Joys and Sorrows

Maybe that's a little bit of a dramatic title but it probably got your attention...right? So yesterday Becky and I had days that sort of cancelled each other out. The director loved the strategic plan I submitted and now is suggesting that I work on their bylaws and be a long-term consultant for Solace. I guess the "no experience" factor doesn't seem to bother him.

Becky had to fire her translator yesterday while still depending on her to complete the translations of a few interviews. This girl (translator) is a piece of work. Here's a rundown on her past issues. Strike one: she stole money from Becky's phone which Becky caught her doing. Strike two: she told us to meet her in a village a long way from Kigali an hour earlier than planned and then showed up an hour late. Strike three: she refused to make transcripts of the interviews into Kinyarwanda (even though Becky hired her for that in addition to English) and demanded more money to do it. Strike four: she erased a bunch of interviews so that no one can even transcribe them into Kinyarwanda. Strike five: she hired a friend of hers to help do the translations instead of telling Becky that it was too much work for her. Strike six: she tried to convince Becky that she wasn't getting paid enough even though Becky is paying her more than she would earn in a month as a teacher (her profession) and more than most translators get in an effort to be very generous. So she struck out twice over. Personally, I would have fired her a month ago but lucky for her she wasn't working for me. I've never seen anyone fired in such a nice way before. It made me want to be fired.

So today Becky is going to meet with another potential translator. He was recommended to us by some friends here. Becky sat down last night and wrote out a detailed job description just so, in case he isn't great, she doesn't experience the same issues again. The good news is that she is almost done with her research. The last part seems to be the hardest.

We are hoping that today has a bit more good news for Becky. It looks like the evaluations we are both working on will maybe get done this week, which is nothing short of a miracle. I also have interviews with the World Food Program, the UN Development Program and World Vision for my research at the end of the week. I am glad that I only need translation for a few of the things I do.