Please bear with me as I use a bizarre analogy. Late last week, my computer decided to play hopscotch with the normal functions it is supposed to perform, leaving me at the mercy of my team mates and in the waiting room of a computer repair shop. I had determined not to get too frustrated, but was made immediately aware of how reliant we are all on technology- so many of my projects depended on e-mail contacts, internet access, sharing Google documents, accessing stored phone numbers, etc.
The times when we find ourselves teetering between stress and forfeit remind me of how thankful I am for the people that swoop in to help. They are not the masked super heroes that we read about, but they are the team member sitting next to you who sends some extra e-mails and takes on an extra hour of work. They are the jean-wearing tech masters who can decipher 10-12 digit strands of information and troubleshoot out-loud. These unexpected moments of sanity always come when I realize how much I do not control in life and how much I rely on the people around me. (A little plug for anyone reading this blog- next time you’re in traffic and someone lets you cut in front of them, please wave. It will make someone’s day, I promise).
The moral of my jumbled story is that even these computer glitches and their aftermath helped me grow in my efforts to help the Bhutanese. For instance, while I was temporarily kept from productive work, I was quickly reminded of the fear that accompanies a problem you have no idea how to solve. I was desperate for the tech person to explain the situation in my language and to fix what was broken. Similarly, the refugees are desperate for some advocates to make sense of this new land and help them fix the unemployment situation. Resources are not helpful if we hoard our knowledge of them. I have a renewed commitment to get as many resources ready as possible (our team motto) and say thank you as much as I can.
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