Give three compelling examples of how cultural issues affect your project.  

What makes each area of the world unique is that it has its own culture. To me, culture is a huge part of who I am as a person, and I believe it’s important to understand the cultures of others too. 

After hearing some more about how Sierra Leoneans view the concept of time, I knew it was something I would have to adjust to. They do things at their own speed, and it seems that meeting times are never set in stone. Being a bit (or very) late is more of the norm. For me, this is going to be extremely difficult because I am a very punctual person, and I have trouble starting things late. Another cultural issue, going off of the concept of time, is that they do not really like to plan things ahead of time. They utilize a more “go with the flow” attitude, which is also really hard for me. I love to plan things in advance, even down to the minute, so letting go and seeing where the day takes me is going to take some getting used to. Lastly, the most interesting and unexpected cultural issue I discovered about Sierra Leone is “palaver.” People, usually two to three, will be shouting angrily at one another, arguing over something, but then they stop right away and hug each other as if they were lifelong friends. The reason they do this is to avoid any grudges being held, and I think it’s a really admirable way to approach arguments. I’m not so sure I’d be able to do the same. It is very different than anything I’ve ever heard of before.

https://www.worldtravelguide.net/guides/africa/sierra-leone/history-language-culture/

Have you experienced or observed any of these social situations at home? 

I have definitely experienced things similar to this at home. Even though I personally am a punctual person, a huge part of Brazilian culture (I’m Brazilian and everyone in my home is too) is being late. So much to the point that if you want to plan something for 2pm, you tell everyone to arrive at 12pm and even then they might not be there by 2pm. For my graduation party, we sent out two invitations – one for the Americans and one for the Brazilians. We told the Americans the party would start at 7pm, since we knew they would arrive on time. For the Brazilians, we told them the party started at 5:30pm, and they didn’t start to show up until 8pm. This also happened for every single one of my birthday parties. In the same way, they’re also super bad at making plans. Everything is really spontaneous and never planned in advance. For example, I went to Brazil for two weeks in October 2019 and every day I’d ask my family what the plan for the day was, and they told me to just see where the day takes me. This drove me insane! By the end of my time there, I learned how to let go a bit.

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

Reading about how the market works in Sierra Leone, I found that women dominate the market trade when it comes to food. Since our project revolves around our food (pudding and muffins) that is hopefully going to be introduced into the market in Sierra Leone, we could establish partnerships with these women to sell our products. Since our food products are focused on giving children the nutrients they need, the women may feel more inclined to sell our products on the market since it will help their kids and others. Going off of this, women are more complementary to men than subordinate, which can help in encouraging the men to distribute our future products as well. Lastly, I think that the fact they don’t really plan ahead of time could work in our favor. While they may be hesitant to change, the fact that they do not really plan in advance means they have no initial course of action we would be impeding upon.

https://www.everyculture.com/Sa-Th/Sierra-Leone.html