And no, I am not in the process of giving birth. But I did do my
usual labour of sitting behind a computer today on Labour Day, while the
rest of my home country played to celebrate the labour that they will
get to do tomorrow.
I laboured today by taking part in the planning meeting for one of the language teams that we work with here. We always plan according to fiscal years, which start on October 1. So September is a busy month, full of finishing all of the previous fiscal year's activities, while reviewing and planning for the next year's activities. Thankfully, I did a lot of 'pre-planning' with the teams here, so when our language programs director came today for the big meeting, at least our literacy section was more or less sorted out. It's still really a lot of hard work to get all the activities planned, and to figure out what are going to be the priorities for the coming year and how do they all fit within the various outcomes and impacts and all that mumbo jumbo.
At one point, one of the expats here said that basically, we want to train up the local folks here to do the job and that we are trying to work ourselves (that is, the expats) out of a job. I used to think that would be the ideal - to have language programs, literacy programs, translation projects and all that running completely without any expatriate help. To have it all completely done by the local folks alone.
But you know, I don't think that anymore. Now, mind you, my little ideas here aren't completely formed, and I'm never all that eloquent in expressing myself, so bear with me and try not to be offended if I phrase these thoughts in the wrong way! I've just been thinking lately that it's actually pretty darn patronizing and proud of "us" (being the expats) to think that we are just here now to "help" with these language programs and projects because the local folks don't have the education or the knowledge or the ideas yet to do things "on their own". "We" have to come over and train people and "build their capacity" and treat them like little children until such a time as they have learned from "us" and they can be released from our little nest and fly on their own.
But honestly, this idea doesn't really jive with my thinking anymore.
I actually don't really want to "work myself out of a job". Don't get me wrong, I think it would be fantastic if someone else could do my job! If it's a local person, s/he could most likely do it even better than I could. They would definitely do it differently than I do, because that person would be able to relate to the language communities, churches and government folks in a completely different way than I could. That local person could do some aspects of my job WAY better than I can, just because they would know so much better how things work here. But then, there are things that I bring to the job, that by the fact that I AM an outsider, and have been exposed to different things, that I can do better than someone who is from here.
But what makes that any different from a person doing a job back home in North America. Everyone who applies for any job brings their own skills, experience and personality to a job. No two people will ever do a job in the same way, and I guess you just need to chose who is the best person for the job at any given time. And I don't think you're allowed to give preference to someone for a job just because s/he happens to be of a certain colour or from a certain country. Why should that be any different out here?
Actually, I think it is a beautiful thing, and is something that would show amazing unity within a Christian organization, if people, regardless of their nationality, could work together as equals, learning from each person's culture and experience. Even if there is a local person who could do the job as well as an expat, who's to say it must be the local person who gets the job? Why not purposefully have a mix of expatriate and local people working together, just for the sake of being together, rubbing shoulders with people who are not necessarily from your same culture or who are the same as you. Just simply for the sake of having a organization full of people who can work together for a common goal, no matter where they happen to have been born, because God put them together, appreciating and enjoying each other's languages, cultures, and different ways of doing things. And not because one culture is more "educated" or has more "capacity" than the other culture. But just simply because God created cultures, and we're all going to be worshipping together in the end. So why not practice working together now?
The key is not to have one group of people thinking that they are "helping" another because they know better than the others. The key is to realize that we're all in this thing together, bringing whatever it is that we bring to the table, no contribution worth more than any other. If I feel like I'm only here to do my job until some poor person gets his act together enough to be able to take over, then... well... it shows that I think MY little contribution is worth so much more than someone else's. And it's not. I'm here because God put me here. And I will stay here until God puts me somewhere else... not because in my own wisdom and knowledge, I have trained someone to do the job in the same way that I've been doing it for all these years.
Goodness, this turned into a bit of an essay, and perhaps not a very coherent one at that. But these thoughts have been floating around in my brain tonight. I hope they make at least a little bit of sense! Any thoughts on this? Anyone? Anyone?
