Blog Post #2 - CP

After working at CCZ for two weeks, my definition of service has definitely shifted or perhaps solidified. One of the most important aspects of service is showing up to a discussion, being open to criticism, and listening to different perspectives.

During this past week, I was able to go to the Zambian Alternative Mining Indaba with my co-workers, who helped organized the whole event. “Indaba” means a meeting among stakeholders, around mining for this particular event. The purpose of this meeting was for community members and civil society members to bring issues and concerns to the attention of representatives of government, i.e. the Ministry of Mines, Chamber of Mines, and Ministry of National Development and Planning, and representatives from the mining companies, i.e. First Quantum Mining. During the opening ceremony, the Minister of Mines were present and delivered the opening speech. Afterwards, he held a Q&A session with the community members that caused the program to run behind for about 2 hours. The discussions were heated and animated, with community members questioning the minister about everything from corruption to the recent mining disaster in the Black Mountain. While the beginning discussions were much appreciated by the community members, the minister immediately left the conference, rounding up his time to about an hour at the conference there. In the following discussions, representatives from the Chamber of Mines and the Ministry of National Development and Planning all failed to show up. The community members became upset at the absence of the government members as it undermines the whole purpose of the conference in the first place. They feel like their opinions and beliefs are not being heard and taken into account, which is why communities are disproportionately affected.

This was, to me, a failed attempt at serving the citizens and communities that they were meant to serve. In our pre-departure seminar class with Tine, we explored the different meanings of service to us. Tine alluded to us that service can be as simple as really listening and considering the different perspectives of the people you’re trying to serve. This experience has reinforced my definition of “service” that I hope to apply to any other projects and efforts that I take on. In my efforts to serve, I must take into account their point of view and make sure that they are heard beforehand to be able to serve effectively.