Charity working through frustration & learning her some things she needs to work on

Today I got my first taste of inefficiency at NGOs. It’s an issue that I know is common in the U.S so I wasn’t surprised to see it rear its ugly head here in South Africa. Only thing is inefficiency is one of my top pet peeves. The situation involved miscommunication and unnecessary delays to the organization and execution of our project. Our team spent the entire day working on multiple drafts of the same task, only to be told the next day that changes needed to be made to the product once again before we could move forward with time sensitive portions of our project. I hate when my time is being wasted and I left the office that day and the day after extremely frustrated. What bothers me the most is seeing the potential and knowing the influence that this organization has and still watching them spin their wheels in the mud over simple tasks or issues that could have been avoided. Non-profit work comes with a whole host of challenges outside of our control, so I’m a firm believer in making sure the things that I can control operate smoothly. I’m struggling now with whether or not I should begin making small suggestions that will help with productivity. On the one hand, I don’t want to come off as the American that just arrived and now wants to change how the office conducts itself because I would never want to act like a “savior”. But on the other hand, I see how they could all make their lives and the life of the organization flow so much better with a few easy fixes. The hardest part of the last few days was continuing to show up to my internship, even while being frustrated. Working through the frustration has taught me a lot about myself, shown me some things that I need to work on and reminded me that frustration is a part of the work. Even outside of administrative snafus, being able to make the change and impact that you wish to have can be frustrating. Not everyone will always be on board with your goals. There will be roadblocks that will make you question why you decided to take on this cause and fight for a difference in the first place. But it’s all a part of the journey. On the other side of all that frustration, disappointment and uncertainties is the progress. So in the words of our beloved internship coordinator Vernon Rose, I will try to ride the wave through the roadblocks and remember why I do the work in the first place.