I laboured today by taking part in the planning meeting for one of the language teams that we work with here. We always plan according to fiscal years, which start on October 1. So September is a busy month, full of finishing all of the previous fiscal year's activities, while reviewing and planning for the next year's activities. Thankfully, I did a lot of 'pre-planning' with the teams here, so when our language programs director came today for the big meeting, at least our literacy section was more or less sorted out. It's still really a lot of hard work to get all the activities planned, and to figure out what are going to be the priorities for the coming year and how do they all fit within the various outcomes and impacts and all that mumbo jumbo.
At one point, one of the expats here said that basically, we want to train up the local folks here to do the job and that we are trying to work ourselves (that is, the expats) out of a job. I used to think that would be the ideal - to have language programs, literacy programs, translation projects and all that running completely without any expatriate help. To have it all completely done by the local folks alone.
But you know, I don't think that anymore. Now, mind you, my little ideas here aren't completely formed, and I'm never all that eloquent in expressing myself, so bear with me and try not to be offended if I phrase these thoughts in the wrong way! I've just been thinking lately that it's actually pretty darn patronizing and proud of "us" (being the expats) to think that we are just here now to "help" with these language programs and projects because the local folks don't have the education or the knowledge or the ideas yet to do things "on their own". "We" have to come over and train people and "build their capacity" and treat them like little children until such a time as they have learned from "us" and they can be released from our little nest and fly on their own.
But honestly, this idea doesn't really jive with my thinking anymore.
I actually don't really want to "work myself out of a job". Don't get me wrong, I think it would be fantastic if someone else could do my job! If it's a local person, s/he could most likely do it even better than I could. They would definitely do it differently than I do, because that person would be able to relate to the language communities, churches and government folks in a completely different way than I could. That local person could do some aspects of my job WAY better than I can, just because they would know so much better how things work here. But then, there are things that I bring to the job, that by the fact that I AM an outsider, and have been exposed to different things, that I can do better than someone who is from here.
But what makes that any different from a person doing a job back home in North America. Everyone who applies for any job brings their own skills, experience and personality to a job. No two people will ever do a job in the same way, and I guess you just need to chose who is the best person for the job at any given time. And I don't think you're allowed to give preference to someone for a job just because s/he happens to be of a certain colour or from a certain country. Why should that be any different out here?
Actually, I think it is a beautiful thing, and is something that would show amazing unity within a Christian organization, if people, regardless of their nationality, could work together as equals, learning from each person's culture and experience. Even if there is a local person who could do the job as well as an expat, who's to say it must be the local person who gets the job? Why not purposefully have a mix of expatriate and local people working together, just for the sake of being together, rubbing shoulders with people who are not necessarily from your same culture or who are the same as you. Just simply for the sake of having a organization full of people who can work together for a common goal, no matter where they happen to have been born, because God put them together, appreciating and enjoying each other's languages, cultures, and different ways of doing things. And not because one culture is more "educated" or has more "capacity" than the other culture. But just simply because God created cultures, and we're all going to be worshipping together in the end. So why not practice working together now?
The key is not to have one group of people thinking that they are "helping" another because they know better than the others. The key is to realize that we're all in this thing together, bringing whatever it is that we bring to the table, no contribution worth more than any other. If I feel like I'm only here to do my job until some poor person gets his act together enough to be able to take over, then... well... it shows that I think MY little contribution is worth so much more than someone else's. And it's not. I'm here because God put me here. And I will stay here until God puts me somewhere else... not because in my own wisdom and knowledge, I have trained someone to do the job in the same way that I've been doing it for all these years.
Goodness, this turned into a bit of an essay, and perhaps not a very coherent one at that. But these thoughts have been floating around in my brain tonight. I hope they make at least a little bit of sense! Any thoughts on this? Anyone? Anyone?
2 comments:
Well said, Tanya. The idea of 'helping' has to be in a context of mutual benefit.
No coherent thoughts here...just "like". I like where your though process is headed. It's beautiful.
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