I can’t believe the time has come for me to write my final blog post for GSL Bolivia. These last 14 weeks have been challenging, yet extremely rewarding. This project is different than any group project I have ever been part of and a departure from my past study abroad experiences as well. Of course, it is now time to tie it all together and attempt to do the experience justice by putting it in writing. Below is a noncomprehensive list of some key lessons I’ve learned throughout this program and that I intend to take with me as I move through the rest of my life.
Key Lessons Learned
Barriers can be turned into opportunities: I’ve probably brought this up so many times throughout the course of this semester, but the language barrier that I anticipated going into the trip was definitely present. I will say, however, that it allowed me to develop three key transferable skills: communication/active-listening, problem solving, and adaptability. When we split off into smaller groups to speak to the different staff members at CEOLI, my group ended up without a translator. We couldn’t let this get in the way of pursuing information to help us with our deliverables, so I dug in and spoke the limited Spanish I knew to ask questions. Because I wasn’t fluent in Spanish, the conversations went slower than usual as we had to constantly repeat to each other what was said to ensure we understood properly. This actually helped our active-listening, which we discussed in class time and time again, because it forced us to clarify what we heard and correct any misunderstandings on the spot. When we hit a roadblock with our Spanish, we would adapt and problem-solve by using our technology (Google Translate) as resources to help us communicate. While I most likely won’t be using Spanish in my future career in Wealth Management, I will be using the transferrable skills I mentioned as it is a very client-facing career and any time you have to deal with people, communication, adaptability, and problem solving are a must.
Lean into discomfort: Whenever you enter a new and unfamiliar environment, you are bound to find things uncomfortable. In this situation, I think the biggest mistake people make is thinking that they can wait out the discomfort or perhaps they are in a position of privilege where they can leave the environment, much like the Canadian students in our reading Points of Discomfort: Reflections on Power and Partnerships in International Service Learning.
However, I would argue that the only way truly out of discomfort is through. The discomfort becomes much easier to manage when we first figure out what is making us uncomfortable and asking ourselves why it makes us uncomfortable. Once we figure that out, we should lean into it and further challenge ourselves to sit in that discomfort and act within it.
I think one experience from our trip that highlighted this was our visit to Univalle University. Our in-country coordinator, Ariel, brought us into an English class that he teaches at the University and presented us to the class. We started by standing at the front of the class and introducing ourselves one by one. This was the first point of discomfort in this situation because it almost felt like we were in a fishbowl on display for all these students to see and judge. I realized that it was this very point that made me uncomfortable. There seemed to be a gap in connection between us and the students because neither of us understood each other all that well. While some members of my team chose to present themselves in English, maintaining that gap between us and them, I decided to lean into this discomfort and introduce myself in Spanish. This still made me uncomfortable because I knew my Spanish skills were not at the level I would want to present myself with, yet it made me feel closer to the students and to my surprise, they seemed to appreciate my willingness to try.
Relationships are a double-edged sword: I think the great thing about Pitt’s existing relationship with CEOLI and AllPeopleBeHappy is that they have established a level of trust that we didn’t have to build from scratch. This meant that the foundation for collaboration, respect, and accountability discussed in Building an Ethical Partnership were already laid out for us and gave us less conflict to manage, which allowed us to immediately focus on our deliverables. We were even provided a scope of work, which outlined exactly what we needed to achieve. However, as we’ve discussed in class, conflict isn’t always bad and is almost always necessary. I personally wished we faced a bit more conflict with CEOLI, especially in the earlier stages of the project because we might’ve gotten a clearer idea of the nuances of some of the deliverables before we arrived in Bolivia instead of having to put efforts towards something they did not need, only to find out in-country that we were looking in the wrong direction for some deliverables. Nonetheless, we stuck with it, pivoted our approach as needed, and in the end were able to deliver outcomes that satisfied the client. This surely set the tone for the future groups moving forward.
Looking Forward
Dear future groups…
- Interact with the people of CEOLI (Ron, staff, interns, and the kids)
- Of course you will learn more about how to achieve your deliverables by speaking to Ron and the staff as it will allow for real-time communication to get all your questions answered at once rather than waiting for email communications, but I encourage you to do more than just that. When at CEOLI, interact with these people on a personal level too. It will make you more culturally aware and open your eyes to perspectives you never knew you could have. And if at this point in the project, you’re starting to feel a bit burned out, interacting with the kids and the passionate staff will make you feel the intrinsic rewards you may have expected to feel when you set out to take on this project. Interaction is critical to being both a highly performing and highly satisfied team, as highlighted in Conflict Management in Teams.
- Be prepared for unexpected
- The Bolivian people will surprise you in so many ways. Their kindness and resilience are some things I never expected coming into this trip, but are the things that left the most lasting impressions on me. On a different note of unexpected things, as I’ve mentioned throughout this blog, your time at CEOLI will definitely lead to new information, some of which will be mentioned for the first time and you will have to incorporate that into your project to some capacity. For example, when discussing equipment procurement, we knew we had to get laptops, but when in country, we heard about things like equipment for cerebral palsy and equipment from the Special Olympics for the first time.
- Start on deliverables as soon as possible
- Things take time and 14 weeks is a lot shorter than it seems. One of our deliverables required us to make professional connections between therapy organizations in the US and CEOLI. Relationships take time to establish, so give yourself enough time to do this. Also, I think a key reason why our fundraising efforts were so successful was because we started right at the beginning of the semester. With the GoFundMe being up for 14 weeks, we were able to raise a total of $3000, which is much higher than last year’s group, who started their GoFundMe much later in the semester.
If I were to summarize this experience, I would say that it was an impactful service-learning project where I collaborated with a team of 7 other students to create solutions that supported the professional development and operational needs of our nonprofit client. The experience was driven by ambiguity where we had to navigate incomplete information, language barriers, and evolving client needs. Ultimately, we were able to deliver on each of our deliverables, which not only satisfied the client, but was a meaningful way for our team to close out this project. Bolivia will always have a special place in our hearts.