I guess it's about time I update everyone with what has been going on recently in my life - first of all, sincere apologies for the delay (I've been busy). I kind of had a feeling this might happen (I definitely let my blog slide by the end of my time in France when I lived there 2 years ago), but not really by choice... anyways, since today is February 29th, I'm gaining an extra day, right? (Just kidding.) But seriously, things are finally calm enough for me to take the time to sit down and write a little update about my life, so here goes! (I've also update my itinerary page in case you are interested in following my travels over the past few months.)
Last time I really wrote to you was in December - how long ago 2011 now seems. We had a wonderful last week of work before the holidays, not accomplishing very much 'work' work but instead decorating the office, throwing a Christmas party for all of the employees' children, and having a Secret Santa party between a group of 20 colleagues. I finally got into the Christmas spirit even though it was well over 25 degrees each day, and had a wonderful time - I remember leaving for my vacation thinking that I never wanted to leave Peru, and was looking forward to returning to work on January 5th.
From December 23rd until January 4th, my parents and sister visited me (you can check out our itinerary here). It was so nice to see my family again, to show them around Peru, be their personal translator, enjoy delicious Peruvian cooking, and explore the wonders that the country has to offer. Highlights from the trip include visiting the ancient Incan city of Machu Picchu, a homestay with a family on Amantaní Island in Lake Titicaca, and a boat tour of the Ballestas Islands (or poor man's Galapagos).
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| Family photo overlooking Machu Picchu, with Huayna Picchu in the background. |
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| After a rather unsuccessful photo shoot with this llama, it finally got away - we all had a good laugh though! |
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| In traditional clothing with our hosts, Florentino and Victoria, on Amantaní Island, Lake Titicaca. |
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| The view from Taquile Island over Lake Titicaca. |
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| Pelicans at the Ballestas Islands. They are the second largest bird in Peru (after the condor), with a wingspan ranging up to 2.2 metres! |
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| Nice place for a nap - a sea lion at the Ballestas Islands. |
After a wonderful 12 days with my family, it was time to say goodbye, or rather, see you in 4 months! It was a bittersweet farewell though, because the same day they were leaving, my boyfriend was coming to visit me (for another 12 days), so as sad as I was to say goodbye to Mom, Dad, and Rosalie, I was also quite excited to see Rémi again. The only thing was that during his visit I would have to work since I didn't have more time off to take, but oh well - I booked us into a hotel with a pool and wifi in Huacho, so at least he would have things to do while I was busy working!
After a promising first semester in Huacho and a wonderful Christmas holiday though, I returned to a much different situation. My first day back at work, my counterpart and friend, Juan Candia, told me that he had a connection at the Ministry of Environment and was going to Lima for an interview with them that afternoon, so that his days working in Huacho were numbered. What a shock. He was so busy at work trying to finish things up and prepping for his interview that he didn't have much time to assign me tasks or fill me in on nearly two weeks' worth of work that I had missed. That might not have been so bad had I been able to talk to someone else, but over the holiday period most of our staff had changed (or rather gone, should I say), too! What was an office filled with 15 people was now only 7 or 8 - on January 1st many contracts didn't get renewed (as most people work at EMAPA with 2- or 3-month contracts), and a few other colleagues decided to pursue careers in other areas. My core group of workmates was gone, I was left without a boss (since he had to go to Lima), and without much direction ... quite a difficult time.
I continued to go to work, although very distraught - it wasn't enjoyable asking 'what can I do?' and being told 'I don't know' or being sent elsewhere, especially since I knew that only a few minutes' taxi ride away my boyfriend was hanging around alone... he had come all the way to Peru to visit me, and if I had been busy, things might have been a bit better, but I was just miserable. By the next Wednesday, I decided to email WUSC a rather frantic email describing the situation and what had happened since I had returned from holiday. It was also confirmed that Juan would be moving to Lima, starting the following Monday (essentially, he was left with 2 days at EMAPA). Wow. Big changes, really quickly. Luckily, I received a very supportive, prompt reply saying that they could look into other possibilities for me as my work was drying up. Fiouf, what a relief.
