Despite the current global financial crisis, MCC Dezam is hiring a new person to work on the reforestation team. We're specifically hiring a woman to even out the gender balance on our team, and Sharon and I were both pretty interested to see how the process would play out.
A few weeks ago we sat down as a team and wrote a list of criteria. Among other things, we wanted an agricultural technician with team spirit, creativity, flexibility, and skill in capacity-building. Asking the team to participate in this process was important, because hiring here is a difficult dance around nepotism. We received 9 applications from qualified individuals, all of whom were known by at least one of our coworkers. Through a secret-ballot scoring process with each person choosing their top three candidates, the team narrowed down the candidates to be interviewed to 2.
I was asked to sit in on the interviews this week, and was supposed to come up with a few of the questions. I did what every red-blooded American does when in need of information: I Googled "typical interview questions." Of course I found hundreds of the same old old standards everyone expects to hear on an interview. W e narrowed down our list to 18 questions, and each person on our interviewing committee scored the response with a 1-5 scale. I quickly realized these questions I think of as "standard" are not at all standard here. I chalk confused and evasive responses up to the fact that these questions really are weird unless you were raised in a Western culture:
Us: "Where do you see yourself in 5 years?"
Both candidates: [puzzled look]
Us: "Where do you want to be in your career or personal life in 5 years?"
Both candidates: "Working for MCC in Desarmes, of course."
I was reminded that this new position is most likely a life job for our new hire, as finding another decently-paying job will be difficult at best.
Us: "The average MCC day varies a lot. Do you feel like you can be flexible when it comes to work?"
Both candidates: "Flexible, flexible...can you define the word?"
After that, one candidate described her physical flexibility.
I wondered if fleksib is not actually a kreyol word, although Jean designed the question.
Us: "Tell me your strengths and weaknesses."
Candidate: "I have no weaknesses."
Not every culture is so open with admitting personal strengths and weakness as ours, I guess, and no one has coached them on how to list weaknesses that are really strengths.
Us: "What would you do if you had MCC work and a personal obligation at the same time? How would you handle that?"
Candidate: "I would wake up earlier."
Us: "No, we mean at the exact same time."
Candidate: "Like I said, I would wake up earlier."
Us: "What parts of this job do you look forward to more than others?"
Both candidates: "I look forward to everything equally. I have no work preferences."
Maybe they really do like it all.
Us: "If we hire you, what salary are you looking for?"
Both candidates: "I will accept whatever the good people at MCC deem as a good salary."
Like I said, there are not a lot of jobs out there, so who wants to be picky?
Afterwards, I asked our team what they preferred: the truth, or an answer they wanted to hear. For example, if I were being interviewed and I described a weakness, and another person said "I have no weaknesses," who would they think was a stronger candidate? The person with no weaknesses, of course. They wanted the candidates to be honest, but it's still hard to hear someone describe their weaknesses. That was kind of tough for me to hear, since I had the exact opposite response.
Overall, the process reminded us that economic development is difficult and uneven. If a person in a developing nation goes to school and earns a degree, there's no guarantee that the job market will be able to provide a position upon graduation. It's common for people here to have no work experience, although they graduated from agricultural school ten years ago. In the U.S., we're used to candidates seeking professional positions to have significant, relevant work experience. Here our new colleague will establish all her work experience with MCC Desarmes.
The interview committee decided that they want to hire the second candidate, who was actually a stronger interviewee. Sharon questioned whether the committee just like her more than the other person or whether they really like her (i.e., should we continue interviewing more people?). Each affirmed the choice - so we're inviting her to start work in March. We'll let you know how it goes.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
It's so complicated.....
Before I got to Haiti, I loved looking at Appropriate Technology (AT) websites to get ideas about what I could do when I got here. There are usually a lot of bicycle-powered devices, so I am of course immediately drawn to them. If you need a brief refresher, Appropriate Technology is taking things that are cheaply and readily available in an area and finding some way to use them to relieve a problem.
