Friday, April 15, 2011
Part 2
I said to myself, these local organizations are losers. Maybe the international organizations have a better system, more reliability and more auditing…
In 2009, I received an email from an Iraqi lady who lives in America and of course she is a US citizen. She runs an organization for women and has 8 branches in all over the world including Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries in Africa. She said that she needs a Country Director for the Organization branch in Iraq, Baghdad.
I thought very deeply about this offer, in the meantime, she came to Jordan and we met in person. Initially, I was convinced of her and her intellectual mind. I said at least she’s Iraqi and is concerned with Iraqi people. I agreed to work with their NGO in Baghdad Head office . I agreed that I will spend 3 weeks in Baghdad and one week in Jordan. I requested that the contract is signed for 3 months and it can be renewed for a year if I wished to do so…
They sent me many e-maisl with all the literature regarding the organization including the ideas, the vision, the mission and the objectives. I read it with complete serious notion. But I had a feeling that something is odd about their literature. They use the word “Investment”.
They say that the organization started with only 100 thousands dollar capital before 16 years and now they have 26 million dollar. They aim to increase the capital to 48 million dollar in few years.
I didn’t understand that reasoning?
It is supposed to be a humanitarian non-profit organization. Why do they have this kind of discourse as business men more than humanitarian workers?
I read their report about Iraq and found it unconvincing. The numbers were not reasonable and exaggerated. There is no high professional detail demonstrating that women circumstances are improving. They focus on one important point that is how these women spend the cash that they receive from this organization. The organization collects 27 dollar donations from American women and gives the Iraqi women10 dollar only. The remaining 17 dollars supposed to cover operation expenses such as offices lease, water, electricity, trainers’ salary…etc.
I went to Baghdad and I found the situation in the office very mysterious and uncomfortable. When I asked the programs manager to provide me with reports on the number of women and their names, he refused, and he yelled at me and left the office. When I asked the financial manager to give me the details of the monthly expenses, he frowned and resigned on the next day…
I was very confused. These two are the most important employees in the organization and has been working for 5 years during which the Head office has no manager. These two employees sign each invoice. I thought for a while. The smell of corruption is very strong and doesn’t need a brainer or deep analysis to figure it out. I sent an e-mail to the Iraqi lady, the founder of the organizations who sits in Washington DC and told her what happened with me that day. What shall I do? How shall I act with them? She said, don’t touch them. They are trustworthy. Be nice to them and they will get used to you…
Be nice to them? What does that mean?
I used every mean to convince them to come back to work. It was clear that they were scared to death. I remember the financial manager’s shaky hands when he submitted the financial reports in my office. He was shaking every time I called him or asked him about an invoice detail…the second employee who is in charge of the women’s list should submit lists signed by women for receiving the monthly salary of 10 dollars. Each woman is supposed to join the program for one year. It means that each woman receives 120 dollar by the end of the year if she collected all of her monthly salaries. This is not enough for buying an Indian made sewing machine that costs 150 dollar.
The thieves came back to work under the protection and support of the head quarter in Washington.
In my opinion, they deserve to be dismissed from service to clean the place.
Up until the time I left work there, the place remained unstable and unable to operate in the required level of competency and transparency that I aspire to.
I started checking the monthly reports prepared by employees and submitted to Washington office. Most of it contained lies. The vocational training manager wrote that she has 80 women in the sewing and embroidery class. I visited the class every week and found no one there. The sewing machines were dirty and broken. The room was dusty and there were oily spots on the already dirty carpet.
I investigated the matter with the her and it turns out that women don’t like embroidery. They just want to learn sewing. They refuse to attend sewing classes because the teacher is male and they are asking for a female teacher. Only 4 women attend the class…
The organization founder was so happy there in Washington. She sent me reports( after I have signed my work contract with them ) saying that there are 80 women enrolled in the sewing class and 240 women enrolled in hair dresser and beauty class and so on…
But when I came to Baghdad, I found the facts on the ground don’t match the documents and the reports that are submitted to Washington. I started a plan for change so that things materialize on the ground. I consulted with the vocational manager whom I considered the most stupid, ignorant, and chaotic person with bad management skills. She is the most senior employee in the organizations. She’s been working with them since 2003. I wondered, why didn’t she learn and built her capacity?
