I worked
So I’ve been incredibly lethargic in posting recently. My excuse is that I go to bed around Ten p.m., wake up around nine a.m., and work intermittently in between. Work has actually picked up recently. I was working for a few months on a project with another volunteer for the high schools in the country- essentially an electronic report card, but far more complicated than the American version. Go figure. Essentially, the project is one big, complicated Excel file, but the final product resembles a piece of standalone software.We did a presentation of the software in front of a group of school administrators at a conference in Dakar a couple of months ago, and USAID and Microsoft were present. They were reasonably impressed, and the Microsoft rep offered to fund future trainings. Needless to say, we were ecstatic that our efforts had and would pay off handsomely. Then we realized that we had a whole lot of work to do. Then we realized that we were in Senegal and hadn’t “worked” (the get stuff done efficiently variety) in a long, long time and had an ominous feeling about what “work” would entail. By this point we were slightly less ecstatic. What followed from that I would call your stereotypical “How to do business in Africa” experience.
First, we had to tell people that we wanted to do a training. After weeks of attempting to contact the Ministry of Pedagogy (which manages the high schools, not, ironically, the Ministry of Education) we finally had our meeting where we worked out the training dates. It was necessary to go through the Ministry in order that it would call school representatives and order them to show up.
From the date the training was fixed we had two weeks to finish the software, put it on disk, find a rentable computer lab, rent a generator, reserve hotel rooms, arrange the catering, contact the local school district, and contact schools. Oh, and plan the training.
Everything was on track for the first week or so, and we had our assurance from the local school district that they would help us find a room and would contact the schools for us. Then, unexpectedly, the
secretary revealved that he was convoquéd elsewhere- and no, he wasnot reachable, and no, nothing could be done without his approval. Hedid manage to come back Thursday, five days before the scheduled startof the training, but that day one of the various teachers unions wenton strike, so nothing could get done. Our constant calls to theMinistry were either unanswered or were greeted enthusiastically;"Why, that\'s news to us. Yes, yes, of course, we\'ll get on top ofit." Such remarks are reassuring once and only once.By Sunday, two days before the training was scheduled to begin, not asingle school had been contacted. Finally, the convocation was sentout by email, listing the right day but the wrong location. How thatwould play out by that point we could only guess.The most difficult and stressful part of planning the training wasaccounting for the expected mishaps common to life here. Getting agenerator was a necessary precaution, but one that we could notpredict would be so difficult. After traipsing around town for a day,we finally found someone who would charge us the lowest price- roughly20 percent of its cost- for a two day rental. At the last minute,too, after agreeing on such an exhorbitant rental price with anelectronic supplier, our arrangement suddenly fell through. Therented generator was actually procured by chance from a kid in atattered shirt who just happened to ride by on a bike during theheated rebuff and attempted salvage of our original, settledagreement. And no, it did not work when tested at site.Since President Wade declared the end to power cuts in October theoutages certainly have been shorter, though less predictable.Fortunately, the power remained on for the whole session. The",1]
);
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superintendent disappeared for a week. Repeated calls to his secretary revealed that he was called elsewhere- and no, he was not reachable, and no, nothing could be done without his approval. He did manage to come back Thursday, five days before the scheduled start of the training, but that day one of the various teachers unions went on strike, so nothing could get done.
Our constant calls to the Ministry were greeted enthusiastically; "Why, that's news to us. Yes, yes, of course, we'll get on top of it." Reassuring? Calls to our Peace Corps superior were equally reassuring: “Don’t worry, this is how everything happens.”
