Building Confianza in a Developing World

In Spanish, the word "confianza" means trust, and during our first three months in-country, also known as Peace Corps training, we are taught incessantly about the importance of gaining confianza and building relationships within the community before diving right in and attempting to start a project. In the U.S., diving right in with a business associate may roll, but in a developing nation where you may not share the same political, religious, cultural, educational, and/or socioeconomic background as those with whom you work, if you have no confianza, you'll have limited success.

Now that I have over a year and a half in my site, I feel I've developed enough confianza with certain people to make our work together worthwhile. With some people, it came easily because of their relationships with the previous environmental education volunteer, or because of an inherent openness or fondness towards Americans and American culture. However, this was certainly not the case with everybody.

People generally view all "gringos" the same - rich, right-wing, and basically there to give away hand-outs. To try to teach people the reality in that not all Americans are alike, just as not all Nicas are alike, and that we are working voluntarily for only a modest living stipend, is very difficult.

However, one thing that certainly helps level the playing field is our living allowance, or better said, stipend. In the U.S., we are considered volunteers, but here, we make just about the same amount of money as any teacher, which is not considered a salary for us but rather a stipend for basic living expenses. As much as this can frustrate any volunteer who's used to going out on a weekly basis, traveling, and saving up money back home, it can actually be a blessing.

Why? It puts us more on the same playing field with our counterparts who are making about the same amount of money as we are. We live in similarly-sized houses under the same living conditions and are therefore no longer seen as "rich gringos" (well, at least that is the goal). It gives two people raised under entirely different circumstances more things to share in common.

The rest of the confianza-building process depends on how much you're willing to put yourself out there and step out of your comfort zone during your first few months of service to visit people you hardly even know at their houses and try to carry on a conversation in a language which you barely dominate. As awkward as this was, I now realize how much closer I am with these teachers than with the teachers with whom I started working mid-service because we've gotten to know each other personally rather than on just a professional basis. We cook together, they invite me to family and school functions, they come to my house with their kids, and they paint my toenails (I'm telling you, pedicure-quality toenail paintings).

But not only are we close personally, I have much more success with them work-wise because they show more interest in my projects. They truly understand what it is I'm doing in Nicaragua for two years. So is it really worth having all that free time in your first two months of service and sitting through all those awkward silences when you're first getting to know each other? Absolutely.

It may not have been apparent when I first got here why I had so much time off, why I wasn't just placed in-site right at the beginning of the school year instead of at the very end, or why "confianza" is so important and why we are forced to live on such small means. It's made me get to know and understand better the people with whom I work on a regular basis. I'm more respected. And I often feel more like a part of the community than a complete outsider. So even though my work can often frustrate me, I can at least feel some sense of accomplishment because of the relationships I've built along the way.