tiles on the roof are uneven. But we laughed and joked and exchanged swear words in our respective languages, and in the end we put up the beautiful wooden sign, to greet every person entering the town of San José. I finished that afternoon dirty and soaking wet and covered in paint, and about to cry from happiness. They did it. They put up the stupid sign.
That afternoon, there was nowhere else I’d rather be.
posted by Maureen at 10:46 AM
1 Comments:
Man o man mo. you have your hands full. i'm so glad i read your blog out loud to your 3 cousins who have had enough summer break but would never admit it.now they see what its like in another part of the world and can understand that putting up a sign is not as simple as going to their computer and printing out signs. Katie said it would be cheating if they emailed us and had us print them up for them at Kinkos but hey, its an idea to think about!
Now that I know to keep my packages flat and light when mailing to Honduras, what is the best address to send things to you?
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