Right before the January 12th earthquake in Haiti, Samasource  brought on its newest Service Partner, 1,000 Jobs/Haiti. In the wake of the earthquake, the Haitian team immediately got to work on an important new project, translating emergency SMS messages as part of the Mission 4636 project. Samasource is helping to rebuild lives by creating much needed jobs.

Our team lead on the ground is Frednel, who is doing an amazing job as the amazing manager at 1,000 Jobs/Haiti. He has interviewed some of the workers to find ot more about what this effort means to them, their circumstances in Haiti and the importance of work.

Richard Pierre

Frednel: Hello, please tell us about yourself. What is your name? Where do you live? What kind of things did you study in the past?

Richard Pierre: My name is Richard Pierre. I was born in Mirebalais and live in the place of my birth. I am married and have two children. In Mirebalais, I started my elementary study at St. Pierre College in 2003. I did my secondary study at Sacre-Coeur College also in Mirebalais. My dream was to obtain a diploma in civil engineering; unfortunately, after I reached level three, I was dropped because of economic problems. The person that helped me in school died in a great truck accident in Haiti. In the same year, 2005, I closed my University file because the fees of the university were too expensive

Two years after, I beneficiated from a scholarship to study computer science in the Dominican Republic at (UTESA) Universidad Tecnologica de Santiago. While I was studying at UTESA university, I beneficiated, thanks to my intelligence a favor from the Director of the university to study the regular English and German proficiency. I obtained several certificates in the following options including informatics, Spanish and English languages in Dominican Republic.

Frednel: What kinds of work did you do, before working with Samasource?

Richard Pierre: Before working with Samasource, I was jobless; however, sometimes, I’ve worked as a translator for temporary foreign missions in Haiti. I also used to work as a computer repairman not for a company or an administration but for traveling customers. I’ve worked for myself, but the money I made was not enough to take care of myself especially when customers had no computers out of work. Two weeks would pass without the earning of a single gourde.

Frednel: What does work with Samasource mean to you, now? Has it affected your life?

Richard Pierre: No word and expression can explain the joy, happiness and satisfaction that Samasource has brought to my family and I. In the past, despite my knowledge and professional ability, I never had the chance to find a job to provide for my family. I felt sorrow, sadness and hunger in this poverty and hell. Thanks to Samasource, my life is really changing because they give me a job, and it’s a great relief for my family and I.

Frednel: Everyone on our team is very sad for the terrible tragedy of the earthquake in Haiti. Did the earthquake affect you and your family?

Richard Pierre: Because of the earthquake, everyone was very sad. The team whom I am working with now was also very sad after the terrible tragedy that occurred on January 12th, 2010 in Haiti. My family, friends and I were all stumbled and hopeless because we were so scared of the thought that everyone would die due to the shortage of food, water, drugs and shelter. My family was seriously affected by the earthquake because there are about five people who died in my family at Port-au-Prince during the earthquake.

Frednel: How do you feel about doing SMS translations to help survivors of the earthquake?

Richard Pierre: Sometimes, I feel very sad when I translate a tragic message; for example, there was a message that said that there was a person who was still alive under rubble. Sometimes, it’s a baby who is under the rubble, or sometimes it’s a 6 year old child. My heart tears up when I hear these sorts of messages, but I oblige myself to stay strong and make the translations because life is not really easy. Life is difficult, know that anything can happen in life. Life has its ups and downs; this means that a person should be strong and have a lot of courage to resist difficulties in life. Life puts up great fights. In order to live, you have to be a good soldier; when you fall, you have to get up.

I translate the survivors’ messages at the best of my ability in order to understand what they desire to say. This is nearly all I can offer them in assistant. After that, I couldn’t do anything else because I don’t have other opportunities to help them.

Frednel: Thank you!

Richard Pierre: I thank you, Samasource.

Juna Dumornay

Frednel: Hello, please tell us about yourself. What is your name? Where do you live? What kind of things did you study in the past?

Juna Dumornay: My name is Juna Dumornay. I am 25, tall, and a student. I live in Mirebalais on rue L’amarre. I’m studying administration at IHECE (Institute des Hautes Etudes Commerciales et Economiques).

