One of my favorite scenes in the show Friends is when Ross, along with Chandler and Rachel try to move a heavy couch up a windy staircase. They start off confidently and at the first turn they get stuck. At this point Rachel and Chandler look towards Ross who just keeps saying “pivot pivot pivot.” This scene is a perfect metaphor for my field experience. The couch represents our giant research plan that we worked on all of spring quarter. The windy staircase represents all the obstacles we’ve faced while here: violent protests, security issues, linguistic barriers, and illnesses. Chandler and Rachel represent Maddie and me, who are trying to carry and navigate this “couch” up the “staircase.” Lastly Ross, represents Keith who tells us at each turn to pivot! While this has proved to be an exhausting and frustrating experience, as a strong J, at each step of this summer I think I’ve learned the importance of patience and flexibility, and accepting that life is not a straight staircase but rather a windy one that we need to pivot and navigate through.
We started in the headquarters of Iluméxico, in Mexico City, going over our research plan and itinerary with the Iluméxico team. The biggest accomplishment was building our own model solar powered cooler. Although we are no engineers I’m pretty proud of our model! Shortly after, we had our first pivot, violent teacher protests in the state of Oaxaca that impeded us from entering the state. After getting over the frustration that we would no longer be able to partake in the comparative research project in Oaxaca, Maddie and I worked about a week to make the best of a new research plan in Campeche. We were optimistic, and saw the silver lining, that we would have the opportunity to interview recipients of solar panels from the government, which would give us a unique hands on experience of what we learned in class and contrast the charity model vs. the social enterprise model. I was disappointed about not getting to go to Oaxaca, but I was excited that I would have the chance to put to the test the social enterprise model in the field and gather evidence for myself.
Week one in the field proved to be both eye opening and challenging. Our biggest challenge was working on team dynamics and linguistic barriers. Our original plan was to have me conduct the interview and have Maddie take notes. While this was a good plan, as soon as we got to the field we realized that this would not work given that they spoke extremely fast and in thick accents, making it hard to take notes. Since we are both strong J’s this was not a happy discovery, and it took some time for us to communicate our thoughts and come up with a new plan. Although we were frustrated that the first couple of days were slow in the field, Maddie and I got to bond, which brought us closer together and allowed us to be perfectly in sync for the coming days in the field.
Although going to Campeche was never part of the plan, I am grateful that we ended up there, because we had the opportunity to go to Chilan-balan, a community without light, and got to install solar panels and stay overnight. I think this has been my favorite part of the trip thus far. It was really special for me to take part of the installations, and it clarified Iluméxico’s mission for me witnessing their work first hand. I’ll never forget the look of this little boy as soon as we turned on the light bulb in his home. He lit up along with the light and couldn’t stop smiling and pointing at the lightbulb saying: “luz, luz!” We installed around 20 home systems in those two days!
Something I’ve personally struggled with is the depth of poverty in Mexico. The differences are so drastic from one place to the next, and as someone born in Mexico City, it is a little disheartening to see there is so much money concentrated in one city when the rest of the country is extremely marginalized. Each day on our way to the communities I felt like I crossed three different levels of poverty, which is really rough mentally. Our hotel is a small pueblo that I would consider poorer than most places in the U.S., the small villages on our way to the interviews are even poorer, and definitely poorer than anywhere in the U.S., and lastly we arrive to the communities like Chilan-balan, and witness a kind of poverty I’ve never seen in my life before, yet the kindness these people receive you with is probably more genuine than anywhere else I’ve been before too. It’s a strange feeling, on the one hand it makes me appreciate everything I have, but on the other hand it makes me feel a little guilty and wishing I could do more to help.
The best part of my day is always conducting interviews. It’s unbelievable how selfless and hospitable these people are. Offering us what little food and drink they have to complete strangers. These people are all so willing to take part in the interviews, and are excited to share their stories and experiences with us. These people have a lot to say, and I wish everyone had the opportunity to listen first hand to their stories. It was very touching at the end of the interview some of the comments they had for us. I remember a couple of people thanking us for taking the time to come so far just to see them. It’s really amazing how something as simple as taking the time to have a conversation means the world to them, making them feel acknowledged, and important, in a place were they are so marginalized and almost “forgotten.”
The rest of our trip remains up in the air, but I’m curious to see what windy turns are waiting for us up ahead! I think Maddie and I have dominated the pivoting technique when working with social enterprises by now 🙂