We bought sewing machines and fabrics , and enrolled new women in the program. I asked her to take attendance for women and trainers. I suffered from her stupidity and stubbornness. By the end of the 10 months that I worked there before I left Baghdad heading back to Amman, I hope that she learned many things that she will find useful in the future.
I went to the hair dressing and beauty classroom. I found broken furniture, dirty carpet, broken dirty and old chairs. I asked the financial manager if there is a budget for vocational classes.
I bought new furniture, chairs and beauty supplies. The center became clean, tidy and women were happy with this change. I know that the financial manager hated me because I spent his budget.
I noticed that employees don’t register their attendance and leaves in an organized daily register. There is an old register where days were mixed up together. It contained the time employees came to work but not the time they left…
We prepared a special file for attendance, absence and emergency leaves. Employees’ signature is essential of course. I went to the accountant and asked him to give a to look at the software accounting program. He refused of course and claimed that he keeps it in a lap top at home. The other employee who is responsible for the women lists and signature also keeps the lap top at home. What an amazingly corrupted organization?
Every time I sent an e-mail to the head quarter complaining and asking for authority to change the staff. They respond: No, no keep the current staff. We invested many hours in them and trained them. You can’t change them…
I think this is one of the worst problems a new manager can face, when he find the facts in reality are untrue. There were wrong principles, ignorance, indifference and irresponsibility at work. There was ambiguity and hiding of financial information. It implies that there is a conspiracy among these employees regarding the program and the financial management. The other female employees demonstrated extreme stupidity and learning difficulty (they didn’t seem corrupted, but they have rare case of stupidity)
By time, I observed that the counts of women in the lists don’t match the real number. There were 700 names in the lists whereas there were 350 attending women only. Where did women go? Why didn’t they attend?
I kept spinning for an answer. I conducted meetings with staff. I heard their point of view. Each month we outline a new plan to attract women back, but in vain…
I talked to the head quarter about this problem and they said that this is a dangerous problem that may affect our reliability in front of donating American women. We cannot return the fund to the bank. We cannot register new women after 6 months of starting the program… it is a predicament.
The employee in charge of the women lists said to me one day that he will tell me a secret: He has a talent of faking signatures. I looked at him and I didn’t understand…
I forgot that subject and ignored it completely…
But now, I recall my memories there. I treated them with good intentions. No doubt, I was surrounded with thieves. But I didn’t have any authority to punish them or end their services. Also, I didn’t have any real evidence against them. There is a big chance that the names of women listed are not real and the signature forger signed for them. He’s probably been conspiring with the financial manager on this charade for years. What a failed management. They hire a manager for Iraq office with instructions not to touch the employees or change anything. I don’t know. I started to lose my satisfaction with this job . And I started to lose my trust in the management of the head quarter in Washington DC, as well…
I followed up with the work of trainers and I found them very exhausted and paid very little. I asked the head quarter to hire additional trainers. The response was delayed and didn’t carry any sign of approval. They want to save money and control the budget. That is the most important thing for them .
I asked if they do prefer to save on the account of work quality ? Yet, I didn’t receive a convincing answer. They always evaded any real solution to the presented problem in Baghdad office. In fact, they don’t want to hear about problems. They want to hear “yes sir, everything is going well” as if they are army captains and we are soldiers in the field carrying out orders without any argument.
