hero

So i've just finished 5 interviews with some really OLD buggers (one was 73 and another was 65)

1) Candidate No. 1 (73 years old, used to be the director of education at the ministry

: " These foreigners are totally useless working in NGOs today. Once, I took a Swedish consultant to a school in Pottuvil to observe the teachers in a primary school and it was an open hall with three classes being conducted simultaneously. Then the crows came to sit on the low parapet wall and after two hours the consultant walked out because he couldn't take the noise of the crows. So I told him: this country is not for you, better get back to Colombo and I was so angry I drove him back to Colombo myself.
..... This government is totally screwed up. It has no understanding of the importance of continuining teacher training.
...... I don't think I can do this job. I have no experience with construction, and I have done enough in my life and I need a bit of a rest now.

Me: So why are you interviewing for the job then?
Him: Because I had some free time and I wanted to find out what was this Room to Read.

2) Candidate no 2.: ( a bald guy with a few strands of white hair plastered onto his scalp with coconut oil and bifocal glasses and a tie that is steadily choking him age 65).

Me: So what do you think is the best method of inculcating reading habits in children

Candidate no 2: Can I have some paper please? And your pen (Draws a graph). One axis is children's ages. One axis is Amount of Play things. Draws a line going diagonally down. So according to this graph, children who are 1 years old need a lot of playthings. Children who are five need less. Children are attracted to colour. The key skill in reading a book is not literacy, but in fact, the ability to turn the page. So therefore if you get a toy that consists of a book with colours on each page, then the children will want to turn the page, to see a new colour and then they will learn to read.


Me: So how many years of experience do you have then?

Him: Forty.

why? why? why can't I interview people who are normal?

Here is a picture of one of my heroes from Jaffna. he's a community leader. I love the way he walks. This picture is on my desktop and every morning, I say hello to him