Usually AT is really interesting and totally MacGyver-inspired. Some bailing wire, a box of matches, and some duct tape, and people don't go hungry. It's really amazing stuff that I totally fell in love with. There are bicycle-powered electricity generators, water pumps, corn grinders that could pretty much save the planet. But after my love affair with AT, I came across some other commentators that spoke to the challenges of AT.
I heard a story of a village in Africa where women spend hours and hours every day washing clothes by hand. Someone saw this and thought, what an amazing waste of time! So they gave them some time-saving bicycled-powered washing machines. However, the project was a total failure. The first challenge was the deeply-rooted thought that women should not ride bicycles. It also turned out the time the women had been spending on laundry was also an important time for them to hang out and talk, and once they could wash clothes in 3o minutes the community became more disconnected. Okay, that's just to point out that there are always multiple layers in considering whether a project will actually work.
I still thought AT was great as long as you work out a few kinks here and there, but still didn't quite get it. An example that hits close to home here in Haiti is cutting trees to make charcoal.
A lot of people in Haiti do this (When I say "a lot," I mean that it almost seems like everyone supplements their income at some point in the year with a little charcoal-making). Obviously, finding alternate cooking fuels would alleviate the pressure to cut down much-needed trees. I found a website that describes how to make briquettes with waste material from other crops, and there are people here that are trying to promote the use of propane gas stoves. But a lot of Haitians think food doesn't taste as good cooked over a gas burner, and they prefer charcoal fires. When you hear this it's almost mind-blowing that they prefer taste over environmental sustainability. But in reality so does every American...right? We prefer eating a perfect banana shipped from Costa Rica more than food grown in our area, and that's a taste preference, right? It's hard to argue when it comes to such a cornerstone of culture of food.
After having these ideas swirling around in my head for awhile, I now see AT from the other end of the spectrum, the receiving end. I see people come to Haiti with a million ideas, a few thousand dollars, and expect to change the whole country - but really don't sit for more than a few minutes to get to know a Haitian. It's usually "what can I buy? how can my money be most effective here?" Well, first save your money and sit with some people, share food with them, visit their homes, ask about their kids, look at family photos and see them as people and not as problems that need to be solved.
I just get hung up on the fact that people seem to think that it's so easy to solve "basic" problems like food, water, and fuel - that because Haitians are relatively poor, they will eat or use anything we suggest.
Several times here I have seen folks offer suggestions for "Haitians," and our teammates look at the ideas and say, "That may be good for the peasants up on the mountain or folks in Gonaives" - when the intended audience is in fact them. It's so easy to solve other people's problems, right?
Appropriate technology enthusiasts (like me) sometimes seem to get caught up in the simple brilliance of a new idea and lose track of the person/people it's for. I don't mean to discourage anyone from offering new ideas to help people, but after being here for 6 months I now see how complicated it can be. Someone recently asked why people don't cut open their tin cans and flatten them to make roof tiles. I said they don't because they buy sheets of tin roofing. The person pointed out that it would be cheaper if they used tin cans. True. But my new litmus test for suggestions is to imagine asking the same question to someone in North America:
"Save all of your cans for the year and flatten them out to re-roof your house."
"Well...It might save money, but it's easier to just buy shingles!"
People in Haiti think the same way - who wants to be the only one in town with "trash" for a roof? I guess what I'm trying to say is that just because people are poor doesn't mean they have no pride, that they don't have opinions and want to make choices.
I will also admit that we live in a relatively wealthy part of Haiti. We live in a town where people do not go hungry. They have gardens that are productive and extended family networks to support them. When a hurricane comes they lose some crops, but they don't lose everything. I still see people that wear old clothes and get up at 3:30 am to work in their gardens, but they have old clothes and they have a garden which is a lot more than some people have.
I guess I'll just say that I personally feel bad that I used to only see the "developing world" as the "developing world." They weren't people I knew or friends, they were "developing cultures"....right? Well, now they're not "Haitians" anymore; they're Jean, Meleck, Frantzo, Fritzner, Nahomie, Francklin, and Michelet. Now when people come with all their ideas the only thing I want them to do is see how great Jean is (they're all great, but he is really great) and we can save the grand idea for next week.
