Part of this experience is the cultural interchange, and a lot of the time I’m trying to figure out how the people in my town think or why they are the way that they are. This is hard because I rarely get into these deep conversations – although I would love to. Perhaps it is elitist of me to expect that, or shows how fortunate I am to even have these thoughts. Still, conversations about poverty, solutions to poverty, how Americans are, what it is like being an American in Honduras, what is the US like, personal dreams etc have almost never happened for me here.
So today was interesting because I had a great conversation with my coworker, Omar. Here are some of his thoughts:
- I asked him if he would be working this week. He said that he would be, but only after 2 pm every day. He said that he couldn’t work more because the donor for our project hadn’t paid him yet. (Said donor requires quarterly accounting and reporting. In January they requested the reporting and accounting for the period October – December 2010 to be turned in no later than January 15. Long story short, it has yet to be turned in. In the meantime, the coordinator of the project resigned, both computers had problems and were taken to and from the capital for repairs, after repairs certain software was no longer compatible, and the accountant (and only person familiar with the accounting software) found a new job. So the donor has refused to make the final payment to the project until the problems are resolved and the reporting and accounting DUE JANUARY are turned in. In the meantime, any employees working on these issues are doing so for free – making it less likely they will ever be done.
- Omar and I have previously discussed reporting and accounting. To me, the work involved seems excessive for a project in which the employees are only paid to be part-time. It seems that the true work of the organization should be spending time in the field, but the reality is that the majority of the time is spent doing reporting and accounting. I mentioned this to Omar, and asked if anyone had ever really communicated this to the donor, or if the donor understood this. I said that it would be better if there were lesser reporting requirements so that we could spend more time on valuable work, or if the donor made the work full-time with the same reporting requirements. He said ‘yes, they understand this, but it is like they are punishing us. It’s like we are in the middle of the desert and thirsty. And then they show up but they only give us a tiny bit of water and tell us we should keep looking for more water.’
- Omar mentioned that he wasn’t sure he would continue on with the project in the future. He said ‘I can continue on with the project making $250 a month, but then I have to buy all my food because I am not working on my farm. Or I can work on my farm and only make $100 a month but I have no expenses because I grow all my own food. I end up the same.’ And I think this is an important point in development and for those leaving poverty – there is a lot of risk in that first step.
- I told Omar that clearly people needed help on the income side of their finances, but asked if many people really analyzed their expenses. I used the example of how many people here love soda and will spend significantly on it but then complain that they don’t have enough money to afford medicine. Omar said ‘most people probably don’t do this due to the machista culture that we have. In order to do a family budget, the wife would have to know how much the husband makes. A guy who makes $150 a month probably spends $75 on food for the family and the other $75 on vices – women, alcohol and other entertainment. So the husband doesn’t ever want his wife to know how much he makes because later he wouldn’t be able to spend that money on his vices.’
- Omar said to me ‘you can have a lot of money but not know how to do things like write a report or use the computer. That means you are not an important person. I am poor and humble but I know how to do these things so I am an important person to those around me. So despite all of the problems this project has helped advance things here.’