By Sunday, two days before the training was scheduled to begin, not a single school had been contacted. Finally, the convocation was sent out by email, listing the right day but the wrong location. How that would play out by that point we could only guess.The most difficult and stressful part of planning the training was accounting for the expected mishaps common to life here. Getting a generator was a necessary precaution, but one that we could not predict would be so difficult. After traipsing around town for a day, we finally found someone who would charge us the lowest price- roughly 20 percent of its cost- for a two day rental. At the last minute, too, after agreeing on such an exorbitant rental price with an electronic supplier, our arrangement suddenly fell through. The rented generator was actually procured by chance from a kid in a tattered shirt who just happened to ride by on a bike during the heated rebuff and attempted salvage of our original, settled agreement. And no, it did not work when tested at site.Just hours before the training was to begin the
and fuming like a madman a half hour before the scheduled start of thetraining, shouting that it was impossible, simply impossible, that thetraining could take place in the planned location. After all, theywere convoquéd elsewhere, and the official document is the word of.Luckilly, the issue was settled, and the participants rerouted. Thecaterers showed up two hours late, but lunch was prepared at areasonable hour. All of this was fortunate considering that more thana thousand dollars of other people\'s money would have been sunk by ushad nobody showed up.So the training was a success. Overall, the budget for lunch and theper diems paid to the participants constituted rought 75 percent ofthe budget, which is an unfortunate side effect of decades ofdevelopment efforts. If there is no money on the table, people, evenif it is part of their job and beneficial to them, simply will notshow up.But besides, life has been going by at a fairly rapid clip.Thanksgiving was spent in Dakar at the ambassador\'s house. The expatlifestyle is nice, but roughly resembles a middle class existence inthe States, even for the ambassador. At least in Dakar it is not veryexciting or elegant fare. The city itself . The two main highwaysare being simultaneously torn up and reconstructed, so driving intotown more resembles one of the finer scenes in Mad Max. Imagine if I90were reduced to half width, the concrete were torn up and replaced bylaterite dirt, no lanes were demarkated so traffic swelled and stoppedin both directions, off ramps were destroyed and detours were routedthrough railroad shanty towns, and order was very occasionally kept bygendarmes armed with assault rifles. Elections are almost here, too,slated for early February. There is some question whether they will",1]
);
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principal of the school whose computer lab we rented rushed in shocked and fuming like the Mad Hater from Alice in Wonderland, shouting that it was impossible, simply impossible, that the training could take place in the planned location. After all, they were convoquéd elsewhere, and the official document is the word of.
Luckily, the issue was settled, and the participants rerouted. The caterers showed up two hours late, but lunch was prepared at a reasonable hour. All of this was fortunate considering that more than a thousand dollars of other people's money would have been sunk by us had nobody showed up.So the training was a success. Since President Wade declared the end to power cuts in October the outages certainly have been shorter, though less predictable. Fortunately, the power remained on for the whole session. The ministry and the local school district came though. People showed up.
Overall, the budget for lunch and the per diems paid to the participants constituted roughly 75 percent of the budget, which is an unfortunate side effect of decades of development efforts. If there is no money on the table, people, even if it is part of their job and beneficial to them, simply will not show up. But we weren’t paying, got our own free lunches, had a successful training, and felt pretty good about ourselves at the end of the day. Score.
Next post: America.
First, we had to tell people that we wanted to do a training. After weeks of attempting to contact the Ministry of Pedagogy (which manages the high schools, not, ironically, the Ministry of Education) we finally had our meeting where we worked out the training dates. It was necessary to go through the Ministry in order that it would call school representatives and order them to show up.
From the date the training was fixed we had two weeks to finish the software, put it on disk, find a rentable computer lab, rent a generator, reserve hotel rooms, arrange the catering, contact the local school district, and contact schools. Oh, and plan the training.
Everything was on track for the first week or so, and we had our assurance from the local school district that they would help us find a room and would contact the schools for us. Then, unexpectedly, the
secretary revealved that he was convoquéd elsewhere- and no, he wasnot reachable, and no, nothing could be done without his approval. Hedid manage to come back Thursday, five days before the scheduled startof the training, but that day one of the various teachers unions wenton strike, so nothing could get done. Our constant calls to theMinistry were either unanswered or were greeted enthusiastically;"Why, that\'s news to us. Yes, yes, of course, we\'ll get on top ofit." Such remarks are reassuring once and only once.By Sunday, two days before the training was scheduled to begin, not asingle school had been contacted. Finally, the convocation was sentout by email, listing the right day but the wrong location. How thatwould play out by that point we could only guess.The most difficult and stressful part of planning the training wasaccounting for the expected mishaps common to life here. Getting agenerator was a necessary precaution, but one that we could notpredict would be so difficult. After traipsing around town for a day,we finally found someone who would charge us the lowest price- roughly20 percent of its cost- for a two day rental. At the last minute,too, after agreeing on such an exhorbitant rental price with anelectronic supplier, our arrangement suddenly fell through. Therented generator was actually procured by chance from a kid in atattered shirt who just happened to ride by on a bike during theheated rebuff and attempted salvage of our original, settledagreement. And no, it did not work when tested at site.Since President Wade declared the end to power cuts in October theoutages certainly have been shorter, though less predictable.Fortunately, the power remained on for the whole session. The",1]
);
//-->
superintendent disappeared for a week. Repeated calls to his secretary revealed that he was called elsewhere- and no, he was not reachable, and no, nothing could be done without his approval. He did manage to come back Thursday, five days before the scheduled start of the training, but that day one of the various teachers unions went on strike, so nothing could get done.