I guess this is me finally realizing the MCC point of view that relationships are the primary
reason for us to be here and the rest will, hopefully, fall into place.
Thanks for reading,
Bryan
Usually AT is really interesting and totally MacGyver-inspired. Some bailing wire, a box of matches, and some duct tape, and people don't go hungry. It's really amazing stuff that I totally fell in love with. There are bicycle-powered electricity generators, water pumps, corn grinders that could pretty much save the planet. But after my love affair with AT, I came across some other commentators that spoke to the challenges of AT.
I heard a story of a village in Africa where women spend hours and hours every day washing clothes by hand. Someone saw this and thought, what an amazing waste of time! So they gave them some time-saving bicycled-powered washing machines. However, the project was a total failure. The first challenge was the deeply-rooted thought that women should not ride bicycles. It also turned out the time the women had been spending on laundry was also an important time for them to hang out and talk, and once they could wash clothes in 3o minutes the community became more disconnected. Okay, that's just to point out that there are always multiple layers in considering whether a project will actually work.
I still thought AT was great as long as you work out a few kinks here and there, but still didn't quite get it. An example that hits close to home here in Haiti is cutting trees to make charcoal.
A lot of people in Haiti do this (When I say "a lot," I mean that it almost seems like everyone supplements their income at some point in the year with a little charcoal-making). Obviously, finding alternate cooking fuels would alleviate the pressure to cut down much-needed trees. I found a website that describes how to make briquettes with waste material from other crops, and there are people here that are trying to promote the use of propane gas stoves. But a lot of Haitians think food doesn't taste as good cooked over a gas burner, and they prefer charcoal fires. When you hear this it's almost mind-blowing that they prefer taste over environmental sustainability. But in reality so does every American...right? We prefer eating a perfect banana shipped from Costa Rica more than food grown in our area, and that's a taste preference, right? It's hard to argue when it comes to such a cornerstone of culture of food.
After having these ideas swirling around in my head for awhile, I now see AT from the other end of the spectrum, the receiving end. I see people come to Haiti with a million ideas, a few thousand dollars, and expect to change the whole country - but really don't sit for more than a few minutes to get to know a Haitian. It's usually "what can I buy? how can my money be most effective here?" Well, first save your money and sit with some people, share food with them, visit their homes, ask about their kids, look at family photos and see them as people and not as problems that need to be solved.
I just get hung up on the fact that people seem to think that it's so easy to solve "basic" problems like food, water, and fuel - that because Haitians are relatively poor, they will eat or use anything we suggest.
Several times here I have seen folks offer suggestions for "Haitians," and our teammates look at the ideas and say, "That may be good for the peasants up on the mountain or folks in Gonaives" - when the intended audience is in fact them. It's so easy to solve other people's problems, right?
Appropriate technology enthusiasts (like me) sometimes seem to get caught up in the simple brilliance of a new idea and lose track of the person/people it's for. I don't mean to discourage anyone from offering new ideas to help people, but after being here for 6 months I now see how complicated it can be. Someone recently asked why people don't cut open their tin cans and flatten them to make roof tiles. I said they don't because they buy sheets of tin roofing. The person pointed out that it would be cheaper if they used tin cans. True. But my new litmus test for suggestions is to imagine asking the same question to someone in North America:
"Save all of your cans for the year and flatten them out to re-roof your house."
"Well...It might save money, but it's easier to just buy shingles!"
People in Haiti think the same way - who wants to be the only one in town with "trash" for a roof? I guess what I'm trying to say is that just because people are poor doesn't mean they have no pride, that they don't have opinions and want to make choices.
I will also admit that we live in a relatively wealthy part of Haiti. We live in a town where people do not go hungry. They have gardens that are productive and extended family networks to support them. When a hurricane comes they lose some crops, but they don't lose everything. I still see people that wear old clothes and get up at 3:30 am to work in their gardens, but they have old clothes and they have a garden which is a lot more than some people have.
