The Negotiator

Well I reckon it is about time for a traditional blog post. I got a bit carried away with my creativeness, and figure I should revert for the sake of my future publisher who I can only assume is just biding his/her time until they discover the next big blogger (a.k.a. me).

For the past week, to be quite honest, my work in Western Kenya has been a struggle. About a week ago now, four of the teachers at the school I am working with decided to strike... somewhat illegally. Their issues stemmed from long-festering managerial issues, to lack of compensation for their efforts. Whist communicating with them and collecting the terms of their strike, I attempted to derive some compromises to their issues. Unbeknownst to me, while I was dealing with the teachers, the director of the school decide that instead of listening to their problems, she would go ahead and hire four new teachers.

You can imagine my shock (and horror) when I arrived for our communal conflict management meeting between teachers and director to discuss them returning to work, only to realize that the four strangers waiting outside were ready to take the place of the four teachers we were speaking with. I felt extremely blindsided and since our organization are the ones providing the stipends to the teachers, it caused a bit of an issue. I can’t even begin to imagine how the teachers felt. No wonder they stated that ‘communication’ or lack thereof was a looming issue at the school.

It took a bit of me biting my tongue to get through the subsequent meeting, but in the end all four original teachers returned to work, and the other four were sent home to be called upon if needed at a later date. Each individual teacher meeting afterwards infuriated me even more. They were treated very poorly, as if they were young children while they each received a scolding about their actions. I interjected before things got too out of hand, and in the end this reflected as if I was siding with the teachers. Needless to say, my ‘incompetent-ness’ was translated to the president of my organization via a harsh email and, since we are actually boarding with the director of the school, it made the next few nights at home nearly unbearable.

Luckily, growing up in a family of four children has well prepared me with impeccable conflict resolution skills and a steel inner strength, in addition to the ability to spend many hours happily confined to my room.

Now later in the week, things at the school have calmed. The teachers seem happier and the director appears to be cooperating and willing to bend a little. I have held two successful staff meetings in attempts to unite the staff together (some staff members were very upset at the four striking teachers), and implemented weekly staff meetings to encourage communication and transparency at the school. We have also enlisted the assistance of another student-run group, Operation Groundswell, who have acquired 20 new desks for the school. The students are very pleased as there are now enough seats for all of them.

I am still determining how best to involve the parents and community to assure the school’s sustainability. So far, attempts at parent meetings have failed (only one showed up to a scheduled one on Wednesday). The next step is home visits, which I hope to conduct with the help of a new headteacher who is starting at the school on Monday. We need to somehow get across the concept that wzungus aren’t going to be involved with the school forever and that in the end it is the community that must nurture the survival of the school. (Open to suggestions from the teacher/school administration readers!)

Home life is also on the up-and-up... so far as I can wager. One of my roommates unfortunately fell very ill today, with some sort of stomach bug. On the other hand, it has allowed for a conversation piece and even a common ground of concern between us and our landlady. We are all hoping for a speedy recovery and I cannot use my hand-sanitizer enough. Even the children seem to be less ‘timid’ once again. There is something about the process of helping an adorable five year old with her homework that soothes me and brings me joy.