On Making Lemonade

So as I head into the countdown phase of my time here in Mexico, I am deep in the throws of my reflection stage and both loving and hating it. I am starting to remember all the things I love and will miss about being here and getting re-frustrated with the reasons why I simply couldn't stay any longer. I want to take this blog post to tell about my job at the Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature (FMCN), to reflect on my time at work and explain how some of the issues I've had there transcend into life in Mexico overall. This will be the reflection piece where I comment on the bad  things about Mexico so that I can get it out of my system, accept it for what it is, and relish the spectacular things about my life here in the remaining posts. Some of my observations will seem overly critical but they are honest and as a result of my on-going reflecting have all been turned into positives and constructive life lessons.

I. My job and lessons learned

If you go back to post 1 of this blog I listed the following as one of my goals for my time in Mexico:

•  Explore the inner workings of a non-profit that advocates for nature conservation in a country that has bigger problems (or maybe they're interconnected? I'll find out!)

My work here is based primarily on fundraising for FMCN's  initiative to conserve the Golden Eagle; the bird on their flag and a national symbol (like the American Bald Eagle). This initiative is based on 5 pillars that range from finding corporate sponsors, to crowdfunding and creating a separate fund specifically for the Golden Eagle. I write concept notes for potential partners, I am working on creating a stronger media presence, launching a Global Giving page  and have spent a couple of weeks working with the MAR Fund in whatever capacity they need. Translating, editing and writing random things in English are also part of my responsibilities.

*Before I get to the reflecting, I want to say that I love my co-workers and the work that the organization aims to do so that I don't sound like some crazed hater.*

The Golden Eagle is the most common National Animal  in the world 

I would say that unfortunately I have been a little bit disappointed in terms of my role as a grantee at FMCN but that overall I have learned a lot about how difficult environmental work is and how the inefficiencies that sometimes plague non-profits can ultimately be a debilitating detriment to substantial progress. What I learned about myself in this whole process is that although I like the idea of working at a non-profit, I'm a little more "corporate" than I thought. I like the structure, the expectation that you are working efficiently, the consistent feedback between manager and employee, the opportunities for growth, and the separation between the personal and professional. Granted, some of these issues are likely skewed because of Mexican culture. I'll comment on that later on in this post.

I also found out that the environment is desperate for help and that its conservation has direct social implications. Women that burn firewood to cook are killing trees but also inhaling an average of 15 cigarettes a day, the economies of fishing communities rely on the existence of certain species that are being over fished and will eventually become extinct, and species, like the Golden Eagle, are dying off partially because their habitat continues to be destroyed by livestock farmers that don't practice sustainable farming. I will never forget the direct link between the environment and people and I would actually truly enjoy working on initiatives that worked to help both.

I realized however that it really does take a passion for the work you're doing to be completely happy and that I just have a much deeper passion for social issues that arise from a lack of education, economic stability, government assistance or infrastructure. 

A great video that shows the direct link between the environment and people

II. On frustrations and making lemonade

Last week, we had a integration workshop for the entire office in Valle de Bravo. I'm going to use some of what happened at this workshop to exemplify some of my difficulties with working in Mexico.  These issues transcend into life in general here so I'll comment on that and then finally explain how all these "bad" things have really helped me out.

So we had this workshop that was supposed to help acquaint everyone and allow for all employees to not only learn of other's roles within Fondo but also to figure out some of the issues that face the organization and how personal development could help solve these. I am not exactly the biggest fans of development workshops simply because after having sat through many of them I feel that they fail at helping individuals work together more effectively.

It doesn't help to know that you are an ENTJ, that you would be a monkey in the animal kingdom, that 1 of your 5 strengths is "adaptability" or that in a word cloud of words that describe you the biggest one is "practical" if you are not going to take advantage of the lessons provided by these self-help surveys and integrate them into your lifestyle and your work with others.

 I only highlight that sentence because I like it. Yes, I do think I'm clever. Sorry for the irrelevant aside.

Anywho, at this workshop we learned that based on a survey of all FMCN employees, the biggest issues the organization faced were:

• Structures and Procedures
• Conflict Management

The survey also showed that employees believed that their motivation to be productive was low, the level of clarity about their role was low and their desire to be working at Fondo in the long term was low. I believe that this stems from the way that the organization is set up. Fondo has one general director ("CEO") without whom the organization would collapse and leave the conservation of nature to the wind. He is 58 so it would make sense that at some point, a leadership training program would be implemented to ensure that in case he wants to retire (or you know, on the off chance that he get run over by a semi truck), the conserving continues. But no. They'll just take their chances I guess.  Anywho, having only one "main boss" means that there is no opportunity for promotion or leadership development and since there is little clarity within roles, people get really good at doing a multitude of random things within a region (forests, wildlife reserves, reefs, oceans) and then leave. 