I followed up the work of Monitoring and Evaluation employee. I found her very weak at what she does. She only fills out forms and sends them to Washington DC. I asked her if women get loans after graduating from the organization. She answered no, what is the use of enrolling in a program for one year? Is it to get 10 dollars a month? I found her very ignorant and that she doesn’t understand anything. She just fills forms in Arabic. There are multi choice answers. There is an English translation for each answer word in Arabic. This means that Washington office will understand the selected answers…
They write the final report according to their opinion. I don’t know what is my role as a manager of Baghdad office? What is the value of evaluating each training term for women who graduate after a year? There are no copies in the office. All original forms were sent to Washington. What kind of work is that? If I were asked for an interview and someone asked me about the Iraqi women, the program or the percentages, I wouldn’t have any answer. If fact, it was prohibited to talk to the media. We are like ghosts. No one is supposed to see us. Only employees in Washington DC can talk to the media and present the situation of Iraqi women, not us in Baghdad. It was prohibited to make any contact with local organizations or have joint activities with them. Thus the program remains only associated with the American organization. I told them that one of the key success factors of any local organization is to be effective in the society it operates in and not hide as if it is a secret organization. They didn’t like my perspective.
The work in Baghdad office was very exhausting. It requires opening new branches, hiring new staff of employees for each branch and managing them remotely. Because the employees in Baghdad office are so incompetent and not able to direct or help the new staff in the other branches, I had to do so myself by making trips to these branches from time to time, hold meetings there or in my office , and follow up the implementation either by daily phone calls or e-mail. I followed up their orders with suppliers according to the budget. Following up with suppliers was another problem, especially dealing with delays, bad supplies or broken equipments that are delivered to the centers…
All this requires a daily follow up…
During the week that I spent in Amman, I go back to find employees return to ground zero. I start giving instructions all over again and make arrangements so that work is back to order.
After a while, I felt that I live a different reality from that experienced by the organization founder and her American employees in DC. There is huge inconsistency in opinion and perspective.
I found that Washington DC office is only concerned with keeping the “image”, only the image , so that they keep addressing the American media and collect donations. They want to be able to say that we have offices in Iraq , we have employees, and we have women enrolled in the programs. But ciaos, mismanagement and thefts don’t matter.
I was so sad for the poor crushed Iraqi women who were enrolled in the program. They suffer the heat in the branches and they need a fan, an air conditioning unit or water cooler. The accountant always responded that there is no budget for that. I told him that there is a 27 dollar donation for each woman and we give each woman 10 dollars and the remaining 17 should cover training expenses and providing suitable environment for the class including at least drinking water in the summer. I am not asking for offering tea or coffee. He says that the instruction from Washington DC mandate controlling the budget…
I am speechless…
Every time I attended a graduation class, I asked them about their opinion of the program and what they suggest to improve it. The answer was: we need loans to start our small projects. What is the use of learning a profession when we don’t have the capital to open a small sewing project or a beauty Salon?
I wrote many e-mail messages to DC office asking them to do something about the loans or partner with an international organization that grant small loans to our graduates. I always receive short and silly answers implying that this subject doesn’t concern them…
What does concern them then?
**************************************
The fund for the branches’ projects has ended. The financial manager told me that he agreed with the head quarter to end the services of some employees and cut back the salaries of the remaining employees. If they wish to remain working, they have to stay as volunteers until a new fund is received.
I asked him, do you want to save money for Washington DC office on the expense of these poor women?
These poor women work in offices outside Baghdad and in remote poor areas, and you want them to volunteer their work for free of charge so that we save money for the organization?
Now I understand the story of how the capital has increased from 100 thousand to 26 million of that organization. They took 27 dollar monthly donation for each woman in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa. Then they found a donor to fund the operation expenses for these women (office rent, trainers’ salaries, utility, supplies…etc) and they keep the remaining 17 dollars in a their bank account in Washington DC.
This is a real investment. This is not a humanitarian organization, this is profit making investment.
Let me compare between what Iraqi participant women gain from this programs, and what the Founder and her team in the head office in DC, do gain from this program?
Each Iraqi women gain 120$ after one year of tiring traveling , through risky environment ,to attend the centers .while the ladies in the head office of DC, used to have high salaries ,with luxurious life, travelling and accommodation expenses are all covered by the organization . Thereby, who is most getting benefit from this NGO? I am always asking myself this question, to evaluate the outcome of those so-called humanitarian organizations.
