Expat aid workers are people who are deployed abroad by Trias for a limited time to support a certain theme or one of our partners. Often these workers are Europeans, although Trias is trying to enroll more and more local people. But what is an ‘expat’ exactly? A rootless person or someone who feels at home everywhere? We asked this question to Peter Van Erum and Sven Debuysscher. Peter is originally from Maaseik (Belgium) and has been working in Uganda for several years. Sven comes from Halle (Belgium) and works for Trias in Ecuador.
 
Hello gentlemen. Could you give a short explanation of your role at Trias?
Peter Van Erum (photo right) : “Currently I’m an agro-enterprise development coordinator. This means that I support the farmer’s organisations we work with. Furthermore, I’m also a development advisor for our partner Mbadifa.”
Sven Debuysscher (photo left) : “I mainly guide member organisations who work with certain products : guinea pigs, potatoes, dairy products and tourism. Of course, apart from that, I also have my role in the local Trias team and I partly follow up the programmes.”
 
How long have you been working for Trias?
Peter : “Since 1992, when I started working for an NGO which later on became part of Trias. I started as a science teacher and later worked as an agricultural advisor at secondary schools. Next I gave advise to a baby food company and a vegetable oil company. After a short return to Belgium, I went to Uganda where I first became a regional coordinator before doing what I do now.”
Sven : “My career at Trias is a bit less extensive. I started working for the NGO in January of 2007. I worked in Guatemala for two and a half years, especially on organisational strengthening. Since August of 2009 I have been working in Ecuador to support the chains.”  

What motivates you to work there?
Peter : "Never a dull moment in Africa! (laughs). The great variation within the job, the unpredictability, the daily challenges, the fact that I can make myself useful and visibly contribute to the progress of the organisations and people. That’s what I do it for.”
Sven : “At the start, I also thought of working in Africa. As early as the age of fourteen I thought about working as a development coordinator. I wanted to contribute to an equal world. When I graduated as an industrial engineer in agriculture, I became fascinated by the original population of Latin-America, their customs and their culture. At the same time, I became more and more confronted with the inequality within the Latin-American society. As a result, my motivation is a mixture of solidarity and personal interest in the local habits. The feeling that I really help people with what I do is fantastic!”
 
An expat is obliged to change location or function every couple of years. How do you feel about that?
Sven : “Well, my stay at Guatemala was too short to compare it with, but moving every five years is certainly doable. Getting to know new people and customs, experiencing new things and discovering new landscapes… it is all worth it. Besides, after a year or five there isn’t much left to offer to the same partners. On the other side, now we’ve got a daughter. That’s why we are trying to find a way to settle down for a longer period of time.”
Peter : “What Sven says is true. For me, change is part of the challenge and variation : it gives new energy.”
 
What does your professional life look like?
Sven : “My working day starts at 8:30 am, I’ve got a short break at noon and I work until 6 pm. The great part is that there is a variety of tasks going from pure office work, meetings within the team, solution-oriented work with the partners and field visits to organizing exchanges, analyzing clients and commercial relations with the partners and meetings with the local authorities. That makes it particularly fascinating.”
Peter : "True. The variation between office, team and field work remains a big motivation.”
 
Is there still time left for a social life?
Peter : “Of course. But it is sometimes difficult to separate private life and work. Especially when you've got some free time during the field work and you go have a drink with co-workers of the partner organisations. At weekends I go out with friends : to a bar or the beach at Entebbe, to the movies, to home parties at friends’ houses or we just go and explore the neighbourhood. Apart from that, I like to read, I go shopping now and then and do odd jobs at home. I also spend quite some time on guiding upcoming youth and human rights organisations (LGBT), of which some of my friends are members.”
Sven : "In practical terms it is a bit different from the life in Belgium. Especially with our two-year-old daughter, since there are no grandparents to help us in looking after her. As a result, our daughter is always with us and going out is impossible. But meeting friends, going out to dinner, watching television, listening to music, city trips… we all do it as a family.”
 
Have you got a lot of contact with the local population apart from your professional life?
Peter : “I’ve got more contact with the locals than with expats. Most of my friends are Ugandan. I think that’s because I’m fairly tied up with the youth and human rights organisations I already mentioned. It can be frustrating to invest in friendships with expats, given the fact that most of them are only here for a short period of time.”
Sven : “It is true that it is often hard to draw the line between work and private life. Friends are for example acquaintances of colleagues. Nevertheless, this differs a lot from country to country. In Guatemala, the population is a bit more introverted. This has to do with the recent bloody conflicts. In Ecuador, the people in the mountains are keen on their privacy. They lead a secluded life and don’t make contacts very easily.”
 
Are you, in spite of your contact with the locals, still seen as an ‘outsider’?
Peter : “Yes. But through the years you also gradually become one of the locals. There are, for example, things that I’ll never find out because the locals think that I won’t understand them anyway. But there are also things they only tell me. That’s because they know they can take you into their confidence more quickly because you’re an outsider. The sad part is that I’m still regarded as a ‘cash dispenser’ : white people have money. A lot of people come to me for financial support. Through the years I have learned to deal with that.”
Sven : “It is, of course, difficult to know how other people look at you. You do notice that you often receive a preferential treatment, certainly from the local native people, who
are considered to be inferior. The fun part is that you can use this privileged position to denounce things. Moreover, when you have been living somewhere for a while, people start to regard you more and more as a local. Certainly when you are adopting their customs or taking part in local events.”
   
Do you sometimes have problems with security?
Peter : “Usually not. I am as safe or unsafe in the country as the Ugandans. Just like in most big cities you have to watch out for pickpockets and other thieves.”
Sven : “As a matter of fact, I think you can avoid a great deal of security problems by living consciously with the people around you. Theft without violence, by contrast, is quite a different matter. People with little or no respect for the goods of others disgust me. Most people have their windows barred to keep them out.”
 
Do you see yourself as someone who is fully integrated in the local society?
Peter : “According to me, you can never be one hundred percent integrated. However, I’ve adapted quite well to the local customs and habits. Some say I’m already Ugandan, but that’s a bit exaggerated.”   
Sven : “Naturalized, yes. Integrated, partly. You speak the language, partly take over the customs, but in part you still base yourself on your own habits. You’re part of the society, whether you do something for it or not. I think the beauty of it all is that you’re adopting things from different cultures and at the same time grow more conscious of your own roots.”
 
Speaking of your own roots, do you still come to Belgium once in a while?
Peter : “I systematically come to Belgium every year for two or three weeks. I do this to see my friends and family and to maintain contact with my culture. That’s very important to me. I don’t want to become estranged, I’m still one hundred percent Belgian.”  
Sven : “Family and friends in Belgium are still important indeed. It is also nice to be able to buy some good Belgian specialties off and on, which you obviously can’t always find here in Ecuador. Belgium remains your country of origin, your roots. It is important to keep your finger on the pulse every now and then.”