Doing Well When Doing Without

I remember the day I arrived in Khorixas. It was dusty and dry, unfamiliar and unreal. I couldn’t help but think, “This is going to be a challenge.”

The job I’d been requested to do sounded a bit like a graphic design post anywhere else. They wanted me to create posters and pamphlets, graphs and charts, related to any one of the hundreds of diseases that plague the community. I thought it’d be tough—but I figured it’d still be doable.

Then the Matron showed me my “office.”

There was an empty filing cabinet against one of the cement walls, and two shelves of printed materials (circa 1991) pushed against another. There was a desk that most likely served as a dining table in a former life, and a single chair.

It was more than I expected (this is Peace Corps, after all). But I didn’t really have what I needed. Where was the computer? The printer? The phone line and the paper? Where were the materials I’d use to successfully tackle my job assignment?

No one knew.

That was eight months ago. I didn’t have them then, and I still don’t have them now. But what I do have is a new perspective and a different approach. I realized that doing my job here is a lot like solving a puzzle. I get only a few pieces and with them, I have to come up with the entire picture. It’s just about being creative when filling in the blanks.

Sure, there have been challenges—not the least of which is my inability to create the documents they actually wanted. But I’m learning that, resources or not, my job remains the same. And just like everyone else’s, it has to get done. I may have obstacles to overcome and lack the resources that I need. But I’m not the only one. That’s just how it is here.

I knew this before, sure. But I guess I re-realized yesterday, when I met with the new Principal Medical Officer (PMO) for the first time.

I set up an appointment hoping to learn more about him, but also to tell him more about me, my work and my goals as a volunteer. I explained that while I was originally brought in to create educational materials, my office lacked the resources and supplies required. Instead, I focused my efforts on finding ways to disseminate the same information in new (and non-computer dependant) ways.

This meant lifeskills classes and sex education for the primary schools and an Awareness Club at the secondary school to talk about HIV/AIDS. It meant leadership programs after study and sports and reading programs on the weekend. There were facilitator guides to be written and oral care workshops being planned. Plus a new program for orphans to teach job skills and provide food.

It may not be posters. But it’s the same information, just presented in a different way. And interacting with the people makes my job a lot more fun.

The new PMO seemed to understand. And honestly, I think he was even a bit impressed. “That’s what you have to do in Africa,” he said. “Learn to keep doing even when you’re doing without.”

Then he told me about his first year as a doctor. He attended a prestigious medical school, studied under renowned physicians and gained technical training on modern machines. He knew how to save lives with the proper resources. But when he arrived at his first post—a tiny village in rural Nigeria—none of that really mattered. There were no ultrasound or life support machines, because there wasn’t electricity or even running water. He was performing surgeries he’d never heard of all on his own. He had to quickly come to terms with his limited resources and find new ways to do his job despite what he was forced to do without.

While the work we’re called upon to do is very different (obviously—he’s a surgeon and I’m a journalist) the situations we’ve found ourselves in are still a lot alike. We learned our jobs from the best teachers under the best of circumstances. But we’re called to practice our vocations in a place where conditions are less ideal. Where resourses are beyond limited.

But the thing is—we both know it can be done. It can be done without fancy machines. Without state-of-the-art computers. Without electricity and without funds. It can be done—it just has to be done differently.

And we have to continue to remind ourselves that we can still do, even when we’re doing without.