Then I saw that the organization founder and her American employees live on the expense of poor women in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa. This is an investment and a business. The organization founder used to appears on the American TV networks crying for the Iraqi women. Then Poor American women respond to her with Millions of dollars as donations, thinking that they are supporting the Iraqi and Afghan women and clearing their conscious regarding what their government under the Bush administration has done against them invading their countries and raising the number of illiterate poor and widows. This highly intelligent Iraqi woman has taken advantage of that and created what appears to be a humanitarian organization. In reality, she operates with 100% commercial and investment principles. She doesn’t have a shred of mercy toward Iraqi women in her heart.
What a dupe I am? What brought me here to be the escape goat?
I remained 10 months in Baghdad exhausted while suffering physically and mentally to complete work with the best of my ability because I am an Iraqi and I consent to my sacrifice. It is not a sacrifice for the American organization or its fake Iraqi owner; it is for the poor widowed women who were crushed by the hardship of life after the invasion in 2003.
One day, I received an e-mail from the black berry phone of the organization’s founder telling me that she’s attending an important conference in Europe and she wants me to send her an idea about the economic problems in Iraq to submit for this conference…
I smiled and thought to myself what an arrogant and ignorant lady. She doesn’t want to bother with researching about Iraq economic problems in the internet or specialized scientific research site. I wondered and felt very sad about the triviality of these people. What a big liar she is.
I sent her a short response saying sorry, but I am not the right person to address this request. I recommend that you consult with experts on Iraq economy.
I started to lose my faith in the organization and its declared humanitarian mission. I started to see how corrupted and weak the employees around me are. They are submissive slaves who are afraid of the Washington DC office and don’t have management skills or ability to solve problems in a mature way. They were raised to follow orders like slaved, humiliated hypocrites. They spend their days in non sense talk conspiring against each other…
This is why the Washington DC office had a firm grip over the Baghdad office since 2003. This is the culture infused in them for five years. I thought to myself, how similar this organization to the situation in Iraq. Is it a small version of the relationship between the government of Iraq and the American invasion? I felt like a stranger among them. I don’t accept to be humiliated or submissive. I don’t accept to work with empty arrogant people who don’t have any principles and humanity. I don’t want to be among this team in Baghdad. Unfortunately, it is a hypocrite team with endless malicious behavior. They are not united. They hate each other and wish to crush each other. I held many meetings addressing the importance of high moral, transparency in work, loyalty and the necessity of uniting our efforts and hearts to become a successful team, but in vain.
There was duality in management. I preach certain culture and Washington DC office preaches a different culture. Washington DC office pays the salaries and they give the orders. My position was very weak…
In Baghdad office, the employees were slaves to those who had power and money…
I left them without any regrets…
When I reached Jordan, I received a phone call from one of the employees in Baghdad office informing me that he has documents and photos proving that the financial manager and the program manager forged documents and signatures worth of 50 thousand dollars and that they stole the organization’s fund during the previous years. I asked him why he didn’t come forward when I was a manager. He said that he was afraid. I said thank you, this means that the noble person among them is a speechless devil. He didn’t bother alerting me or giving me a copy while I was in Baghdad. Unfortunately, this is the case in Iraq now. It is torn and full of thieves and speechless devils. This organization deserves the thieves because it is a corrupt organization. As the proverb says this beard deserves this comb.
It was a hard and deep experience that I learned so much new lessons from. I learned a lot about the secrets of managements and work. I met many clean and kind people and I met corrupt souls that cannot be rehabilitated. I thank God for protecting me and getting me out of this tough experience while maintaining my physical and spiritual health.
