Perspective

Yesterday we talked about culture shock. Again I felt like this topic wouldn’t apply to me too much. It does though. As I thought about it more I came to realize that the communities where I will be spending a lot of time do things very differently than how the people in the city do. Bucket showers for example. In the city we take showers, they are cold and horrible but at least they are in a shower and not a well. I remember taking bucket shower in Africa. I didn’t particularly love it.

They also wake up really early in the rural areas. Most of the families literally follow the chicken’s schedules. Very early to sleep very early to rise, which is good. I want to change my schedule, follow D&C 88 more closely.

Today I met with Jay about my proposal. I am getting close to finishing! The more I write about my paper and the more I think about it, the more I am seeing that the water workshop is a kind of a long shot. Or at least this is how I should be writing about it. More realistic. This is hard for me because this is not how I usually go about planning to do something. I plan for it as if it will be 100% doable. And.. IF it doesn’t work out then I might have a little plan for it. I realize this is not how most people plan for things, but I find that  the less I have to fall on the more I make sure that my original plan works.

At the same time, this is not my NGO, these are not my children who I will be reaching. I am a beggar, to put it  dramatic terms. But its true. I am learning and this will be my role—at least for the first trip. Then we’ll see what I can accomplish. I need to make this more clear in my IRB and my proposal.