The Travels of the
Techno-Freedom-Fighter

At one end of Lake Arenal is the Volcano Arenal, which is one of the world's most active volcanoes, and has been erupting continually since 1968.

As you drive down from Tileran to Arenal and you come over the hill into the lake area on a clear day you can see clear across to the volcano. Its' height is 1600m where the rest of the surrounding countryside is at 600m, so it stands out like dog-balls, a good 1000m above everything else.

In the first week of project the Volcano had its most active eruption in 40 odd years, it was so loud that when it happened (about 10am) I couldn't see the volcano from the work site, I though that it was a thunder storm even though there was no clouds to see. It was really interesting what the ladies from the assoc had to say about it all. 'oh yeah its normal… it is better like this' with out explain what the hell they meant. The general idea is that it is better to have a volcano that goes off every now and then than one that contains the pressure so that the whole mountain explodes, i.e. St Helens

The funny thing is that when I called home that I was talking to my sister, the first time in 8 weeks, and the first thing that se said to me was "are you any where near an erupting volcano?" so I guess that the only news that everyone had heard in Australia, was that there was a volcano going off.

The only other thing that can be a little dangerous is that half the hills around Arenal are slip sliding away. On the worksite there is all sorts of landslides that have happened and plenty of creases in the soil that show that there is the potential for more.

Every time after there is a decent rainstorm; there is a high risk that there will be a major landslide on the worksite. On the road on the way in there is heaps of landslides that have blocked the road previously and it seems that almost every siding that you see is slipping away. Prevention of these landslides could be done really easily (by panting trees and stopping water run off) but no one is really doing any of this.

So I decided to have a go at trying to change the local management of land, I know that it sounds that I am dictating to them but I have always seen this as a balancing act. On onside you need to respect the culture that you are in and the other half is that if you believe like environmental sustainability then you also need to pop you 2 cents in and talk to people about it, in the most culturally acceptable way possible.
See being a good people manager/motivator does, however, require being able to speak up for yourself, in sharing your interests, goals and concerns with others. the most important thing to remember when you are speaking-up for yourself is to relax and stay calm so you can focus on what you are trying to say to the other person and listening to what they are saying to you.

Self-advocacy is about speaking up for yourself, asking for what you want and making decisions about your life. To do this you might have to negotiate with somebody else. I believe that you need to negotiate when what you want is different to what the other people involved want. Negotiation is when two people (or groups of people) who want different things work together to find a solution that will make them both happy. It is sometimes called a win-win approach because people try to find an answer that is best for them and the person they are negotiating with.

Meetings can be stressful for some people so it is a good idea to be prepared. Before going to the meeting write out what you would like to say. Practice with your support team or in front of the mirror. Plan an agenda (or a list of things you want to talk about) to take to the meeting to help you stay focused. Write notes that you can look at if you need to remember something. Collect all the documents relevant to the meeting to take with you. It can be good to have a support person with you during meetings, especially if you think you will get angry or upset. Your support person will be able to take notes while you talk or take over if you become too emotional.