Lessons Learned (Part IV)

I have learned that trust takes time. The Kazakh people are very hospitable, but it takes time to gain their trust and love. In work, a title or position is not necessarily what matters, it is the relationship and trust that you have built with a certain person. If you haven't built trust with a person, your "specialty" doesn't matter.

I remember coming over here and in a mix of my youth and my culture trying to prove myself. I wanted people to appreciate the skills and experience that I had so that I could build into them. I didn't understand why doors seemed to remain closed related to the work we were doing at orphanages. After five years of being consistent it seems like most of the staff and children at the orphanages trust us.

I am so glad that I didn't do more to push "my program" when I first moved over here. Now that I have gained the trust of many of the staff, the doors have been opened for us to spend more time in the orphanages, take children to the park or a concert, and even provide seminars for the staff. I have learned that forcing trust doesn't work ... it just takes time. One day trust is there and you don't even know when it happened.