Monday, September 24, 2007 Back to the real world (kind of)

Monday, September 24, 2007 Back to the real world (kind of)

Today officially marked the end of my 11 days of vacation. I actually had to wake up and work. Boo… After breakfast I worked on my essay and finished it just in the nick of time. Actually I left late and walked into class 10 minutes into the lecture. But the professor just smiled (I think because he likes gringos). After class my two gringo friends and I talked with him about our “alternative” assignment. The offer stands: Group essay, in English, over articles in English, about the US. I can’t really complain.

Next I went to mass, then my educacion class. After class my Chilean friend Silvia (she speaks English and German, so she is a huge help) edited my Biblia essay and I rushed to the library to print it off. Again, I was late to class, but it wasn’t a big deal. But for some reason today in my Biblia class the professor seemed upset with us because we weren’t really talking or asking questions, so he let us out about half an hour early. I felt bad because he seemed mad, but I definitely didn’t mind leaving early! I walked home from class and on the way I stopped by the adoration chapel to pray. When I got home I had dinner with Olga then met up with Tom and went to the Consejo, the weekly meeting of all the residents that live in the Residency of Nuestra Casa. It was really interesting. Before hand, we met the executive director of the organization, Francisco, and we talked to him about how we can volunteer. He gave us some great ideas and liked my proposal do to a 4 session workshop on health. I think I’m going to talk about 4 important themes in the health of homeless people: 1. Tuberculosis 2. HIV/AIDS 3. First Aid 4. Drugs and Alcohol.

During the Consejo the men discussed the different projects going on in the house, different issues such as paying on time, etc. At the end of the meeting some of the men who seemed to have lived there longer then the others (they were well dressed and obviously had good jobs) started voicing (quite strongly) some of their issues with the administration. For the next half hour or more, the men expressed some of the problems they’ve been having for what seems like quite a while. Francisco listened and tried to offer explanations but after a while they all decided that it wasn’t the time or place to address the deep rooted issues and set a date for a sit down meeting with the administrators and representatives for the men and the Chaplin to act as mediator. Luckily at the end Leslie, the social work in charge of the house spoke up and reminded the men that the arguments they are having don’t mean the organization of Nuestra Casa is a horrible organization, rather that it has problems, like everything, and that these issues are an opportunity to grow. That goodness for a reasonable woman.

As Tom and I walked home we discussed what we’d just witnessed:
1. It was amazing how much we understood. When people have something important to say, they speak clearly, slowly, and loudly, which really helps the gringos understand!
2. Despite the fact I’ve never worked in an organization with homeless people, all the complaints of the men about the administration were the same in every other organization I’ve ever worked in.
3. All the justifications by the administration were the same as every other organization I’ve ever been an administrator.
4. Bottom line, all organizations, government, companies, schools, families, basically all social groups have the same issues, only expressed in different forms. Its always communication, freedom of the participants to make decisions, difficulties of the administration to set rules and standards and then stick to them despite individual circumstances that merit a bending of the rules etc. Basically I learned a really good lesson: that it’s never easy to lead or be in an organization, the challenges will always be there, and we all have to be willing to reasonably, objectively, and maturely address the challenges.