I remember now because memory helps evaluating the past experiences and figuring out the pros and cons…
I like to be a positive person. I perceive things positively and always move forward. I don’t like to look back or cling on the past…
There is always a shining sun in my life that I follow and smile to…
This is the secret of my happiness and steadiness,
Thanks to God Al Mighty…
**********************************
I said to myself, these local organizations are losers. Maybe the international organizations have a better system, more reliability and more auditing…
In 2009, I received an email from an Iraqi lady who lives in America and of course she is a US citizen. She runs an organization for women and has 8 branches in all over the world including Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries in Africa. She said that she needs a Country Director for the Organization branch in Iraq, Baghdad.
I thought very deeply about this offer, in the meantime, she came to Jordan and we met in person. Initially, I was convinced of her and her intellectual mind. I said at least she’s Iraqi and is concerned with Iraqi people. I agreed to work with their NGO in Baghdad Head office . I agreed that I will spend 3 weeks in Baghdad and one week in Jordan. I requested that the contract is signed for 3 months and it can be renewed for a year if I wished to do so…
They sent me many e-maisl with all the literature regarding the organization including the ideas, the vision, the mission and the objectives. I read it with complete serious notion. But I had a feeling that something is odd about their literature. They use the word “Investment”.
They say that the organization started with only 100 thousands dollar capital before 16 years and now they have 26 million dollar. They aim to increase the capital to 48 million dollar in few years.
I didn’t understand that reasoning?
It is supposed to be a humanitarian non-profit organization. Why do they have this kind of discourse as business men more than humanitarian workers?
I read their report about Iraq and found it unconvincing. The numbers were not reasonable and exaggerated. There is no high professional detail demonstrating that women circumstances are improving. They focus on one important point that is how these women spend the cash that they receive from this organization. The organization collects 27 dollar donations from American women and gives the Iraqi women10 dollar only. The remaining 17 dollars supposed to cover operation expenses such as offices lease, water, electricity, trainers’ salary…etc.
I went to Baghdad and I found the situation in the office very mysterious and uncomfortable. When I asked the programs manager to provide me with reports on the number of women and their names, he refused, and he yelled at me and left the office. When I asked the financial manager to give me the details of the monthly expenses, he frowned and resigned on the next day…
I was very confused. These two are the most important employees in the organization and has been working for 5 years during which the Head office has no manager. These two employees sign each invoice. I thought for a while. The smell of corruption is very strong and doesn’t need a brainer or deep analysis to figure it out. I sent an e-mail to the Iraqi lady, the founder of the organizations who sits in Washington DC and told her what happened with me that day. What shall I do? How shall I act with them? She said, don’t touch them. They are trustworthy. Be nice to them and they will get used to you…
Be nice to them? What does that mean?
I used every mean to convince them to come back to work. It was clear that they were scared to death. I remember the financial manager’s shaky hands when he submitted the financial reports in my office. He was shaking every time I called him or asked him about an invoice detail…the second employee who is in charge of the women’s list should submit lists signed by women for receiving the monthly salary of 10 dollars. Each woman is supposed to join the program for one year. It means that each woman receives 120 dollar by the end of the year if she collected all of her monthly salaries. This is not enough for buying an Indian made sewing machine that costs 150 dollar.
The thieves came back to work under the protection and support of the head quarter in Washington.
In my opinion, they deserve to be dismissed from service to clean the place.
Up until the time I left work there, the place remained unstable and unable to operate in the required level of competency and transparency that I aspire to.
I started checking the monthly reports prepared by employees and submitted to Washington office. Most of it contained lies. The vocational training manager wrote that she has 80 women in the sewing and embroidery class. I visited the class every week and found no one there. The sewing machines were dirty and broken. The room was dusty and there were oily spots on the already dirty carpet.
I investigated the matter with the her and it turns out that women don’t like embroidery. They just want to learn sewing. They refuse to attend sewing classes because the teacher is male and they are asking for a female teacher. Only 4 women attend the class…
The organization founder was so happy there in Washington. She sent me reports( after I have signed my work contract with them ) saying that there are 80 women enrolled in the sewing class and 240 women enrolled in hair dresser and beauty class and so on…
But when I came to Baghdad, I found the facts on the ground don’t match the documents and the reports that are submitted to Washington. I started a plan for change so that things materialize on the ground. I consulted with the vocational manager whom I considered the most stupid, ignorant, and chaotic person with bad management skills. She is the most senior employee in the organizations. She’s been working with them since 2003. I wondered, why didn’t she learn and built her capacity?
