Inspiring shithole workaholism
I've been really busy all week, leading projects. It's the kind of thing I think about from when I get up in the morning until I'm too tired to think about anything, including uploading photos or keeping up with LJ. But I'll catch up with those things in due course.
It's very rewarding work. I can now see more easily why people-even management-can be workaholics, and I can see why so many people that come to Pisco sin Fronteras want to stay longer. A surprising number of people arrived here intending to stay for a few weeks, and have been here for several months.
I'm not sure I'd do that far myself; honestly, the smell of this town, and the food in Perú overall, are enough to keep me from spending too much time here. (Lonely Planet raves about how great food is in Perú; it's the first major disagreement I've had with any of their books. The best food in Perú is what volunteers make at PsF. Other food outlets may be easier for omnivores than me, but even they aren't stoked.) And quite frankly, Pisco is a shithole. It has huge health and crime problems (a volunteer got decked by a crackhead last weekend-one of my roommates from West Oakland reckons he felt safer at home) and there are dangers and bad smells and rubbish everywhere. It is constantly improving, and some of its charms are growing on me, especially the tuk tuks, even though I frequently tell them to stick their beep beep beeping horns up their arses, and the town is is still awful when I think about it. But I wish it well, and more importantly, I feel inspired to take PsF and help make it exist in other places in need.
The characteristic that inspires me most about PsF is what we call its do-ocracy. In most of my previous jobs, if I've had an idea, I usually wouldn't get to execute it-there were always higher priorities, or management thought it would cost too much (even when I came up with evidence that stated it was still worth a try), or people didn't want change, or, in the worst cases, people just liked shooting down ideas for political reasons. And even if I did try it out, it often didn't work out the way I wanted, and I'd feel like a dickhead.
At PsF this is all different. If you have an idea, great! Do it! If it costs significant money there are procedures to go through, of course, but there's so much room for improvement in this society and everyone's eager to try new things, and a lot of them work. I've gotten the support I need to earth all the water heaters, fixing what to me is a huge safety concern. Ditto putting more lighting around the place where I think it's necessary.
Even when things don't work out the way I want, it's still rewarding. I started this week by managing putting a roof on a family's front room, and now I'm overseeing a week-long project to add a bathroom and kitchen to a house, almost tripling their living space. Giving the gift of a toilet to a 4-member family with a very pregnant mother, who keep their 3×4m house immaculate, is a reward in itself. But so much of this is stuff I've never done before-especially the plumbing-that I have a lot of questions for people and I do fuck up occasionally. But I still get a lot of support and encouragement, and I thrive with this.
Everyone here is fantastic. PsF management, 'badmin', are indeed the bad-arse admin that led to their name. The people I'm managing are driven and friendly and interesting and just great people. (I do a lot of the real work myself too, but it's amazing how tired I get after a day of mostly just telling other people what to do!) And the families we help aren't just appreciative; they're warm-hearted and patient and share so much of how little they have. Usually they make lunch for us, and try really hard to understand vegetarianism.
All this makes the work addictive, hence the workaholism. A lot of people are finding their true calling here, and everyone is inspired. I'm inspired to try new things back in the default world, ignoring the naysayers and rolling with the fuck-ups. I think it will make my life better, and the world better.