Chinese Whispers...

How many times have we reacted on incomplete information? Or blown our fuse without hearing the whole story? I guess more number of times than we can recall.This incidence that happened with me brings out these lessons one would not forget easily.
One day while I was getting ready to go to office, our Training In charge called up to say that a dumper driver was threatening the new Safety Officer in the mine. He informed me that they were getting into a heated argument and the workers were gathering .

The sequence of events as they happened was that while the Training in charge and the Safety Officer were approaching the workers who were on a break, the dumper driver was heard telling his colleague that he would run the Safety Officer down. The Safety Officer heard this bit and approached the driver to warn him against making such statements. Soon they got into an argument. Since the situation had the potential of becoming ugly, the Training officer directed both of them to report to me to sort out the issue.

Knowing the dumper driver, I did not put it beyond him to make such a statement. I prepared myself to charge him under various sections of the labour law. However, as a practice I prefer to find things out for myself before taking any disciplinary action. When I was preparing to go to the mine from the office, I saw the dumper driver. I cautioned myself against losing my cool and called the driver to ask what had happened.

And this is what he had to tell me. “ Sir, I do not recognise the new Safety Officer since he has not been introduced in the shift. I was telling my colleague that this new person walks in the centre of the haul road in the mine and he may get run over by a vehicle. That is what he heard and started shouting at me.”

Haul road is where the 40 ton dumpers run carrying coal and other excavated material. Walking on it is highly risky and hazardous and is prohibited.

The reply was entirely plausible. I could not help smiling to myself. The game of Chinese whispers came to my mind.

The first thing I did was to call the Safety Officer and explain the entire issue to him and make the two of them patch up. Since he was new to the mining industry, advised him about the hazard of walking on the haul road. Next day organised the introduction of the Safety Officer which had been missed out.

As an HR person I wish to highlight two lessons from this episode. One, introduction of key employees is a critical part of the induction process. And second, do not play or act on Chinese whispers. Believe in finding facts for yourself and then take action.

Knowing the language...

The importance of communication can never be overemphasized. While the spoken word forms less than 10% of the communication process, it cannot be ignored. The criticality of learning the local language if it is foreign to you, if understood fully, can save one from myriad disastrous situations.
One had experienced it only to a limited extent. Because i had always worked in places where Hindi or English was the spoken and the written language. Coming into Mozambique where Portuguese is the official language was a new challenge. During my induction stage, my predecessor had cautioned me adequately that I must pay attention to this critical aspect. So mentally I was prepared to learn the rudiments of Portuguese as soon as possible.
When i started getting into my role as Head HR, i was advised that one has to be very cautious about what is spoken and how it is interpreted into Portuguese. We had learnt the hard way. A person whom the management trusted turned out to be trouble creator to sustain his own importance. Since we did not know the language, he misinterpreted discussions to create misunderstandings and thereby spoiling the labour-management relations.
As soon as we realised this, disciplinary action was initiated and his services terminated.
This happened within one month of my joining and it added impetus to my efforts at learning Portuguese. I spent a lot of time reading and listening to the locals. By and by i began to comprehend bits of conversation and make the whole sense. Eight months down the line, I do not need anybody to act as an interpreter for a worker to explain his problem to me. On my part I am able to explain simple points without an interpreter. However, i still need an interpreter when discussing issues other than routine.
Recently a Safety Officer was inducted into our organisation. I was introducing him in the shift and we had one person translating. During my introduction I said, "His primary responsibility would be towards safeguarding the interests of a safe working environment...."  The interpreter translated, "His primary responsibilty would be towards safeguarding the interests of the company."
I could see antagony and cynical expression fleeting across the faces of the workers.I also realised what was said and interjected immediately. I then started explaining in my laborious Portuguese what I wanted to convey and saw the expressions being relieved.
I shudder to imagine the damage that could have been caused by such misinterpretation.The workers would have lost faith in the system for which we have been working so hard.

Naming the Blog

I had been planning to start writing my experiences for quite sometime. But things kept happening so fast that i was caught up in one event after the other. One fine April day Rana and self were standing at the view point and Rana was pointing out something across the mine. He said, "Look beneath that tree."  'that tree' was a Baobab. And that's when it struck me.. "Beneath the Baobab".
It was five months later, that i finally shook off the ennui and overcame the inertia to create this blog. 'Beneath the Baobab' as a link was already taken. After several options, 'the monkeybreadtree' was accepted. And so www.the monkeybreadtree.blogspot.com came into being.

The fruit of the baobab is called Mulambi and has a hard velvety shell with white pith and seeds inside. It is very rich in vitamin C. The pith can be chewed and then you spit out the seeds. It can also be soaked in water and squeezed. Thereafter dilute with water and have it as a juice. It is not exactly lemony or even bitter. Midway between the two.
Many a times just a glass of mulambi juice had at breakfast has seen me through the day.In fact chewing a couple of spoons of the pith is a good exercise for the jaws and is nourishing too. I have inserted an image of the fruit.

   

Beneath the Baobab

This blog would be a collection of my experiences in Mozambique.

I landed at Tete one dark December night. The drive from the airport to the project site was uneventful. We covered a distance of about 120km in less than 90minutes. The road underneath our SUV was like a black ribbon being swallowed by a magician. The dark bushes took on grotesque shapes as the headlights danced on them. A particular tree with huge trunks and splayed branches caught my eye. I asked Bernard, our driver, which tree was it. "Baobab Sir", was the reply. I was fascinated.

Next morning when I went to the office to report on duty, I saw a number of baobabs. Two of them right at the entrance to our office. A group of employees was sitting under it. They all looked at me as if i was some new lamb brought to slaughter!! I smiled at them as if guessing their thoughts and bracing myself for the challenge. I was apprehensive too.But deep within me I knew that my tenure at Mozambique would change me as a person and a professional. The baobab tree gave me strength and inspired me to meet the challenge.

From the Wikipedia :- " Baobab is the common name of a genus of trees (Adansonia). There are eight species, six native to Madagascar, and one each to mainland Africa and Australia. It is the national tree of Madagascar.

Other common names include 'boab', 'boaboa', 'bottle tree', 'the tree of life', 'upside-down tree', and 'monkey bread tree'. The trees reach heights of 5 to 30 metres (16 to 98 ft) and trunk diameters of 7 to 11 metres (23 to 36 ft). Its trunk can hold up to 120,000 litres of water. For most of the year, the tree is leafless, and looks very much like it has its roots sticking up in the air.

The Baobab Tree is known as the tree of life, with good reason. It can provide shelter, clothing, food, and water for the animal and human inhabitants of the African savannah regions. The cork-like bark and huge stem are fire resistant and are used for making cloth and rope. The leaves are used as condiments and medicines. The fruit, called "monkey bread", is edible, and full of Vitamin C. As of 2010 experts estimate the potential international market at a billion dollars($US) a year.^[4]

The fruit has a velvety shell and is about the size of a coconut, weighing about 1.44 kilograms (3.2 lb). It has a somewhat acidic flavour, described as 'somewhere between grapefruit, pear, and vanilla'

The tree can store hundreds of litres of water, which is an adaptation to the harsh drought conditions of its environment. The tree may be tapped in dry periods.

Mature trees are usually hollow, providing living space for many animals and humans. Trees are even used as bars, barns, wine and beer shops and more."