We bought sewing machines and fabrics , and enrolled new women in the program. I asked her to take attendance for women and trainers. I suffered from her stupidity and stubbornness. By the end of the 10 months that I worked there before I left Baghdad heading back to Amman, I hope that she learned many things that she will find useful in the future.
I went to the hair dressing and beauty classroom. I found broken furniture, dirty carpet, broken dirty and old chairs. I asked the financial manager if there is a budget for vocational classes.
I bought new furniture, chairs and beauty supplies. The center became clean, tidy and women were happy with this change. I know that the financial manager hated me because I spent his budget.
I noticed that employees don’t register their attendance and leaves in an organized daily register. There is an old register where days were mixed up together. It contained the time employees came to work but not the time they left…
We prepared a special file for attendance, absence and emergency leaves. Employees’ signature is essential of course. I went to the accountant and asked him to give a to look at the software accounting program. He refused of course and claimed that he keeps it in a lap top at home. The other employee who is responsible for the women lists and signature also keeps the lap top at home. What an amazingly corrupted organization?
Every time I sent an e-mail to the head quarter complaining and asking for authority to change the staff. They respond: No, no keep the current staff. We invested many hours in them and trained them. You can’t change them…
I think this is one of the worst problems a new manager can face, when he find the facts in reality are untrue. There were wrong principles, ignorance, indifference and irresponsibility at work. There was ambiguity and hiding of financial information. It implies that there is a conspiracy among these employees regarding the program and the financial management. The other female employees demonstrated extreme stupidity and learning difficulty (they didn’t seem corrupted, but they have rare case of stupidity)
By time, I observed that the counts of women in the lists don’t match the real number. There were 700 names in the lists whereas there were 350 attending women only. Where did women go? Why didn’t they attend?
I kept spinning for an answer. I conducted meetings with staff. I heard their point of view. Each month we outline a new plan to attract women back, but in vain…
I talked to the head quarter about this problem and they said that this is a dangerous problem that may affect our reliability in front of donating American women. We cannot return the fund to the bank. We cannot register new women after 6 months of starting the program… it is a predicament.
The employee in charge of the women lists said to me one day that he will tell me a secret: He has a talent of faking signatures. I looked at him and I didn’t understand…
I forgot that subject and ignored it completely…
But now, I recall my memories there. I treated them with good intentions. No doubt, I was surrounded with thieves. But I didn’t have any authority to punish them or end their services. Also, I didn’t have any real evidence against them. There is a big chance that the names of women listed are not real and the signature forger signed for them. He’s probably been conspiring with the financial manager on this charade for years. What a failed management. They hire a manager for Iraq office with instructions not to touch the employees or change anything. I don’t know. I started to lose my satisfaction with this job . And I started to lose my trust in the management of the head quarter in Washington DC, as well…
I followed up with the work of trainers and I found them very exhausted and paid very little. I asked the head quarter to hire additional trainers. The response was delayed and didn’t carry any sign of approval. They want to save money and control the budget. That is the most important thing for them .
I asked if they do prefer to save on the account of work quality ? Yet, I didn’t receive a convincing answer. They always evaded any real solution to the presented problem in Baghdad office. In fact, they don’t want to hear about problems. They want to hear “yes sir, everything is going well” as if they are army captains and we are soldiers in the field carrying out orders without any argument.
