Cultural Barriers
Posted by Courtney Pelley on August 24th, 2010
Since my last blog post I have watched myself become less insecure and more competent with the work given to me by my NGO. I have encountered many cultural barriers that I’m still adjusting to, but I’ve also learned an invaluable amount directly related to my field of studies which is transferable to a future career in international development.
A large part of my job involves attending meetings and workshops all around Lima. Through these meetings and workshops I have become more confident in my Spanish speaking and am understanding more and more all the time. The Lima accent is very difficult compared to when I did my last placement in Cusco. Limeños speak very quickly and unless you repeatedly ask them to slow down, they will not treat you any differently than anyone else. This language/cultural barrier was difficult initially, and is even more difficult in meetings where so much is going on at once. I feel like if I had had more proficiency coming into this placement I definitely could have gotten much more out of it, such as being able to present workshops myself or participating more in meetings (which even at this stage I do not feel comfortable doing).
Another cultural barrier I have encountered has been the “time is money” virtue that doesn’t seem to exist here. The women in my organization work very long hours and travel to great lengths to attend and participate in as many events, workshops and meetings as possible; but in doing, so a very large part of their day is often wasted on long public transportation rides. For instance, travelling to the district of Pachacamac takes two hours and three vehicles during rush hour. I made this trip a few weeks ago for a one hour workshop, and then took another two hours to get back. So in total, four hours were spent travelling for a one hour workshop. To me, this seems pretty inefficient and often many of the objectives and results could be achieved through e-mail or telephone. However, people here seem to accomplish much more through face-to-face interaction and place a high value on such formality. You never really know how serious people are or whether they will even reply to an e-mail or telephone call. We could take a taxi and reduce travel time by over half, but the cost would be something like 3 or 4 soles versus 25 soles per way – a cost that adds up when you have eight employees going all over Lima daily. I’m not sure how much the employees are paid and am in no position to go about doing a cost-benefit analysis of such a trade-off – it’s just simply the way things are done.
Additionally, meetings never start on time. Never. Generally, events and meetings start at least thirty minutes to one hour late. And it’s not uncommon for them to start one or two hours after the scheduled time. The women here at APLN are always on time for events, yet we are also usually the first ones there. I have seen some displays of frustration because of this, but it seems to be cultural norm. One co-worker explained her feelings about this to me after waiting for over two hours for a committee meeting to begin. She explained that this is almost always how things are, yet also expressed her annoyance because she is always on time and feels that she could get much more done in a day if meetings progressed as scheduled. I have adjusted to this and have tried to make myself more productive when travelling by bringing material with me to read or work on. It’s a frustrating aspect coming from three years in the government where if you’re five minutes late you will be responsible for the minutes and be scolded/embarrassed.
Despite these cultural differences that I have encountered, I am in no way devaluing this placement or the benefits that I have received because of it. This has been by far my most challenging CO-OP experience, but also the most rewarding and the most eye-opening. I think that these challenges, obstacles and the steps you take to overcome them are what make international internships so rewarding. This is not Canada, and it’s not supposed to be. This is a chance for us to get out of our comfort zone and experience how these organizations function on a local scale.