In the meanwhile, Juan had to write up the end of 2011 report and plan for 2012, so I helped him prepare his final presentation, knowing that I too might be leaving shortly. By the end of the week, only 5 people were left in the office: our secretary, a new person who had started the day before, two other interns, and me (more people had left in between, finding better opportunities with other companies). In the project planning area, I had already been the one with the most seniority since the beginning of November, but now to go through a third wave of staff members! Learning the realities of job instability and the difficulties that is causes at work was difficult.
That weekend, Rémi and I travelled to Lima together to enjoy the big city, go to the beach, and catch up with friends. It was nice to get away just the two of us, although I was still unsure about what was to come. I said goodbye to him on the Sunday night, so relieved that he had at least been there during my most unstable week so far. I was to stay in Lima a few more days though to have meetings with WUSC and potential field placement employers, so I headed back to the hotel alone.
The following week was a blur:
- Monday, a rest day. In the evening though, met up with Grainne (our field placement coordinator from the University of Waterloo), some WUSC personnel and the other INDEV students who are working in Lima for drinks. So nice to catch up with familiar faces again.
- Tuesday, early morning meeting with the Ministry of Environment about a possible field placement with them. I had to wait out in the car though, in case they wanted to meet me, but not to push things on them too quickly. After that, travel to Huacho with Grainne to show her around EMAPA and the town. Met with Juan to discuss the work that I had done, and told the General Manager of EMAPA that I would be leaving the company.
- Wednesday, slept in a bit (finally!). But not for long. Travelled back to Lima with Grainne in the afternoon and enjoyed a leasurely dinner.
- Thursday, early morning meeting again at the Ministry of Environment and at another NGO in Lima. Visited a potential homestay placement. Spent the afternoon writing up a summary of my work in Huacho, my official departure documents, and looking up apartments for rent in Lima. Went to visit one of the apartments before heading back to Huacho.
- Friday, went into work for my last time. Presented my going away documents, finished up some things, passed on information to the few colleagues I had remaining (somehow, everyone was out in the field that day - I was utterly alone for over 2 hours), and said goodbye to my colleagues and friends. That night, packed up my room and my life from the past 5 months before going out for a farewell dinner with a few friends.
- Saturday, hopped on the bus at 8am to head back to Lima and say hello to my new life. Spent the day checking out apartments with fellow volunteers Justina and Emma. Not much luck.
- Sunday, right before going to the beach, get a call from one of the landlords whose apartment that I wanted to visit and run off to go meet with him - what an amazing deal! Two blocks from work, my own bathroom, shared apartment just with him, the complex has a pool and gym, and all of this for $300/month. A bit steep (but I am living in the financial district of Lima), but so convenient - I'll take it! Arrange to drop my things off that evening, and finish moving in the next day. While returning from the beach though, he texts me a lot more conditions: I have to pay 50% of the purchase of the bed + sheets, pay an extra $40 per month for housecleaning, pay $15 for the key...... I go over that night with Andrea (who works with WUSC) and sort everything out. Looks like things will work out after all, without having to pay for those extra things. Arrange to move everything in the following day, after my first day of work.
My first day in Lima wasn't much calmer; if anything, it was even more hectic:
- Monday, woke up early, went to work - met with the team, learned about the different programs that I would be working in, and got straight to work. So exciting! And impressive, too! I had things to do right away! My happiness was short-lived, however; at noon, I received a text message from my 'future' landlord saying 'sorry, but my sister's friend just got in from out of town and I forgot she was coming, and I'm renting her the room for 8 months, hope that's okay'. OF COURSE IT'S NOT. I had checked out of the hotel, and had nowhere to stay that night! I called WUSC in a frenzy and we got straight to work calling other places and looking up things online (and of course, I found a newly posted add for the exact apartment I had just been rejected from, so it was a complete lie). To top things all off, my phone battery was getting incredibly low and died right before lunch. What a way to finish off my first morning. I went for lunch with Juan (my counterpart from Huacho - he's also a the Ministry of Environment, but working in a builing about 2 blocks from my work). By this point in time I was kind of freaking out, not knowing what I would do without a phone and without a place to stay. He told me he would call a friend to see if she knew of anything nearby, and to come meet him after work to tough base. OK. When we met up, he told me that his friend had offered to have us over for a coffee to talk about things. We went, and she offered me a place to stay! Just like that. Seems as though they're such good friends that she said that a friend of Juan's is a friend of hers, and that I could stay with her and her family for free for 2 weeks while I continued to look for an apartment. I could move in tonight. Right away. Wow. Okay. So we went to the hotel to pick up my stuff and I settled in - for a little while, at least. Peace at last.