I followed up the work of Monitoring and Evaluation employee. I found her very weak at what she does. She only fills out forms and sends them to Washington DC. I asked her if women get loans after graduating from the organization. She answered no, what is the use of enrolling in a program for one year? Is it to get 10 dollars a month? I found her very ignorant and that she doesn’t understand anything. She just fills forms in Arabic. There are multi choice answers. There is an English translation for each answer word in Arabic. This means that Washington office will understand the selected answers…
They write the final report according to their opinion. I don’t know what is my role as a manager of Baghdad office? What is the value of evaluating each training term for women who graduate after a year? There are no copies in the office. All original forms were sent to Washington. What kind of work is that? If I were asked for an interview and someone asked me about the Iraqi women, the program or the percentages, I wouldn’t have any answer. If fact, it was prohibited to talk to the media. We are like ghosts. No one is supposed to see us. Only employees in Washington DC can talk to the media and present the situation of Iraqi women, not us in Baghdad. It was prohibited to make any contact with local organizations or have joint activities with them. Thus the program remains only associated with the American organization. I told them that one of the key success factors of any local organization is to be effective in the society it operates in and not hide as if it is a secret organization. They didn’t like my perspective.
The work in Baghdad office was very exhausting. It requires opening new branches, hiring new staff of employees for each branch and managing them remotely. Because the employees in Baghdad office are so incompetent and not able to direct or help the new staff in the other branches, I had to do so myself by making trips to these branches from time to time, hold meetings there or in my office , and follow up the implementation either by daily phone calls or e-mail. I followed up their orders with suppliers according to the budget. Following up with suppliers was another problem, especially dealing with delays, bad supplies or broken equipments that are delivered to the centers…
All this requires a daily follow up…
During the week that I spent in Amman, I go back to find employees return to ground zero. I start giving instructions all over again and make arrangements so that work is back to order.
After a while, I felt that I live a different reality from that experienced by the organization founder and her American employees in DC. There is huge inconsistency in opinion and perspective.
I found that Washington DC office is only concerned with keeping the “image”, only the image , so that they keep addressing the American media and collect donations. They want to be able to say that we have offices in Iraq , we have employees, and we have women enrolled in the programs. But ciaos, mismanagement and thefts don’t matter.
I was so sad for the poor crushed Iraqi women who were enrolled in the program. They suffer the heat in the branches and they need a fan, an air conditioning unit or water cooler. The accountant always responded that there is no budget for that. I told him that there is a 27 dollar donation for each woman and we give each woman 10 dollars and the remaining 17 should cover training expenses and providing suitable environment for the class including at least drinking water in the summer. I am not asking for offering tea or coffee. He says that the instruction from Washington DC mandate controlling the budget…
I am speechless…
Every time I attended a graduation class, I asked them about their opinion of the program and what they suggest to improve it. The answer was: we need loans to start our small projects. What is the use of learning a profession when we don’t have the capital to open a small sewing project or a beauty Salon?
I wrote many e-mail messages to DC office asking them to do something about the loans or partner with an international organization that grant small loans to our graduates. I always receive short and silly answers implying that this subject doesn’t concern them…
What does concern them then?
**************************************
The fund for the branches’ projects has ended. The financial manager told me that he agreed with the head quarter to end the services of some employees and cut back the salaries of the remaining employees. If they wish to remain working, they have to stay as volunteers until a new fund is received.
I asked him, do you want to save money for Washington DC office on the expense of these poor women?
These poor women work in offices outside Baghdad and in remote poor areas, and you want them to volunteer their work for free of charge so that we save money for the organization?
Now I understand the story of how the capital has increased from 100 thousand to 26 million of that organization. They took 27 dollar monthly donation for each woman in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa. Then they found a donor to fund the operation expenses for these women (office rent, trainers’ salaries, utility, supplies…etc) and they keep the remaining 17 dollars in a their bank account in Washington DC.
This is a real investment. This is not a humanitarian organization, this is profit making investment.
Let me compare between what Iraqi participant women gain from this programs, and what the Founder and her team in the head office in DC, do gain from this program?
Each Iraqi women gain 120$ after one year of tiring traveling , through risky environment ,to attend the centers .while the ladies in the head office of DC, used to have high salaries ,with luxurious life, travelling and accommodation expenses are all covered by the organization . Thereby, who is most getting benefit from this NGO? I am always asking myself this question, to evaluate the outcome of those so-called humanitarian organizations.
