NSM 1: Cultural Shock

I don't really know where to start because the last 5 days were extremaly exciting and so much happended that I want to share. In order to keep the confusion low I'll just do it chronological. Thuesday, 30st of May: Catching the bus from Guayaquil at 11p.m. to Loja. 8 hours travel where I unsuccessfully tried to sleep well. Wednesday, 31st of May: Arrival in Loja being pretty tired. Preparing the Faci (=MC incoming and outgoing) Roll Call. Then the whole day LCP premeeting. Important part of this premeeting was the discussion of the proposals. After quite a long discussion we found agreements and except one all the proposals got the YES of the presidents. Which means, my proposals of 2 recruitements and 2 LDS (Leadership Development Seminar) got through. I was pretty happy about that... how cool?! In the evening we went to the site Thursday, 1.6.2006 START OF THE CONFERENCE AND CULTURAL SHOCK!!!! Yes right, in Ecuador or latin America in general people aren't so punctual. So when I've heart the first time, that the plan is that all the delegates arrive in Loja at 8a.m., travel to the site (which is one hour away), arrive at 9 a.m. and the agenda starts at 9.30 I already knew that this is kind of impossible and we will start late. Wouldn't be a problem - if the people came late, but they didn't come at all!! We had 48 applications and at 9.30 not a single delegate was there - only OC, Faci and LCPs. At 11.30 a.m. we had about 12 delegates and decided to start. To me - and to all the others as well, this was a really shocking and hard experience. We felt so bad about that. I mean, what kind of attitude is that?! All the participants applied for all the 4 days of the conference and then they just don't come!! They could have applied for only 3 or 2 days...!! Incredible! And most of their reasons for missing was that they had university!! Even the people form Loja (the hostplace) didn't come because of uni!! In that moment I realized that I have to forget the idea of a 4 days conference for newies together with the LDS (such as DO-IT) because if @ers don't have the committment to come 4 days to a conference where we do the national planning, which is to @EC of highest importance, if not even @ers are prepared to miss 2 days of university - how can we expect that from newies, people who don't have a big understanding about @ and might not see the need of a conference attendance and how much fun it is...! Good bye sinergia! Although it was really disappointing for all of the people who were there I consider it as a very valubal experience. It shows the cultural and even local differences really clearly to me and makes me aware of this totally different environment that I'm in. On the other hand I also see that I desperately have to work on the @ culture! As much as I respect the cultural difference - and believe me I do - but this kind of attitude is just not acceptable. People need to learn that a word is a word, means something and that they have to stick to it. If you apply for 4 days, then you have to come for 4 days. Where is the proplem in planning if you are able to come 4 days or 3 or 2 or not at all?!?? What makes it even harder to understand is the fact that they have to pay. I mean whoever applied for 4 days has to pay for 4 days no matter if they come or not. And the people here don't have that much money that the conference fee of $30.- doesn't mean anything. It's quite a lot of money - especially in Ecuador...! Seriously, I don't understand. What can I do about it? How will it be at the next conference? Will I toghether with the MC be able to have an impact? ...a lot of questions and sorrows go through my head...