Throughout my trip so far I have been incredibly humbled by
the intelligence of my fellow interns and of the employees of Community Social
Enterprise Solutions (the organization which created the Social Entrepreneur Corps)
the knowledge and passion that they all have to change the world is incredible.
We are still in the very beginning stages of learning and understanding what
our job is here in Ecuador, but in the process we have started diving into some
interesting topics. Today we discussed the idea of relief versus development in
the non-profit world. For those of you who are wondering, the main difference
between the two is that relief is more about solving an immediate need (for the
sake of survival) while development looks to tackle more deeply rooted and
chronic problems (aiming at empowerment). As we each learned about different
aspects of both and presented our ideas and findings, my eyes were opened to a
whole new breed of NGOs that I had never really understood.
Whether it is my business school background or my Type A
personality, it is so difficult for me to engage in work that does not show
tangible progress or have a distinguishable timeline. I like to see my work
paying off, and am motivated by “fixing problems” within a certain period of
time— all characteristics of relief work. If we think of any natural disaster
or even the event of someone becoming homeless, we can blatantly see how
emergency relief or a safety net, such as a homeless shelter, could provide
immediate help. If we shift the problem to illiteracy, or domestic abuse though,
the problems are much deeper than what simple band-aide relief can fix. These
problems require changes in the systems they are rooted in or solutions to
current gaps in those systems. These changes are neither simple nor fast—the true
nature of development.
Development organizations must come into communities and
learn as much about the culture as possible as to find the roots (and I
definitely mean plural because, as I am learning, it is never simple enough to
have one cause) of the problem. They must gain the trust of the communities
before they begin any type of work and continue to nurture these relationships.
There is no timeline, no quick results, and therefore many people do not find
the work, or even the cause fulfilling enough to donate their time or money to.
I am as guilty as anyone, because as I was sitting through our first meeting
and team leaders were constantly reiterating how we might not see the tangible
and immediate results we might have expected, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed.
It takes a very patient and motivated person to really step back and see beyond
benchmarks and results and truly look at the journey.
These problems and the missions to help solve them are so
crucial and many times are not as recognized as relief work—for example, here
in Ecuador many indigenous families do not have stoves with chimneys and
therefore, when cooking, fill their homes with smoke. This therefore translates
to a common problem in which a thick film lines the lungs and eyes of the
entire family and destroys their vision in adulthood. It would be simple to
come in and find a few people with this problem and give them eye drops and a
stove with a chimney, but we are talking about a custom that has been around
for hundreds of years. Not only is it customary to have a traditional type of
stove, but it is also just accepted and expected that people lose their vision.
As we see more and more, changing traditions (those that are hazardous) or
chronic problems rarely are a priority. The problem is much more deeply rooted
in the lack of knowledge that there is both a problem, and even more, a
possible solution.
So it looks like this is going to be an incredible learning
experience. It won’t be “Jennifer goes to Ecuador and saves the world” (as I secretly
hoped a little), but instead I am learning that I am here to work on one small
piece of a very long and complex puzzle (probably one of those 3D puzzle with
over 10,000 pieces). I know it will be an incredible lesson in patience and
even more, how to step back and recognize the whole picture. The wheels are
already turning…
Lots of love from Ecuador,
Jen
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