Yesterday was my last day at the orphanage and unfortunately it was raining so it was kind-of a slow day (no pun intended). A little guy who has been sick with a respiratory infection for the past week had to go to the hospital today :( ..I was feeding him and he was actually looking better and eating faster but when he was almost done with his bottle he started coughing a lot and turning purple-ish so I called Aziz over to help him. Poor little guy can't catch a break :/ One of the women started her period that day too so everyone is bracing themselves for a rough week since all the girls are on the same schedule. I guess I'm lucky to be leaving when I am, though I feel bad that there are less people to help now.
We also had a meeting yesterday to assess how everyone is doing and go over anything people want to have changed or improved. It got a little intense since some people either don't like their placement or they don't feel needed. The volunteers who are working with the babies and little kids at the orphanage feel a little over crowded and the nurses don't seem to want their help a lot of the time. It sounds very frustrating indeed. CCS has never had this problem though, since this is the largest group they've had and usually there's a shortage of help at the orphanage. There still is a slight shortage with the handicapped people but understandably some people don't feel comfortable in that area or aren't physically capable of doing a lot of the heavy lifting and restraining that comes along with the job. Mohammed was very open and wanted to know all the issues people had, so everyone was heard and they will be reassessing this time of the year for the future to maybe limit the number of volunteers they place. It's an interesting dilemma for sure. I feel like some of the complaints were a little petty though and people may be forgetting that we are here to serve and not to be served. Yes, the Moroccan CCS staff is very accommodating and willing to help us, but the whole point of this cultural exchange is to leave a good impression and help in any way possible.
The issue that made me the most uncomfortable was that of communication between us and the nurses. There is an understandable amount of frustration with not being able to understand what they want a lot of the time and some have suggested that they have someone to translate or have a person on the nursing staff learn English. I agree that it would be very useful to have a translator but if it draws the nurse's time and attention away from the children to learn how to communicate with us, it would be slightly counter productive right? Also, when the volunteers sign up for this program we know which languages are spoken in the country and that there is no guaranteed translators. We are encouraged to learn the languages on our own time and they even supply some crash courses here at the house. I found it interesting that some who had a problem with the language barrier did not attend the short Arabic review with Khadija. I don't want to sound judgmental or like I'm on my high horse, though it certainly sounds that way, but I wish people would look at the bigger picture. Yes, many of us used this as an opportunity to see the world or get away from our daily routines. I'm using it for those reasons, as well as for something cool to put on my resume and a way to get credit for school. However, despite the many reasons for being here, our main purpose is to serve where they need us. We cannot require them to create a need so that we can help them however we want. We should not expect them to have the perfect situation for everyone. They too have to work with other organizations and they do their best to evaluate and stay flexible in order to be more effective.
I think EVERYONE here is meant to be here for different reasons and I hope that they can all find a need that they can fill. It is such a blessing to get to know everyone since we are so different and have a lot to learn from each other and this country. The cheesy peace-maker in me just wants everyone to get along and work more like a team but I realize that everyone has different ways that they deal with situations outside of their comfort zone. When you live in a house and work with over 28 other people it would be surreal if it was completely drama free :)
My lesson planning kept me up a little later than I wanted but it was a blessing in disguise since Jack-a-bee decided to Skype me. She gave some ideas and I got to run mine by her so it was a good way for me to wind down and let myself get some sleep. I'm going to conquer this anxiety thing if it's the last thing that I do!
I'll write later today when I get back from Casablanca... Rick's Cafe, here I come!
I plan on finding Sam and telling him "Play it once, Sam. For old times' sake."
Now I understand better why KCC spends so much time team building and "attitude adjusting" people before sending them out.
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't already, you might want to look at "TPR" (Total Physical Response) language instruction techniques (story telling with lots of gestures etc.). Very engaging (and fun) for students and actually teaches students to speak and understand the language (instead of grammar rules and verb conjugation tables).
Here's looking at you, Bear
Yeah, often there are folks who just have something of an 'entitled' attitude, without intending so -- "Why don't you learn to speak English if you want my help?!"
ReplyDeleteSometimes it's more about the attitude -- HOW the complaint/suggestion is voiced, rather than WHAT the complaint/suggestion may be.
I suppose the trick is to realize that even the @$$holes usually have SOME element of a good point to be made, even if their expression of it is over the top, or seems entirely self-serving, or blind to reality. You sometimes have to really work at seeing it that way, though.
Still, it helps -- especially if you really are a natural 'peacemaker.' Being able to TRULY see the other side (however annoying) and ferret out a level of validity of a complaint, even when it's obnoxious, has its value. The whole 'tolerance' thing. Being able to comprehend the reasoning behind someone's complaint can help you find solutions.
Besides, too often *any* suggestion is viewed as an inappropriate complaint. Yet frustration usually surrounds any problem, and it's hard to make a suggestion without that frustration coming through. So 'complaints' and 'suggestions' are often interchangeable terms. And since you can't or won't fix a problem until you first see there really is a problem, it's not a bad idea to give some credence even to the "self-serving complaints", at times.
For instance, if I were running an organization (such as the orphanage) that frequently used foreign-language-speaking volunteers, I think I'd find it worthwhile to TRY to hire at least one staff member who spoke that language, or to teach that language to one of my staff, to act as a coordinator. And that would be true EVEN IF I mostly expected the volunteers to just pony up and deal with whatever arose, language barrier or no. It would bring a LOT of benefits to do so, at a LOT of levels. So that isn't such a bad idea, even if the motivation for complaining about it seems largely selfish.
But you're right -- at base, it's up to each person to deal with whatever's put in front of 'em as best they can, and to adapt to the limits of what's possible.