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I have to run off to go meet some friends now, so I'll leave you with this for now, and promise to write more soon (hopefully tomorrow). I hope you are all doing well and enjoying February 29th!!
Ciao!
Sheila
Sheila
Hi Sheila! I'm really interested in what has been going on with your placement, but in particular I'm curious about EMAPA and why its staffing issue.
ReplyDeleteDoes the high staff turnover make it difficult for the company to operate, or get in the way of them achieving some of their projects? Do you think its a bad thing?
What do you think is the reason for this high employee turnover and the difficulty in keeping staff around? Do you think something you be done in the management of the company to change this?
Hi Jeannette!
DeleteFirst of all, thanks for reading! I'm glad I can share my experience and adventures :)
To answer your questions about EMAPA...
The high staff turnover definitely makes it difficult for the company to operate, but this is not a problem that is only faced by EMAPA. From what I understand, most of the public sector operates this way in Peru. For example, at the Ministry of Environment (where I am currently working), my coworkers all had to go sign new contracts last week. Previously, they had a two-month contract (Jan & Feb 2012), and most were given new contracts until the end of Dec 2012. Some people, however, were only give contracts until the end of June 2012. When I was at EMAPA, contracts ranged in the 1-3 month term. A few people have permanent contracts, but they are by far the minority. So one of the first problems is stability.
This leads to a few issues in the workplace: why work incredibly hard or plan long-term, when you are not sure if you will be around in 3 months? I know that as a temporary volunteer it is easy to think only about your time in the organization, and not the bigger picture (planning for sustainability). Also, if you do get let go, when do you start looking for a new position?
I was actually talking to a coworker about this on my walk to work this morning - the fact that labour laws are being reviewed here (since they are archaic and do not meet international standards) and the effect that instability has on an organization. In December 2011 I interviewed each of the people in my office at EMAPA (the project planning and implementation department) to ask them what they felt the strengths and weaknesses of our department were. The #1 weakness identified by EVERY single person was instability. On occasion, project plans are completed, but not executed, since the person in charge is gone. After each construction work is completed, our office also had to complete a summary to show if the funds were fully used/if we went over budget, allocation of materials, etc... but some projects from 2002 still are left incomplete because of missing information. Without a central information system, with viruses on nearly every computer (at EMAPA), and a disorganized storage solution for printed documents, continuity and sustainability are incredibly difficult to plan for. In January we needed to complete a project plan for a new water connection but the engineer who had worked on the plans had resigned, and taken all of the information with him; at first he was replying to our phone calls, but never gave us the information. You can see how problematic and frustrating it can be for the people who are left at the office.
The problem with most publicly run companies is that they are EXTREMELY tied to politics. At EMAPA, the head of the company is technically the mayor, so when he changes (elections are every 4 years), the majority of the staff (most definitely all senior management) will change as well, except for those who have permanent positions. And this is not an isolated case.
I think that as international volunteers, it is important for us to keep sustainability and project follow-up in mind. I sent my in-progress documents electronically to the head of the board of directors at EMAPA before leaving, to WUSC, and to another volunteer who was staying on longer than me. Hopefully they will be put to use in the coming months.
I hope that answers your questions - if you would like any more information, please don't hesitate to ask! It is a very interesting discussion to have.
Sheila