I guess I'll just say that I personally feel bad that I used to only see the "developing world" as the "developing world." They weren't people I knew or friends, they were "developing cultures"....right? Well, now they're not "Haitians" anymore; they're Jean, Meleck, Frantzo, Fritzner, Nahomie, Francklin, and Michelet. Now when people come with all their ideas the only thing I want them to do is see how great Jean is (they're all great, but he is really great) and we can save the grand idea for next week.
I guess this is me finally realizing the MCC point of view that relationships are the primary
reason for us to be here and the rest will, hopefully, fall into place.
Thanks for reading,
Bryan
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Where have we been?
The last few weeks have been pretty busy for us, so the quick and dirty list of our events goes like this:
1. Pastor's conference on Dec. 12-13th, hosting 3 people who were leading discussions on the connection between the church and the environment (at least that's what we asked them to do, although the only part of the conversation we could follow was about how the church could make money) with about 15 pastors who came each day at 8am and finished around 3pm.
2. Teacher's training from Dec. 15 - 20th. We hosted four teachers from La Gonave who came to do a fòmasyon in teaching methods and theory. About 20 teachers came each day around 8am and left around 2pm.
3. Teacher's training and excursion to Anse Rouge (Dec. 22 - 24th). We stuffed the aforementioned teachers, 2 partners, and 6 MCC workers (22 people total) into our Toyota Landcruiser and Hilux pickup and drove 4 hours through hurricane-damaged Gonaives and into a super-dry deserty part of the country for three days of training with the folks at AMURT. I was most interested in their salt-making projects using seawater.
Our big stack of sleeping pads in the barn-turned-guesthouse in Anse Rouge. Fortunately these were provided, although Sharon and I missed the notice to bring linens and ended up sleeping in our jeans...
4. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We returned from Anse Rouge in time to make it to the Christmas Eve service at our local Catholic church, which ended around 10pm. Normally that's not too bad, but after driving for 4+ hours over the worst roads in the Caribbean, I was a bit beat.
5. Christmas Day. Got up early to drive into Port-au-Prince to celebrate Christmas with our friends there. Christmas finally arrived!
6. Deal with a case of dengue fever. We both caught this mosquito-born virus, unfortunately; Sharon was laid out for most of the Anse Rouge trip (in her jeans on one of those little mats) and I got hit the day after Christmas. In some ways it's similar to the flu, with aches and pains, nausea, fever - and a crazy full-body rash, and apparently it causes depression too. (So if we sound a little down it's just the dengue talking).
7. Dominican Republic (Dec. 29th-Jan. 3). A short 8-hour bus trip brings us to the land of milk-and-honey. Paved roads! Electricity! Indoor plumbing! A bus system! You get the idea. (Check out the Depps' blog for more photos.)
8. Relaxing on the beach, 0n the north coast of the D.R. for New Year's Eve.
9. We headed back to Port before we going home for a meeting on Monday morning, but while there we got to meet the newest member of the MCC team: Josh and Marylynn's new son, Hayden Jwasiys. (Jwasiys is a Creole name that means "little Josh" - and our Haitian coworkers think it's hilarious he's named that. Apparently it's a name common with country folk.) We also met up with someone from our home congregation (Frazer Mennonite) to chat and pick up our new laptop (yay!). Grabbed some groceries that we can't find in Desarmes (cheese).
10. Jan 5th, 8:30 am meeting to select candidates to interview for new position in the reforestation program (we intend to hire a woman, which will be great for the team!). Check to see if garden is still alive. It is. Our helper-kid actually put in an entire crop of beans on our roof. Thanks, Jides!
11. Braved the market to restock our kitchen, where we learn that a nationwide gas shortage means no eggs for us. (We're not yet sure why there's a shortage: anybody know?) Hopefully this shortage doesn't last too long, as our boss reminded us that people have little patience for higher prices and lack of transportation, especially when food prices are already high and there is not much transportation infrastructure to begin with.
12. Today, Jan 7th, 2009. Internet catch-up, e-mails, blog to post and some quality time with our friend Google.
The End.
1. Pastor's conference on Dec. 12-13th, hosting 3 people who were leading discussions on the connection between the church and the environment (at least that's what we asked them to do, although the only part of the conversation we could follow was about how the church could make money) with about 15 pastors who came each day at 8am and finished around 3pm.
