Give three examples of how cultural issues affect your project.

My team’s project is focused on creating mushroom growing facilities in Sierra Leone to provide a new, profitable source of income for potential workers. Because of the nature of our project, we are working with the low income population in Sierra Leone. With low income usually comes less power and education, which is a cultural issue we will have to deal with. Our workers might have little to no agricultural experience to begin with, and we will have to try to teach them as best we can to show them the processes involved with growing mushrooms. We will have to overcome learning barriers to have our project be successful.

From a cultural stance, mushrooms are not a common food item for people in Sierra Leone. When our first few batches of mushrooms were sold, our worker had to explain the nutritional value of mushrooms and how to prepare them to his potential customers. We will be selling our mushrooms to the local community until we have enough production to enter the global market, but until then we will have to educate the general public about the benefits and methods of eating mushrooms. This cultural barrier can definitely hinder our progress when it comes to making a profit and providing nutrients into a diet that is lacking food security.

When we are in Sierra Leone, it will be important to have us not come across as saviors, but instead as partners. Our job is to empower the workers and show them that this is a product that they can create themselves. If we come, do the work ourselves, and leave, the project is not sustainable as the workers will not know how to continue the process. If they cannot build and maintain the mushroom house as well as keep up mushroom production cycles, we have failed as a team. Also, with too much input on our end, the people working for us might begin to resent our more privileged ways of life. When we arrive, it is important that we assimilate into the culture and not appear as larger-than-life figures. Culturally, the people of Sierra Leone have a lot of respect for people from the United States, so this will be a problem to overcome as we move towards the future.

Have you experienced or observed any of these social situations at home? Describe at least three such situations.

In regards to the lower class, less educated population of Sierra Leone, this relates to a problem with lower class people here in the United States. Here, people of less education and wealth are forced into laborious jobs with long hours and lower pay. Because of this, they do not have the time or means to better their education, and therefore have a very hard time moving up in the workforce. This creates a cycle of poverty for them and their families. We are trying to fix this in Sierra Leone by providing education regarding mushroom growing, a potentially profitable business, to this lower income class of people.

Relating to the mushroom as an uncommon item to the people of Sierra Leone, the durian fruit is much similar in relation to the United States. The durian is an extremely nutritious fruit that is very popular in Southeast Asia. What is off putting about it to most Americans is that it has a very potent smell and taste. Because of its unfamiliarity in the US, the fruit has not been integrated into our diets despite how beneficial it might be to our health. With this, just because something is healthy does not mean it will be easily accepted by a culture. This might very well be the case with mushrooms in Sierra Leone.

An example of being a savior versus a partner is how soup kitchens are run. As a whole, soup kitchens are a great volunteer service to help feed the homeless. A common theme, though, is that they are not sustainable. We provide the homeless with meals but do not provide them with food security. We are giving them the means to continue living, but we are not helping them with resources or education that can allow them to escape their poverty cycle. If we could instead provide them with jobs, they would be able to work and feed themselves instead of relying on some type of savior to provide them with food. In Sierra Leone, we are giving people a means of survival and eventually profit in hopes that someday they won’t need our help anymore.

Give three examples of cultural practices that can be leveraged to address community/market problems.

An understanding of the political climate is very important when discussing community/market problems. Usually, these problems are directly linked to government decisions or legislation. It is important to know how much power the people you are conversing with have in their country. If they have little input, radical ideas might make them uncomfortable or confused as they could never go against their country. Also, ideas of change might be seen as challenging the government, in which case many places deem this as disrespectful and this could become dangerous for you if you are viewed poorly. It is important to understand the political practices that are upheld in whatever setting you are working in.

Very closely related is the economic situation of the people you are working with. If you are working with lower income people, large scale and expensive projects are not worth presenting as there are no means to have them come to fruition. You need to tailor your ideas to what is possible with the money that people have. Expensive ideas with low sustainability might be able to get buy in more wealthy populations, but it is of utmost importance to have sustainable, low price visions when working with those of low income. Also, if you are coming from a different economic background than who you are working with, they may be reluctant to work with you. If you are coming from wealth to a low income community, they could be envious and resent you for your life style. You must know the level of wealth in a population to fit their needs efficiently.

A different type of knowledge and understanding comes in the form of humor, slang, and sarcasm. Showing a deep understanding of these three topics lets the people you are working with understand that you have been caring enough to understand subtle innuendos in their culture. Instead of an outsider simply presenting ideas, you are now more in line with the culture and more likely to be accepted by those you are working with. Humor of these sorts requires an understanding of culture that someone cannot pick up if they simply flew over from another country for the first time. With appropriate humor that does not offend your audience, you become relatable, likeable, and even respected that you took the time to assimilate into a culture that is not yours but that you are adopting and caring about.