3 weeks in

Toward the end of my second week at work, I finally came up with a suitable project. It's an immense relief, especially after the frustrations of culture shock. Differing concepts of time, communication difficulties and work structure have made progress slow, and last week I had trouble coping with it. But now I have a goal to work toward! As you may or may not know, this internship is supposed to be an opportunity to work with the community on a "sustainable" project, which ideally should help the build the "capacity" of the community to work toward its own goals. The process is somehow both disillusioning and encouraging.

I'm going to work with a community womens' group that feeds orphans on the weekends. They're all farmers already, and they have extra land at the feeding shelter. So I'm going to facilitate the process of creating a "kitchen garden" that requires very little water (they have no well nearby). That way they can feed the orphans something more nutritious than porridge, and maybe even sell their extra produce at the market so they can expand the feeding program to weekdays - which will help them work toward their eventual goal of building a shelter where the orphans can sleep.