Hello my friends...so, had a minor breakdown last night...well, actually not really, I was just frustrated. We had a huge meeting at CNLG (National Commission for the Fight against Genocide) this morning for Walk to Remember. In order to make this project successful, we need to get sponsorship or endorsements from CNLG and a couple of the gov't ministries. Well, in preparation for the meeting, we had planned to meet up the night before and do a run through of the presentation. Of the four of us, only two people showed up...me being one. Let me take a moment to explain how important this meeting was....as far as we were concerned, the room would be filled with Ministers, other gov't officials, and the CEO's of three major telecommunication companies...granted, since we are in Rwanda, only three people showed up but still, that's not the point.
The point is that I am an enabler! I looked through the documents and I did way too much. I am running this project. As "International Coordinator" I guess that is my job but I am having a battle in my brain as to whether or not this is the right thing for me to do. I want to be a teacher, not the person doing all the work (unfortunately, I love it but still).
So, yeah, that's the problem. PLUS, we are having major issues with time. According to some Rwandans, they run on social time, which means that their time is based on events not the actual clock....lame excuse for ALWAYS being late to me. (Of course it is not all Rwandans but I would say at the very least 83% of them). Nothing ever starts on time and even major events don't start when they are supposed to. Everyone says that you have to say an hour earlier than you mean but if you do that then there is no such thing as real time. If I say it starts at 6 but really starts at 7, everyone knows that it really starts at 7 so show up late for 7...whereas if I say it starts at 6, and it really starts at 6, no one shows up for an hour or so but the ones that do actually show up at 6 have to wait around...so there is no reason to be on time because if you are on time, you have to wait and if you are late, you are on-time. Basically, from now on I am starting all meetings when I say I am and that's that. We set up some rules and are going to start enforcing a time policy. If you are more than 10 mins late it counts as a missed meeting, two missed meetings and peace out! We'll see, wish me luck.
Other than that, loving life. Still have so much to work on personally in my own heart but I am trucking along. I really, really love the people. I have been blessed with some great friendships here. AND, rumor has it that when you come back from Rwanda, you get a man. Last five girls that stayed here for awhile and then came home found their man if they didn't have one or got engaged....watch out now!
O, and the meeting at CNLG…it went really well. I kind of wish we bombed it just for the lesson but they are going to endorse us, we have support from the Ministry of Sports and Culture (not official, official but will be soon) and one of the organizations told us we have to come to them as soon as we are ready to start our sponsorship push. All in all, pretty good….now we have less than 50 days to raise $310K USD…God better be behind this project
I miss you all and love you lots!
No comments:
Post a Comment