Although I have had some great experiences working with people that are actually interested in working, it is not all great. A few weeks ago the HIV Network was asked to go to a large school event and put on an EXPOSIDA (using big games and questions to teach youth about HIV, it actually works really well). Youth Without Borders is an NGO that developed the EXPOSIDA and has all the games and materials, so I communicated with them to see what we could do and it was one of the worst experiences I have had here. The coordinator was so difficult to work with, the whole time I felt like she thought she was doing me a favor (whereas it is actually the other way around because I am the volunteer and this is her job). Getting her to do anything was like pulling teeth. All she could think of was the obstacles which would stop us from doing the event and not any of the solutions. One of our problems was finding prizes to give to the kids (if they win the games and answer the questions correctly they get tickets and can buy small prizes). So, like three days before the event we start asking people to donate prizes (way to plan ahead right). Sometime during this process it comes out that there are left over prizes in the Youth Without Borders Office that we could use. So I ask the coordinator why she didn’t say anything and why we don’t use the prizes that they already have. She reasons that if we use the prizes now we won’t have prizes for the next time we do an EXPOSIDA. I was absolutely flabbergasted at this reasoning and tried to explain that this event is a little more pressing because it is two days away and that after we can get more prizes for the next event (whenever that may be).
Me at the prize table
Anyway, the event went well, people were interested and actually learned, so that is good. However, afterward I felt like I never wanted to work with her again. I have very little patience for people who don’t want to work and do everything they can to get out of doing their job.
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