Yesterday I went to a local government office to print some things for a grant application I had finished. Our generator is broken again so that means no electricity and therefore no printing capabilities. Anyways, I went there with my supervisor who has worked on a number of projects with some of the employees for NGO stuff around the area. Before we left for their offices my supervisor grabbed a stack of blank printer paper...it really didn't occur to me what it was for, so I didn't ask. We got to the brand new building in my town and went into the office which had central heating (a first for me in this country). It was going at full blast so it felt kind of like an oven and caused me to immediately strip off my 3 extra layers. Anyways, I got down to business and was ready to print when my supervisor whipped out the stack of papers and explained that they don't have printer paper here....Um, excuse me? Are you serious? This would be an office of a large government department....After we finished up the lady asked us to leave the remainder there, which we gladly did. I would say that this visit pretty much sums up my experience and understanding of the SA government's inner workings. Another example: When during his State of the Union Address President Zuma promised to provide 500,000 jobs by the end of the year (remember the speech was given in mid April) but failed to mention how he is going to do this or where these jobs will come from or what sector they will be in. If it were that easy I'm pretty sure that it would have happened a long time ago...Maybe Obama should take this tact with the economic crisis. At least it would make me feel better. Haha.
In other news, the fence is FINALLY going up at my center! You know what this means....! The playground beginning construction can get started! I am so psyched. While we haven't finished all the fundraising yet we do have enough to get the ball rolling on the project.
<3
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Dear Therese,
It is really helpful when you describe experiences such as this one. It gives me a feel for how life is, with bureaucracy, where you are.
Yes, we would expect an office to have printer paper; yes, your boss was very savvy -- understanding of where she is and how things work -- to take paper and to know that she would leave it there. Builds good will, to leave it behind!
Post a Comment