More Trouble
I checked in with Moses on Yahoo! Messenger and got more details about what happened in Haysali during the last visit.
Again, Moses went to the village in pouring rain on a moped which was dangerous. The government agricultural officer helped us get around the village leader and set up a meeting despite the leader's sabotage. But now he wants us to assign him a "job" in the project - that is so he can get paid. He also asked us to provide farmers with hybrid seeds to replace the ancient seeds that they have been using. I knew very well that the reason he was pushing this was because government is pushing that and he wanted us to do his job for him. It is still not clear to us if the hybrid seeds are really better than the existing ones so I didn't want to get involved in seed selection at this point. But Moses is feeling the pressure.
I have come to realize that there are 2 types of people in Tanzania - (1) The ordinary people who are submissive, friendly, eager to please and easily initimiated and (2) The greedy and aggressive people who often get away with what they want because there is almost no justice or law enforcement in the country due to corruption. I continued to encourage Moses to stay firm. Our goal is to help farmers and not be swayed or discouraged by people who are trying to influence us for his own interest or prevent us from reaching the farmers. I can see that it is a tough role for Moses as he is not used to confrontation. I reassured him that he and his training are the most valuable part of this project and he must believe in himself even if we don't give away anything for free.
The project never stops to challenge me. Sometimes I feel it's getting impossible and have to pray for the strength to continue to overcome difficulties. I wish I was there with Moses to fend off all the "predators".
Again, Moses went to the village in pouring rain on a moped which was dangerous. The government agricultural officer helped us get around the village leader and set up a meeting despite the leader's sabotage. But now he wants us to assign him a "job" in the project - that is so he can get paid. He also asked us to provide farmers with hybrid seeds to replace the ancient seeds that they have been using. I knew very well that the reason he was pushing this was because government is pushing that and he wanted us to do his job for him. It is still not clear to us if the hybrid seeds are really better than the existing ones so I didn't want to get involved in seed selection at this point. But Moses is feeling the pressure.
I have come to realize that there are 2 types of people in Tanzania - (1) The ordinary people who are submissive, friendly, eager to please and easily initimiated and (2) The greedy and aggressive people who often get away with what they want because there is almost no justice or law enforcement in the country due to corruption. I continued to encourage Moses to stay firm. Our goal is to help farmers and not be swayed or discouraged by people who are trying to influence us for his own interest or prevent us from reaching the farmers. I can see that it is a tough role for Moses as he is not used to confrontation. I reassured him that he and his training are the most valuable part of this project and he must believe in himself even if we don't give away anything for free.
The project never stops to challenge me. Sometimes I feel it's getting impossible and have to pray for the strength to continue to overcome difficulties. I wish I was there with Moses to fend off all the "predators".
posted by Nancy at 10:30 PM
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