to be honest....
on Pak'd Off (Pakistan), 06/Mar/2008 11:06, 34 days ago
Perhaps it’s because my lovely housemate, Mary, has already been working here for 4 months but I have only been working in Pak Plus for a week and a half and I already feel really at home. The people are great and the job is shaping up to be pretty interesting too. I’m going to be working on building up Pak Plus’ capacity for fundraising by helping with basic profile-raising activities like brochures, newsletters and hopefully the website. I’m also going to try and help contribute towards the psycho-social side of the work they do with the children of people living with HIV.There are 9 members of staff here who, without exception, are friendly and entertaining. Everyone is very happy to share information and consult with Mary and me to get our opinions on things. I’m a member of the team now, this I can tell from the way people treat me. Pakistan is a very hierarchical society where people show much respect for their superiors and tend not to question them much. Around peers, however Pakistani’s tend to be straightforward and honest and this is a culturaltrait that I have particularly warmed to. Awkward questions or topics that might be considered taboo out of politeness in the UK are game for discussion in Pakistan. Here, for example people will tell you if you are looking unwell or haven’t paid enough attention to your personal grooming. The way they might say it, would be so matter-of-fact, that it’s almost impossible to take offence; “Jo, I think so that you do not take much care of your hair”. Yep, that’s probably fair.... It’s as if the trait or characteristic they’re referring to is an independent entity, up for discussion without any judgement or blame assigned to (what a westerner would see as) “the owner”.I found this particularly amusing during the feedback session at the end of Mary’s presentation skills workshop where everyone was instructed to give “constructive comments” on each other’s presentations rather than just slating each other. I thought this was a fairly obvious, yet necessary, instruction yet it was completely ignored and such “suggestions” as “I really wasn’t that much interested in your presentation” and “your body language was just bad” were tossed around casually and even received with thanks. I thought it was the best thing I ever saw, people just saying what they thought and other people not minding. I have come to realise thatI spend a lot of my time at home worrying about what others think, whether I have offended them, whether I look ok, if I’m doing something well or badly. Here, those kinds of concerns go out of the window because I can be pretty confident that I’ll get honesty.My presentation was, by the way, interesting and left them wanting to know more, but my body language was bad and I talk too fast and too quietly.