Figuring Things Out

The first few weeks of our assignment were primarily focused on settling into our jobs and housing arrangements. What this really meant was that we had a lot of spare time. I have spent long hours playing dominoes on-line, and Max playing GameBoy. This wasn’t really our choice. We were both dying to get out there and work with people, but since our work is in aldeas hours away from were we live, we needed to wait for our counterpart agencies to take us around. It wasn’t all wasted time, since we’ve managed to make a lot of friends here in La Ceiba, and we even feel a little guilty of how much we’ve been partying. Luckily things have been improving, and Max and I are starting to figure things out… for better or for worse.

About Garífuna Communities on the North Coast
The last few weeks, I’ve been involved with the Garífunas in a lot of meetings. Since there are restrictions to fishing near these villages, I am working on helping them find sources of income other than fishing. I am working on researching the possibility of creating fish farms with one group, a pig farm with another and a network of tour operators that would be legally incorporated for all of the communities. I have spent many hours in meetings with the community members, and talking to people that have worked with them on the past.

I’ve learned that there have been institutions working with Garífunas for many years now, and they have had a lot of money donated to them. They have received a lot of training on several topics (community leadership, customer service, etc.) There have been hundreds of micro-enterprises formed before like the ones I am trying to form now, however the communities continue to be poor. BUT WHY? Paternalism… years and years of receiving money in exchange for nothing. Why work to make a small business work when some other NGO will surely give us more money sometime soon? I’ve already heard about new NGOs being formed to “help” these communities.

So people have tried giving them work instruments instead of the money… that hasn’t worked either. Let me tell you one of the stories I’ve heard. A few years ago the Japanese government donated boats, motors, and all sort of advanced fishing equipment such as sonar to one of the communities. The idea was to equip the fishermen with the tools needed to fish out in open sea where fish are abundant. They could then sell what they caught in a local market. What did the community members do? They sold all the equipment and used the money to eat, drink, and party.

About Pech Wood Artisans in the Mountains
Max has been working with a foundation that trains artisans to build hand made furniture out of alternative woods. Their goal is to protect endangered species of trees in the forests while providing legal sources of income to the communities that live near them. They have been working for years on training the artisans. They have monetary help to help the artisan get started. They have built quality control mechanisms into the process and designed really beautiful furniture to sell in the market. However, if you are a customer odds are you will have to wait five (5), six (6), or even seven (7) months before you receive what you ordered. The fact that you paid 50% deposit will not make things any better. Why are they having such big problems? There are multiple reasons: a lot of the artisans they train have left to the states “mojados” (illegally) so they keep running out of qualified workers. The ones that do remain do not necessarily pay attention to quality and detail; they do not understand why that is so important. It is not something engrained in their culture.

Max’s job is primarily to market the products they make, so he has been talking to some of their current customers. He’s found people that like the furniture a lot but have been waiting 5 or 6 months for what they ordered. They really like supporting these groups but are hesitant to buy from them again because of the looooong waits.

About Education
The vocational school I am working with does not have a library, it does not have handicap ramps, it does not have first aid kits, it does not have safety equipment for the students, it does not have enough teachers, and it does not have money. The center is one of a series of vocational centers built by USAID (they provide the infrastructure and the technical equipment) that uses a special curriculum design by a Honduran government organization. It is technically a private institution, but it does not charge the students for their education. It is the job of the administration of the school to find funds to sustain the operations. This is a very exhausting task for the people running these schools, who are usually academics, and not business people or fund raisers.

In my school the “Spanish Corporation” (a Spanish NGO) has been offering to donate money for projects for months. All they are asking for is the director of the school to write a pitch with his vision for the center and the needs. Easy enough? Not really, the director says he doesn’t know how to do that. I’ve offered to help teach him, but he’d rather I do it. I try to explain that I am here to transfer the skills necessary to keep things working after I am gone. They listen and nothing happens.

Recently I’ve been helping with a process of accreditation the center is going trough. It is supposed to take about a year to get to the point where a school is ready to be accredited. The school will be inspected next week, and they only started working on it when I got here. They are not going to pass. At first hand the problem might seem like no one has the time to work on this kind of stuff, but when you look closely it seems more like they do not have the drive.

To illustrate what I mean, let me tell you this story. As part of the accreditation process the center is required to have a committee of community members (ex-alumni, professionals on the fields they teach, parents of current students) that work as a force to help raise funds, help place students after they graduate, suggest practice projects, etc. We decided we would organize a meeting for potential members, pitch the idea, and ask them to become members. I thought this committee could alleviate a lot of the burden on the staff and that we should work on putting it together as soon as possible. I even created the pitch and the invitations, against my better judgment, and offered to arrange for refreshments. All the staff had to do was distribute the invitations and show up. The meeting was supposed to happen two weeks ago…

Disillusionment?
During Peace Corps training they say that after a few months in site things might start getting harder. All the novelty wears off and you are left with a reality that might be more challenging than expected. We’ve both been wondering how much can we really do? How can we change paternalism when there will certainly be NGOs giving away money always? How can we prevent people from moving to the states after they have been capacitated for a job here? How can we motivate people that do not want to be motivated? It is hard to imagine how we can make a difference where so many others have failed.

During Peace Corps training they also said, hang in there, things will get better. You will find someone worthwhile working with. You will find something you will love working on. So here we are… hanging on…