"Swallowship"

People often ask me about what it's like working with so many people from a different culture. Everyone assumes (rightly so) that Kenyans do a lot of things differently than we do in America, and when people hear about the Kenyan mindset on things like organization, efficiency, and planning, they tend to roll their eyes, let out a sigh, or look shocked that I've survived so long in this kind of environment! This usually leads to a conversation about how part of my job has been helping to add some of those things - organization, efficiency, and planning - to CARE for AIDS in Kenya, and it's true that our team has grown a lot in those areas over the past 9 months. While I've been able to teach them a few things from my experience, though, our Kenyan team has showed and taught me a lot of very valuable things as well.

One of the things that our Kenyan Directors do extremely well is maintain a focus on community-building within the group. When I first got here, I was confused by the time in meetings that seemed to have no purpose other than socializing. I had never been in a "work" meeting where everyone sang worship songs at the beginning and end, and I had never heard of stopping for 30 minutes in the middle of a meeting for a "tea break." At first, I thought these were just products of an un-productive Kenyan mindset and that I needed to fix them. It turns out, though, that while some of the "community time" had room to be a little more planned and streamlined, its presence in our group interactions was absolutely vital. I quickly learned that Kenyans place a significant value on personal relationships. If they know and trust you - and feel that you know, trust, and care about them - they are much more willing to go the extra mile in their working responsibilities. Furthermore, if they feel a personal connection with the team in a Saturday meeting, they are likely to focus and strive harder to meet the goals of the team from Monday to Friday. In fact, what I saw as "inefficiency" in the small picture was really bringing about a boost in efficiency in the grander scheme of things.

As the importance of community-building aspects has been stressed again and again, both by our Kenyan staff and our American team, we have been able to find some great ways to build relationships among our team here on the ground. The number of staff in Limuru that attend our meetings every other week is up to 15 people, so we have a great time when we are all together! Just last week, to celebrate Easter, we had a special meeting in which we stayed away from "business" issues and instead focuses on worshiping together, sharing with each other, and listening to an instructive financial seminar that Steve put together. Then we finished with a great lunch of ugali and "nyama choma," roasted beef that is a favorite of both the Kikuyus from this area and me. Kevin likes to refer to this mix of fellowship and eating as "swallowship," and its a community-building strategy that Kenyans will rarely refuse!

It's so fun to be a part of gatherings like this where everyone relaxes and has a good time - sometimes it's easy to forget that the only reason all the members of this group know each other is that they work together. I'm starting to learn that this kind of "working relationship" is probably the best kind that there is!