Based on my calculations 25% of the people at this workshop were new and had not been at last year's workshop. It probably doesn't need to be said but I'm gonna say it anyway: that is simply a ludicrous turnover rate. 

Having all of this information presented to us was helpful because I could finally see that my frustrations were not isolated and unwarranted. I have had very little clarity about  the objectives of my work, how to measure progress and little organizational support and mentorship. If I had been sent the survey (which I wasn't and displays the 'structures and procedures' problem employees mentioned), I would have to agree with all the things that were highlighted as issues.

Just a picture I stole from FB to show that I'm all smiles still :) 

On a more interpersonal level, one of the things that I have struggled with both at work and out is the inability for many Mexicans to just shoot it straight . Mexicans do not like to say "no" or anything that they believe you won't want to hear and although you may think this is a nice way of sparing feelings, it is actually one of the main reasons I believe working and living here is so inefficient. 

For example, in packing for this workshop, the instructions we received were:

                  "Bring clothes you can get wet because you might get wet"

Okay. Cool. Any rational human would think okay, well you probably mean flip-flops, maybe shorts or something because we're gonna be playing with water guns or water balloons or maybe canoeing. The assignment upon arrival was to build a makeshift boat out of rope, 4 sticks and 4 inner-tubes and to float your group of about 12 across the lake in turns. WHAT IN THE #!$?@*.

 If you know me, you probably already know the face I made when I saw that. You MIGHT get wet? Of, effing, course you're going to get wet! And that right there is exactly what I mean. There was a slight fear that people wouldn't like hearing that they were going to get soaked so instead we were told that the chance of us getting wet was minimal even though in reality it was near certain. It was clearly not a big deal and ended up being a blast but the point is basically that I am excited to go back to people who just say what they mean and mean what they say. I am an adult. You are an adult. Let's cut the crap. 

This cutting the crap thing is also applicable to asking for feedback and constructive criticism. Those concepts here are virtually non-existent. I am beyond ecstatic to get some on a consistent basis starting soon.

Our raft was even jankier than this

As I said, this inefficiency is clear at work but can truly be seen in essentially every transaction in Mexico. Most recently this became evident when I got mugged and despite the cop's advice, didn't file a report simply because I knew that I  would never see my stuff again regardless. In the bag I got stolen, I had my official Mexican ID. It's been 3 weeks since the mugging and we still haven't even gotten close to getting a new one because there is a ridiculous, bureaucratic and undeniably ineffective system to get a new one that I am sure will conclude the day before I leave Mexico. 


I've mentioned a few of these inefficiencies in posts before. We've got the unbearable crowding on the MetroBus, the lack of potable water, the fact that you run out of gas at the most inopportune time every 1.5 months and then have to practically beg a gas company to come fill it up ASAP, the preference businesses have for cash payments, the inability to get change when you pay with said cash, the lack of Greek yogurt etc. Yes, I said it. Mexicans LOVE yogurt. There are 30 brands of yogurt at the supermarket. No Greek yogurt. #vandygirlproblems

Now to the good stuff:
Lemonada 1. 

One of the interesting things I kept hearing during the workshop was how much "passion" influenced the chaos and the under-developed ideas tossed around at FMCN. I got to thinking about the role that passion plays in an organization where there is a deep commitment to the work being done. I decided that to promote environmental conservation or social change or any other good thing in the world, passion is necessary. Passion however, does NOT excuse inefficiency since in order to implement effective, sustainable and financially sound initiatives it is fundamental that a lot of time and effort be put into the research, analysis, development and implementation of these ideas. You can walk into any kindergarten class and get 100 ideas on how to save the world. It takes more than passion to actually do it. 

It is a lesson learned the hard way but that will never be forgotten. 

Lemonada 2. 
I realized that learning what you like is as important as learning what you don't like and that seeing the inefficiencies and opportunities for growth at Fondo will eventually be as helpful as seeing how a well-structured company operates. 


Lemonada 3 
It is essential that if things out of your control are inefficient, that you are not. I have learned that in the real world, your life is not scheduled out into classes and extra-curricular activities the way it was in college so it is even more important to be as productive as possible with the time available. I've been watching Ted Talks, Kahn Academy lessons and documentaries, reading, training for a warrior dash, studying for my Macro-economics class, traveling, reflecting, learning to cook, blogging etc.

Living in Mexico has its problems but Life is good. Sound track time: