6/27/13
Bad Day. I’m a little frustrated with people but I’m mainly
frustrated with myself. When timelines aren’t kept and work starts falling
through the cracks it’s easy to pass the blame but it’s really my
responsibility. My expectations and objectives have not been clear enough and I
have failed to delegate properly. Work and learning French is going well but it
could be going better. I expect a lot from myself because I don’t have much
time, I want to take full advantage of the time I have.
To blow off some steam and to exercise I go behind the
convent to the mill and chop wood for about an hour each day. At 4:30 all the
carpenters leave for the day so I’m often alone. Occasionally a priest or a
security guard will stop by and give me some pointers. It’s really difficult work. I’m splitting
logs into quarters lengthwise. This requires you to first read the log- you're
looking to exploit naturally occurring cracks. Then with a dull axe, you chop
away. When you get the axe deep into the log you leave the axe and use a second
to try to lengthen the cut. I watched a carpenter quarter a log in about 8
minutes. It takes me about 15. Each of the carpenter’s blows was true. I hit my
mark on about every 5th strike. At first onlookers thought I had no
idea what I was doing. Now people realize I’m just really new to this. I might
have to take a break tomorrow because of my blisters. I told a security guard I had soft hands like
a girl. He disagreed- I have hands like a baby. haha
“…Little by little the
work will be finished…you should not rush…”
Petit
à petit on arrive à bout de l’œuvre; donc il ne faut jamais
se précipiter.
En chaque œuvre la patience et la persévérance sont nécessaires. African Proverb
Today one of the security guards asked me to look for a job
for him. He told me the nights are cold, lonely and long. But what he said next made me reevaluate my
security. He said “when” bandits come he would be the first person to be
killed. I immediately responded, “Yeah, and me second! I’m who they’d be coming
for!” We both laughed in agreement.
I fell into a trap today. A Congolese man asked me how much
it would cost them to go to America. Normally I don’t talk about money but I
thought this was innocent enough. I said it would be at least $2,000 for the
roundtrip plane ticket and probably a large amount for a visitor’s visa that
would be difficult to obtain. To avoid
sounding pretentious I pointed out that it was difficult for me to obtain a
visa for the DRC. But it was too late- “So can you give me a dollar? I’m really
poor and you’re rich”. I tried to
explain that I didn't pay that expense but I wasn't convincing anyone, not even
myself (to be fair, I only give money to charities I think are doing good work).
Later on that day I tried to calculate how many days it would take a person
earning minimum wage in the US to earn as much as a Congolese makes in a year. I came to a number that was about 36. The
number 36 just made my heart drop because I know I have been in the DRC for
more than 36 days. But I felt sick to my stomach when I realized I
miscalculated. It wasn't 36 days; it’s only 36 hours of work. The average income here is around 250 – 300
dollars a year and I assumed minimum wage is $7 in the US.
I need a haircut. Today I noticed one of the priests was
having his haircut so I walked over. But the strange looking spot on the
barber's head reminded me of the same spots I see on some of the kids at school.
The barber uses a pair of shears that work without electricity. They kinda look
like scissors. Well I think it’s safe to assume the shears are not swabbed with
alcohol like they would be in a United States barber shop. I have a feeling I
might start developing spots too if I get my haircut here. I have three options:
1) just let my hair grow wild 2) allow someone to just hack at my hair with a
pair of scissors and hope for the best, or 3) allow a barber to use sheers on
my head and bring back my Jamaican nickname white chocolate. Hahaha Whatever I choose I’m going to frighten
myself when I look into a mirror.
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