"The Office"

Lest you think that all I ever did on this internship was play, here's a glimpse of what my days REALLY looked like (just to put the record straight!) However, since I had planned on photographing all my office buds and daily routines during my last week in the country (cut a little short!)...I sadly missed out on capturing the real essence of office life. That being said, here's what I do have to show for myself...

With two small children each waking up around 5:30 am, our days definitely got off to an early start. Much earlier than I have ever been used to. Much earlier than I ever want to be used to again. I have never been more grateful for earplugs --they were, hands down, the best piece of equipment I brought with me besides my laptop.

So just before 7:30 am, I could expect a knock on the front door from one of our trusty drivers--either Ronald, Alex, or Stanislaus. Their cheery dispositions in those early hours made everything seem a-okay. Then it was time to get the kids' gear and lunches together, load em' in the car, and then drop em' off at school. Pictured below is one of the greatest inventions of the modern world.

We called it "Drive-Thru Day Care." Absolutely genius. Why this idea has not caught on in the States, I do not know. We've got drive-thru food, movies, car-washes, and grocery shopping to name a few items, so why not child care?
After waiting in "the line up,"

all one had to do was make sure that the car door was unlocked. The rest was taken care of for you. The friendly staff simply reached in, grabbed the kid, grabbed the loot, and sent you on your merry way.

Another 5 or so minutes down the road, depending on traffic that morning, we would pull into IDEJEN's office. With a toot of the horn, the guard would pull open the iron gate, and let you in.

It was always nice to be greeted by Marcelle at the front desk. I could always count on Marcelle to take care of my many cell phone problems/issues. At first I got excited every time my special phone would ring and I assumed that people I didn't even know wanted to talk to me. My excitement was short-lived. Marcelle had to bail me out of many an awkward phone conversation in Creole with people all looking for Guerda (the boss). No matter how many times I tried to explain that this wasn't Guerda's phone, nobody seemed to get it. I then got smart and stopped answering my phone all together.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the office. As the only American and first intern the project has had in Haiti, I did my best to fit in and not look too dumb. That entailed surmounting a substantial learning curve--including speaking an embarrassingly sorry and twisted version of French (I do however give myself credit for trying, no matter how ridiculous I sounded). In the end, I think it only helped me----or helped people feel sorry and take pity on me. And then it was time to get down to business. Before 8 am, you could find me in one of my many "offices." I put that in quotation marks because I never actually had a permanent place to dwell. I was what you might call "a floater," a roamer, a vagabond of sorts. On any given day, you could find me hard at work in any number of places.

For the first couple of weeks, I set up camp in the conference room.

When they moved the big desk and leather swivel chair away, I made myself at home at the large conference table below.

That is, until there were actual conferences to be held. So more often than not, I was kicked out and left in search of another, temporarily vacant space.
Sometimes I snuck into Chantal's office upstairs to set up shop.

Or if I was super lucky, I could widdle my way into Guerda's office (equipped with all I could ever wish for-- great view, stereo system, and refrigerator).

When Barbara, the new Communications Manager, left for the month of March, I got the brilliant idea to take over her office for the time being. And so I finally felt like I had a home. A place of refuge to call my own.

My favorite part was getting to work just a thin, bamboo-screen-away from "Deputy Chief of Party," Jean-Thiomas Giraud--aka "Giraud" (everyone here goes by their last name). Doesn't the name just say it all? This laugh-out-loud, bang-your-hands-on-the-desk-at-all hours-of-the-day character like out of a TV sitcom, never ceased to bring a smile to my face. I loved the guy, but due to his extreme formality, I could never figure out a word he was saying. He once attempted to ask me if I had found some information that I had been looking for. In French, it ended up sounding something like this-- "Is it that you have succeeded to acquire that information which you were procuring with the aid of the people here which are assisting you in your search for the answers you still lack?" Oh Giraud, Giraud, Giraud. Bless his little heart.

When Barbara came back in April, I was uprooted yet once again. This time, I had my sights set on the upstairs loft area where I was able to spread out on the plastic lawn chairs and feel the warm, gentle breezes blowing in from the exposed, barred windows.

Although open to the unpredictability of the elements, the work days passed by a little quicker from up here. Strategically positioned in the middle of a main thorough-fare for all upstairs staff, I was able to chat it up with anyone and everyone (this conveniently breaking up the monotony of endless report writing).

However, by around 3 o'clock, I usually hit my max and the office suddenly seemed more like prison. With no where to go to escape, walk, or take a break--it took some getting used to. Sometimes I would stare out at the outside world through the open windows and long to run free-even if for just a few, blissful minutes.

