Hot Politics
We got our first taste of politics this week. We also had our first power outage during a long, hot night in a windowless concrete palace.
This week we began interviews for a site manager. We interviewed four people and decided on the person we thought to be the most qualified, essentially someone with the best computer skills and management experience. When we called the local counterpart to ask what he thought of our choice he was very happy and looked forward to working with her. Well, at least that was true until the rest of his club found out we didn’t want to hire their first choice. We got an urgent call during dinner that there is a problem with our choice and we needed to meet first thing in the morning to discuss and reconsider.
The National Highway
That morning, four members showed up to talk about our choice for the position. Their primary concern was that the person we thought most qualified is not a member of their club and their water committee would not have direct control over her. The second was, if we hired her away from her current job, another club controlled project, there would be no one else to run it. We gathered from events behind the scenes that some local members wanted to have their man in the job for personal reasons, which I can only assume so I can’t comment on. As it turns out the best candidate for the job has been intimidated into withdrawing her application. Unfortunately, this is just the way things work here.
Inside a typical rural house
We gave Rasa driving lessons for a stick shift on the way to La Ceiba. She was not behind the wheel for 5 minutes when the police pulled her over. She got off with a stern warning not to drive slower than the cows. Today we will meet with the local counterparts from MAMUCA, Rotary and Peace Corps to plan what they need to do in the next three weeks before their grant money arrives. Rasa and I will also look for a place to live for three weeks when we come back here for our language lessons. We have now been all over this country and I don’t think a bed exists that has fitted sheets. Every morning we wake up with the sheets completely off the bed.
A regular face at Betty’s Cafe
Last night was miserable! I had forgotten how hard it is to sleep when there isn’t even a fan in the room. The power went out and the longer it was out, the hotter our room got. We went from comfortable cuddles under the blankets to “don’t touch me” and “stay on your side of the bed”. All the buildings here are made of concrete walls and tin roofs. They are giant heat sinks during the day and just radiate it back out all night long. To make matters worse the designers don’t have any concept of how to incorporate a good breeze. At least in the Philippines, we had whole walls removed just to let the airflow through.
The broken window lets Dave pay without having to get out.
We’re looking forward to our first weekend off! And maybe a little beach time???
Robert Kent Jr- robjkentjr@gmail.com
Wat/San/Health Consultant
www.RobRasa.com/hisblog/
Voice Mail: +1 (631) 458-1119
