The moment someone yelled out “all spring break trips are canceled” in the middle of class, a multitude of thoughts ran through my head. ‘How could they do this days before we were supposed to leave?’ ‘Why was I not told by my professors the day before in class?’ ‘How are we going to finish this project? What’s the point anymore?’ Since the initial shock and subsequent emotional response that followed after learning I would no longer be going to Puerto Rico, I have come to realize that the University of Pittsburgh ultimately made the right call by canceling all study abroad trips, and that the COVID-19 situation has implications that extend far beyond one classes’ study abroad experience. That being said, I cannot ignore the amount of time and effort that I poured into this project and experience prior to its cancelation, and the innate feeling that it was all for nothing. While I will still strive to be flexible and adapt to the unprecedented situation in an attempt to continue to foster reciprocity between our group and the client, the Covid-19 virus has decimated many of the lofty goals that were set in our initial Scope of Work, and will likely leave our contribution to Pitt’s ten year commitment to Caras con Causa as a miniscule footnote when it is all said and done.
As I discussed in my previous blog post, in order to have the most productive and positive impact on Caras con Causa and the surrounding community, my group would have to utilize reciprocity as our guiding principle in all interactions with our client. Defined as the “mutuality of respect, collaboration, and exchange between the ‘provider’ and the ‘recipient’ in the service learning relationship” (Henry and Breyfogle, 2006), reciprocity is a philosophy believed to best foster a positive relationship between an outsider consultant and a client as both groups believe themselves to be providing a positive contribution to the other, resulting in a more fulfilled experience for each. Us not having the opportunity to travel to Puerto Rico means that for a large part, reciprocity will not be able to take place to the fullest of extents. While we will still be able to complete enough of our objectives to provide the consulting aspect of the project to Caras, it is difficult to determine what they will ultimately be providing for us. Caras con Causa will still indirectly provide us with the intangibles associated with any kind of consulting experience, such as lessons and experience in leadership, time-management, and overall cognitive development just to name a few. This is supported by a study done by the University of California comparing course-based service learning and generic community service, where the study found that “service-learning has an effect on all these cognitive outcomes,” including growth in critical thinking and writing skills and college GPA, “that is independent of the effect of community service” (Astin/Vogelgesang 30). That being said, Caras con Causa will not have the opportunity to provide us with some of the more tangible experiences such as having a homemade authentic Puerto Rican lunch with the members of the community, providing us with experiences in the mangrove forest, or simply engrossing us in the Puerto Rican culture through tours or events. It is because of these stark limitations on behalf of the people of Caras due to the lack of travel, that I believe they will be most negatively affected by the lack of opportunity to provide reciprocity.
Transferable skills are defined as “any skills you possess that are useful to employers across various jobs and industries.” As we have so often discussed in class, the transferable skills of flexibility and adaptability will be more paramount than ever in our efforts to complete our consulting project with Caras con Causa. Up until the moment my team found out we would not be going to Puerto Rico, our plan was to use the time we had in country to gather as much useful information towards the completion of our deliverables as possible. In any consulting project, building a strong working relationship with the client is an essential step towards completing your deliverables, as only by fostering the idea of reciprocity, or the “mutuality of respect, collaboration, and exchange between the ‘provider’ and the ‘recipient’ in the service learning relationship,” will you be able to build that rapport with your client that stimulates the flow of useful information. The face to face interaction with Michael, the CEO of Caras, and the rest of his team, in addition to the time on-site at the laboratory would have been invaluable, especially towards the completion of our preliminary marketing initiative, as how can you market something you have never experienced? In regards to this, we will have to successfully pivot our Scope of Work to achieve the objectives we still can. I will freely admit that upon hearing the news, I was not as adaptable as I could have been, mostly due to the highly emotional response that accompanied the news. This was especially so since the travel portion of the class was the primary motivator for me enrolling to begin with. At the time of writing this blog, my group and I have many unanswered questions that will ultimately determine what is and is not feasible in our Scope of Work and will determine the direction the project team ultimately takes. Since we got the news on March 3rd, it is now my hope that through online video conference calls with team members and the client, in addition to a revised Scope of Work, we will at the very least set next year’s group up to make significant strides in Caras con Causa’s mission and relationship with the University of Pittsburgh.
Although the United States should theoretically be one of the most able and ready countries to combat the Coronavirus, as of now I have viewed our response as disorganized and unprepared, with a lack of clear leadership and information. Despite having one of the strongest privatized healthcare systems in the world, and a strong network of hospitals around the nation, I expect it will be a challenge that ultimately takes the effort of every citizen, young and old, to successfully flatten the infection curve of the Coronavirus. This is essential as we fight this pandemic by flattening the curve and subsequently prolonging the disease. By doing so, we would ensure that the health care system is not overwhelmed by exponentially increasing infection rates. I fear Puerto Rico on the other hand will have a much tougher time combating the effects of the Coronavirus. At the moment there are only 21 confirmed cases on the island, but it should be noted that cases have a tendency to spread and grow quickly. This, compounded by the fact that recent earthquakes destroyed three major hospitals, the island’s health infrastructure, including insufficient power and fresh water supply, has still not recovered, and that twenty percent of Puerto Rico’s population is 65 years or older means that they are in no way prepared to combat the spread of the virus. As I discussed in my previous blog post, “one of the most important challenges our group will encounter is finding a way to establish the necessary relationships with the native communities of the island in order for us to convince them that the efforts of our client, Caras con Causa are in the best interest of the community and its people.” Sadly, we have been robbed of that opportunity to make those meaningful in person connections, and with the threat of the Coronavirus looming, it is just one more disaster to add to the long list of hurricanes, earthquakes, and crippling national debt that rightly takes precedents before anything else we are trying to accomplish. It is because of this that I believe the Coronavirus will further divert attention and resources away from our project, only continuing to mitigate our contribution as a whole.
While I am cognizant that my outlook throughout this blog may be bleak, through my critical reflection on the prompts presented, I have come to believe this reflects the harsh realities surrounding the completion of this project. While the situations presented are clearly less than ideal, it is simply one myself and my group members will have to be flexible and adapt to. To close out this blog, I took a look back on the closing of my first blog post where I said, “just being able to know I played a small role in impacting the lives of so many is the greatest opportunity I could ask for, a source of pride, and provides all the motivation one could need to see this project through.” It is my hope that this reminder of why I took up this project in the first place will be enough to ensure I see it through and have a great story of trials and tribulations I ultimately overcame to accomplish something worthwhile and meaningful.