Then I saw that the organization founder and her American employees live on the expense of poor women in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa. This is an investment and a business. The organization founder used to appears on the American TV networks crying for the Iraqi women. Then Poor American women respond to her with Millions of dollars as donations, thinking that they are supporting the Iraqi and Afghan women and clearing their conscious regarding what their government under the Bush administration has done against them invading their countries and raising the number of illiterate poor and widows. This highly intelligent Iraqi woman has taken advantage of that and created what appears to be a humanitarian organization. In reality, she operates with 100% commercial and investment principles. She doesn’t have a shred of mercy toward Iraqi women in her heart.
What a dupe I am? What brought me here to be the escape goat?
I remained 10 months in Baghdad exhausted while suffering physically and mentally to complete work with the best of my ability because I am an Iraqi and I consent to my sacrifice. It is not a sacrifice for the American organization or its fake Iraqi owner; it is for the poor widowed women who were crushed by the hardship of life after the invasion in 2003.
One day, I received an e-mail from the black berry phone of the organization’s founder telling me that she’s attending an important conference in Europe and she wants me to send her an idea about the economic problems in Iraq to submit for this conference…
I smiled and thought to myself what an arrogant and ignorant lady. She doesn’t want to bother with researching about Iraq economic problems in the internet or specialized scientific research site. I wondered and felt very sad about the triviality of these people. What a big liar she is.
I sent her a short response saying sorry, but I am not the right person to address this request. I recommend that you consult with experts on Iraq economy.
I started to lose my faith in the organization and its declared humanitarian mission. I started to see how corrupted and weak the employees around me are. They are submissive slaves who are afraid of the Washington DC office and don’t have management skills or ability to solve problems in a mature way. They were raised to follow orders like slaved, humiliated hypocrites. They spend their days in non sense talk conspiring against each other…
This is why the Washington DC office had a firm grip over the Baghdad office since 2003. This is the culture infused in them for five years. I thought to myself, how similar this organization to the situation in Iraq. Is it a small version of the relationship between the government of Iraq and the American invasion? I felt like a stranger among them. I don’t accept to be humiliated or submissive. I don’t accept to work with empty arrogant people who don’t have any principles and humanity. I don’t want to be among this team in Baghdad. Unfortunately, it is a hypocrite team with endless malicious behavior. They are not united. They hate each other and wish to crush each other. I held many meetings addressing the importance of high moral, transparency in work, loyalty and the necessity of uniting our efforts and hearts to become a successful team, but in vain.
There was duality in management. I preach certain culture and Washington DC office preaches a different culture. Washington DC office pays the salaries and they give the orders. My position was very weak…
In Baghdad office, the employees were slaves to those who had power and money…
I left them without any regrets…
When I reached Jordan, I received a phone call from one of the employees in Baghdad office informing me that he has documents and photos proving that the financial manager and the program manager forged documents and signatures worth of 50 thousand dollars and that they stole the organization’s fund during the previous years. I asked him why he didn’t come forward when I was a manager. He said that he was afraid. I said thank you, this means that the noble person among them is a speechless devil. He didn’t bother alerting me or giving me a copy while I was in Baghdad. Unfortunately, this is the case in Iraq now. It is torn and full of thieves and speechless devils. This organization deserves the thieves because it is a corrupt organization. As the proverb says this beard deserves this comb.
It was a hard and deep experience that I learned so much new lessons from. I learned a lot about the secrets of managements and work. I met many clean and kind people and I met corrupt souls that cannot be rehabilitated. I thank God for protecting me and getting me out of this tough experience while maintaining my physical and spiritual health.
I remember now because memory helps evaluating the past experiences and figuring out the pros and cons…
I like to be a positive person. I perceive things positively and always move forward. I don’t like to look back or cling on the past…
There is always a shining sun in my life that I follow and smile to…
This is the secret of my happiness and steadiness,
Thanks to God Al Mighty…
**********************************
# posted by Faiza Al-Araji @ 1:35 pm 