2. Teacher's training from Dec. 15 - 20th. We hosted four teachers from La Gonave who came to do a fòmasyon in teaching methods and theory. About 20 teachers came each day around 8am and left around 2pm.
3. Teacher's training and excursion to Anse Rouge (Dec. 22 - 24th). We stuffed the aforementioned teachers, 2 partners, and 6 MCC workers (22 people total) into our Toyota Landcruiser and Hilux pickup and drove 4 hours through hurricane-damaged Gonaives and into a super-dry deserty part of the country for three days of training with the folks at AMURT. I was most interested in their salt-making projects using seawater.
 |
| From Haiti.Dom.Rep.until.Jan.2009 |
The teachers putting a Bible verse in the correct order.
 |
| From Haiti.Dom.Rep.until.Jan.2009 |
Fritzner who is a pretty cheerful guy, but also a heavy thinker at times - on this trip we learned he preaches once every month in his church.
 |
| From Haiti.Dom.Rep.until.Jan.2009 |
This is Naomi, one of the members of MCC's environmental education team: she always seems to be thinking more than what she says.
 |
| From Haiti.Dom.Rep.until.Jan.2009 |
Our big stack of sleeping pads in the barn-turned-guesthouse in Anse Rouge. Fortunately these were provided, although Sharon and I missed the notice to bring linens and ended up sleeping in our jeans...
4. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We returned from Anse Rouge in time to make it to the Christmas Eve service at our local Catholic church, which ended around 10pm. Normally that's not too bad, but after driving for 4+ hours over the worst roads in the Caribbean, I was a bit beat.
5. Christmas Day. Got up early to drive into Port-au-Prince to celebrate Christmas with our friends there. Christmas finally arrived!
6. Deal with a case of dengue fever. We both caught this mosquito-born virus, unfortunately; Sharon was laid out for most of the Anse Rouge trip (in her jeans on one of those little mats) and I got hit the day after Christmas. In some ways it's similar to the flu, with aches and pains, nausea, fever - and a crazy full-body rash, and apparently it causes depression too. (So if we sound a little down it's just the dengue talking).
7. Dominican Republic (Dec. 29th-Jan. 3). A short 8-hour bus trip brings us to the land of milk-and-honey. Paved roads! Electricity! Indoor plumbing! A bus system! You get the idea. (Check out the Depps' blog for more photos.)
 |
| From Haiti.Dom.Rep.until.Jan.2009 |
Outside of a church in Santo Domingo.
 |
| From Haiti.Dom.Rep.Dec.Jan.2009 |
Alms for the poor.
8. Relaxing on the beach, 0n the north coast of the D.R. for New Year's Eve.
 |
| From Haiti.Dom.Rep.until.Jan.2009 |
Sunset on the beach on New Year's Day.
9. We headed back to Port before we going home for a meeting on Monday morning, but while there we got to meet the newest member of the MCC team: Josh and Marylynn's new son, Hayden Jwasiys. (Jwasiys is a Creole name that means "little Josh" - and our Haitian coworkers think it's hilarious he's named that. Apparently it's a name common with country folk.) We also met up with someone from our home congregation (Frazer Mennonite) to chat and pick up our new laptop (yay!). Grabbed some groceries that we can't find in Desarmes (cheese).
10. Jan 5th, 8:30 am meeting to select candidates to interview for new position in the reforestation program (we intend to hire a woman, which will be great for the team!). Check to see if garden is still alive. It is. Our helper-kid actually put in an entire crop of beans on our roof. Thanks, Jides!
11. Braved the market to restock our kitchen, where we learn that a nationwide gas shortage means no eggs for us. (We're not yet sure why there's a shortage: anybody know?) Hopefully this shortage doesn't last too long, as our boss reminded us that people have little patience for higher prices and lack of transportation, especially when food prices are already high and there is not much transportation infrastructure to begin with.
12. Today, Jan 7th, 2009. Internet catch-up, e-mails, blog to post and some quality time with our friend Google.
The End.
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