September 8, 2010

• Motivation

  This last week Josh and i were requested to fill out an online survey put out by a friend of a friend doing research at a university in the States. He’s looking into the “motivation of nonprofit organization workers for accepting international assignments” and is collecting a thousand or so responses from people who are currently working abroad for NGOs. As for other online surveys we’ve done… (actually, only one other, the one we had to do for the Missionary Health Institute for our end-of-term physical, emotional, and mental health check) it’s interesting to notice the questions they ask and guess at what they’re fishing for And they always seem to be a great source of conversation between Josh and i (Which is fantastic because we think we know each other so well that conversation is often necessary LOL). For this particular questionnaire i found it notable that there are many different reasons people leave for international work with non profit organizations… and some of them are quite obviously non-religious. ha.

  Are we here, for example, because we’re after career advancement? (ha. no!) Because we want to get away from a difficult and/or bad situation at home? (hm, maybe the overabundance of Christmas family gatherings. Haha) Financial gain? (amused snort) Prestige? Some of the ones i marked down as things i agreed with were the benefits of cultural adventure, interacting with people of different countries, serving others, benefits for my children and spouse of living in a cross cultural environment, getting away from negative aspects of my home country, a sense of calling (ok, these are in no particular order of importance f.y.i).

  To be sure, except for the fact that we dislike being away from family (or, more specifically – are sad about the fact that our children are not growing up with the same experience of family as they grow up like Josh and i did) and that the transient lifestyle sucks (most notably in relation to friends coming and going at high frequency) the lifestyle we lead here is difficult to compare with anything we could be doing in Canada. Granted, both of us are – or have become – the kind of people for whom ‘the usual’ is unbearable. We remind ourselves of this often when we find that we’re whinging about missing ‘the usual’. But as far as, for example, the amount of time Josh can spend with his boys – there’s no way we’d find a similarly awesome situation in Canada. And, we’re quick to confess that the climate is pretty tough to beat. I didnt really mind Manitoban winters before i moved away, and i do still find myself missing them… but the thought of 9-10 months of really cold weather as opposed to 9-10 months of really hot weather is rather difficult to swallow by now. Call us wussy. We know it. So, unfortunately for some, we’re still happier here.
  

  • 4:16 am
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