I called a meeting on this past Monday at 9:00 AM at Mavula Primary School which is one of the schools involved in the project. I wrote a memo that stated that there was a meeting at the above-mentioned time and place and the things we would be discussing and that either the principal or a representative from the school would be required to attend. I went to each school, gave the principal the memo, sat down and explained it to them, and they agreed to either come or send a representative in their place.
On Monday at 8:30 I sent a reminder text message to the principals about the meeting. My principal didn't show up, two schools hurriedly sent representatives, two principals showed up (one of which was the principal of the school hosting the meeting), and one school didn't send a representative at all. At the end of the meeting we decided to meet again on Friday to finish up the proposal.
I went to visit the school that didn't send a representative after the meeting. I talked to the sports director and he said the principal didn't inform him of the meeting. I went in on Tuesday to talk to her and I was walking into her office and as I was walking in, and like a child who knew she was caught doing something wrong she said, "you're going to scold me, aren't you?". She claims, "It slipped my mind". I reminded her of the memo that we discussed together and that I sent her a reminder message a half hour before the meeting. She claimed her battery was flat and didn't get my message until after the meeting. I asked her why she didn't call me when she got the message, she didn't have an answer. So she knew that she messed up because the sports director told her I was there the day before looking for her and I was mad. Instead of calling me then and apologizing and acknowledging she was wrong, she waited for me to come and see her. I explained to her how much work I was doing, and that all I had asked of her was to write one letter, and come to three meetings since November and she came an hour late to the first meeting, missed the second two, and took 4 months to write the note. I told her that she doesn't seem like a person who is serious about it and must not really want it because she is putting no effort into it even though I'm asking very little of her. She said, "I want it, you can tell I am the type of person that wants it by the tone in my voice". After about another 15 minutes of this charade she appointed the sports director to come in her place.
I was running a little late today and showed up at 9:24 for the meeting and NOBODY WAS THERE! I've learned some things about communicating with people so instead of sending them a text message berating them for not showing up for the meeting at 9:00 I sent them a pleasant reminder: "Principals' meeting starts at 10:00 at Mavula. You or a representative of your school must attend". One principal came immediately; she was the only non-hosting principal that showed up. We waited for an hour and a half and then she said, "This is ridiculous, I've wasted an hour and a half waiting for this meeting to start that I could have spent doing work at my school!". I said, "See? This is what it feels like, this happens to me all of the time". I think I may have actually reached her with that message and hopefully now at least she will start coming to my meetings on time.
I visited each of the schools that didn't attend, all of which didn't send me a message saying they weren't going to make it, and had a discussion with them. I explained to them that the DOE asked them if they wanted a Peace Corps Volunteer at their school and they said no. My principal told the principals of the other 5 schools that she was applying for a volunteer and needed another school to apply with her; nobody wanted one and she had to pretty much force my other principal to sign the form. Even though my principal did all the work to get me here and keep me here, I am still helping them get sports fields and all I'm asking for is them to come or send a representative to some meetings, write a few letters, and give me their input and they can't even do that. When the Circuit Manager calls a meeting they make sure to go to his meetings or at least communicate that they weren't coming. I asked them why they felt it was ok to not go to my meetings, not send someone in their place and not call me to tell me they weren't coming. They just looked at me with a black stare with no answer except that they were sorry and from now on they are going to put more effort into it and work with me; we'll see.
I've been struggling to cope with the lack of effort that the principals have been putting into this project thus far. I have presented them with a huge opportunity to improve their schools by giving their students access to all sorts of sports and they aren't willing to put in hardly any effort to help me. I believe that I may have at least convinced that one principal to have a little more respect for me and my requests for assistance so I guess today's meeting was at least marginally successful. I would love to drop the other half of them from the project but my goal is to bring sports to the community and if I have to deal with incompetence and laziness in the school leadership then that's the way it's going to be.
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