Downstairs congregating around the front door, you could always find an array of people-- whether it be drivers, field agents making a routine pit stop, or other personnel. Here we have, from left to right: a field agent (who always wore the coolest top hats), yours truly, Desinol (the janitor), and Alex (a project driver). I never got a chance to take shots of my best buds, but here are a few of "my main men" hard at work at an IDEJEN retreat we held in the mountains.

By far, the best part of the working life was the interactions I had with my fellow co-workers. When I felt I could not write another success story, project report, or continue working on my thesis, I could always count on some friendly faces to make everything seem okay. Above, sitting down with a big grin on his face is Isnel, one of the happier people I got to associate with. Had I not known better, I might have mistaken this kid for a Mormon missionary.

And seated above from left to right we have Wold, Fristzner, Fritz-Gerald, Jonny, and me. Great names huh? Wold was nice enough to indulge me in a great interview, where I learned a ton about what makes his Youth Centers so successful. Fritzner is one of the project accountants and never ceased to greet me with a huge smile and hello. Fritz-Gerald is a Monitoring and Evaluation officer, and Jonny is the new Youth Career Centers Coordinator who amazed me by his pure enthusiasm, dedication, and excitement for the work we were doing (now I'm sounding a little like a missionary).

Sadly, this is the only shot I have of Barbara (below). And then there are another two favorites of the bunch--Chandler and Wold. I can't tell if Chandler is wiping Wold's lip or telling him to shut his mouth.

Although these two field agents spent most of their time with the youth themselves (in the Port-au-Prince zone pictured here), you could usually catch them at the end of the month writing reports at the main office in Petion-ville (and providing much needed entertainment for me!)

Some of my other favorite people not pictured included:

Guerda--This project's Chief of Party always treated me like a million bucks even though I'm sure I caused her more problems than I ended up helping the project. No one could run this place better than her--and with a smile the whole time.

Chantal--I thought this 40-something year old Training Officer was in her 20s. I often took style notes from this extremely cool Haitian beauty queen, who always put my wardrobe and shoe collection to shame. I could also always count on Chantal to get me the information I needed for my many writing pieces. Talk about being on top of it.

Judemyre--This administrative assistant could seem a little "stand-offish" at first....that is until you broke her down. And then it hardly seemed like you were talking to the same person.

And there was Junia--Because our conversations pretty much consisted of "bonjour" and "cava," huge smiles and "kisses" had to transcend the language barrier between us. And that was okay. She could light up the whole office.

And now on to some of my favorite aspects of daily life. In the beginning, Desinol (janitor) would bring me trays of espresso served on fine china throughout the day. When I explained that I really didn't drink the stuff (crazy weird I know), he then started bringing me my own water tray.

The special treatment didn't last too long though--once he saw that I could walk all the way downstairs to the water dispenser and fill up my own glass. He persisted in asking me whether the extra labor I was performing (by walking up and down the stairs) was too taxing on me. I tried to explain that I loved it. It was great getting out of the conference room. He didn't get it.
Precious isn't it? Why don't interns get this kind of treatment in the States??

Sometimes while inside the protected walls of the office, it was easy to forget that I was in a developing country. But not for long. Especially on those days when internet connection stopped functioning completely, when the power generator gave out, or the day when when I walked into my office and discovered this large hole in the ground next to my desk.

In order to be culturally sensitive, I put the camera away before the entire sewage crew came in to clean up the mess/explosion/flood going on beneath the floor boards. I turned on my head phones to drown out the sounds of gargling mystery liquids and loud sucking machines.

I also loved the communal bathrooms equipped with step-by-step instructions on how to take care of business in the cleanliest, most efficient manner (there was definitely an element of formality here in Haiti that I didn't find in DC).

And I appreciated the friendly reminder that made it clear that "pipi" was not allowed in the non-functioning bath tub below (just in case one was confused about its purpose).

Sometimes my days were long and draining. Sometimes they were filled with excitement. Sometimes they were just normal. But they were always good if I let them be and they always taught me something if I was willing to learn. Isn't that a metaphor for life? But it was a great feeling to finish up a productive day and then step outside of our sheltered complex to feel the sun's rays.

And then to be greeted by Stanislaus, ready to usher us home in style.

Boy did I learn a lot from my time working with IDEJEN. It was one of those "once-in-a-lifetime" experiences that will be hard to ever match. I will forever be grateful to all those people who welcomed me, inspired me, patiently worked with me, and treated me like one of their own!!