Our constant calls to the Ministry were greeted enthusiastically; "Why, that's news to us. Yes, yes, of course, we'll get on top of it." Reassuring? Calls to our Peace Corps superior were equally reassuring: “Don’t worry, this is how everything happens.”
By Sunday, two days before the training was scheduled to begin, not a single school had been contacted. Finally, the convocation was sent out by email, listing the right day but the wrong location. How that would play out by that point we could only guess.The most difficult and stressful part of planning the training was accounting for the expected mishaps common to life here. Getting a generator was a necessary precaution, but one that we could not predict would be so difficult. After traipsing around town for a day, we finally found someone who would charge us the lowest price- roughly 20 percent of its cost- for a two day rental. At the last minute, too, after agreeing on such an exorbitant rental price with an electronic supplier, our arrangement suddenly fell through. The rented generator was actually procured by chance from a kid in a tattered shirt who just happened to ride by on a bike during the heated rebuff and attempted salvage of our original, settled agreement. And no, it did not work when tested at site.Just hours before the training was to begin the
and fuming like a madman a half hour before the scheduled start of thetraining, shouting that it was impossible, simply impossible, that thetraining could take place in the planned location. After all, theywere convoquéd elsewhere, and the official document is the word of.Luckilly, the issue was settled, and the participants rerouted. Thecaterers showed up two hours late, but lunch was prepared at areasonable hour. All of this was fortunate considering that more thana thousand dollars of other people\'s money would have been sunk by ushad nobody showed up.So the training was a success. Overall, the budget for lunch and theper diems paid to the participants constituted rought 75 percent ofthe budget, which is an unfortunate side effect of decades ofdevelopment efforts. If there is no money on the table, people, evenif it is part of their job and beneficial to them, simply will notshow up.But besides, life has been going by at a fairly rapid clip.Thanksgiving was spent in Dakar at the ambassador\'s house. The expatlifestyle is nice, but roughly resembles a middle class existence inthe States, even for the ambassador. At least in Dakar it is not veryexciting or elegant fare. The city itself . The two main highwaysare being simultaneously torn up and reconstructed, so driving intotown more resembles one of the finer scenes in Mad Max. Imagine if I90were reduced to half width, the concrete were torn up and replaced bylaterite dirt, no lanes were demarkated so traffic swelled and stoppedin both directions, off ramps were destroyed and detours were routedthrough railroad shanty towns, and order was very occasionally kept bygendarmes armed with assault rifles. Elections are almost here, too,slated for early February. There is some question whether they will",1]
);
//-->
principal of the school whose computer lab we rented rushed in shocked and fuming like the Mad Hater from Alice in Wonderland, shouting that it was impossible, simply impossible, that the training could take place in the planned location. After all, they were convoquéd elsewhere, and the official document is the word of.
Luckily, the issue was settled, and the participants rerouted. The caterers showed up two hours late, but lunch was prepared at a reasonable hour. All of this was fortunate considering that more than a thousand dollars of other people's money would have been sunk by us had nobody showed up.So the training was a success. Since President Wade declared the end to power cuts in October the outages certainly have been shorter, though less predictable. Fortunately, the power remained on for the whole session. The ministry and the local school district came though. People showed up.
Overall, the budget for lunch and the per diems paid to the participants constituted roughly 75 percent of the budget, which is an unfortunate side effect of decades of development efforts. If there is no money on the table, people, even if it is part of their job and beneficial to them, simply will not show up. But we weren’t paying, got our own free lunches, had a successful training, and felt pretty good about ourselves at the end of the day. Score.
Next post: America.
posted by Unknown at 11:04 AM
1 Comments:
The Senegalese have obviously been mentored in inefficiency by higher-ups in the Ministry here in Tianjin. It is Our Way.
The most decisive meeting is the one which nobody attends. The most sought after Minister is the one who is never at his desk.
Isn't it poetic justice that you in the First World must be taught your Life Lessons by your "cultural inferiors?" That you must travel amidst the dust, dirt, and flies to see the superfluity of Hygiene, Clocks, Telephones, and Appointment Books?
Long ago we learned that it is better to drink tea with a friend and accumulate little than to drink Coke alone in your car and accumulate piles.
Here in the People's Republic we know that it's precisely when Logic fails that People Power takes over.
That when the unstoppable force encounters the immovable object, the wise man looks down, keeps his nose to the grindstone, and endures.
The East Wind overcomes the West Wind. Though recently a Temblor disrupted our communications for days, when the message finally got through it was pregnant with meaning.
In the end you and your African charges will not Supersize your hamburgers; you will Sinicize them.
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