Frednel: What kinds of work did you do, before working with Samasource?

Juna Dormornay: I never worked before my work with Samasource.

Frednel: What does work with Samasource mean to you, now? Has it affected your life?

Juna Dormornay: Samasource means a lot of things for me. This is a big opportunity because I didn’t have a job before, and now with Samasource, I can realize my dream in life. Yes, it has affected my life because with Samasource, I have new experiences and feel my life changing.

Frednel: Everyone on our team is very sad for the terrible tragedy of the earthquake in Haiti. Did the earthquake affect you and your family?

Juna Dormornay: The earthquake affected my family and I; this terrible thing has changed my normal life completely.

Frednel: How do you feel about doing SMS translations to help survivors of the earthquake?

Juna Dormornay: I’m feeling well because doing SMS translation gives support to my brothers and sisters. Helping them in this way is a good thing to me.

Frednel: Thank you!

Juna Dormornay: I thank Samasource for supporting my people in this terrible earthquake. Thank you again.

Jerry Lafontant

Frednel: Hello, please tell us about yourself. What is your name? Where do you live? What kind of things did you study in the past?

Jerry Lafontant: Well, I’m Jerry Lafontant. I’m 31 years old. I was born in Port-au-Prince, and I live in Mirebalais now. I have black eyes and hair, and I’m single. I have one child whose name is Sakia Lafontant; she is 12 years old. My mother has seven children, and I’m the last of my family. I studied operator computer, and I started studying accounting at Center Pilote Drouillard in Port-au-Prince.

Frednel: What kinds of work did you do, before working with Samasource?

Jerry Lafontant: Before working for Samasource, I worked for the government OEA office, issuing national identification cards (CIN).

Frednel: What does work with Samasource mean to you, now? Has it affected your life?

Jerry Lafontant: Samasource means a lot of things for me. I lost my job, and I didn’t have anything to take care of myself and my family. Now with Samasource, I can take care of myself and my family. Yes, Samasource has affected my life so much.

Frednel: Everyone on our team is very sad for the terrible tragedy of the earthquake in Haiti. Did the earthquake affect you and your family?

Jerry Lafontant: The earthquake affect my life because it the first time I witnessed such a thing. First of all, I lost all my very important things. The second is that my child was in Port au Prince, my family and my friends.

Frednel: How do you feel about doing SMS translations to help survivors of the earthquake?

Jerry Lafontant: Whenever I translate a message, I take a moment to thank Samasource because they have provided me an opportunity. I can bring my help to a person who is shouting help me.

Frednel: Thank you!

Jerry Lafontant: Thank you Samasource for your support. You bring a lot of things in my life, and we’re very thankful.

Samasource’s engineering team (Eric Nguyen and Alex Onsager) travelled to Haiti at the end of April to establish our first microwork center in the country. Read about the earthquake, Samasource’s investment in Haiti, and our workers’ part in an innovative emergency SMS system.

The Aftermath

The human toll of the January 12th earthquake is staggering, with over 200,000 dead. As Alex and I travelled in Haiti, our everyday interactions would often belie this tragic fact. On the surface, people were doing their best to piece together their lives. Only on occasion would the recent tragedy break through to the surface. People we were speaking with would sometimes suddenly find themselves telling us about a lost child, neighbor, or lifelong partner.

The trauma is ongoing. A huge number of people have had to abandon their homes, since even buildings that are still standing can’t be trusted. Vast encampments have sprung up in all of the city’s open spaces. In the meantime, huge numbers of people have left Port-au-Prince, seeking the relative safely of neighboring towns.

Unfortunately, the Haitian government is struggling more than ever to serve its people. Aside from the vast neighborhoods that were leveled by the earthquake, there was nearly uniform destruction of all of the government institutions in the center of town. This included the national palace, supreme court building, government ministries, and police headquarters. Almost every institution struggling to serve Haitians today was reduced to rubble.

Samasource’s Part

The resource that remains in abundance in Haiti is human spirit. It is here that Samasource is investing in Haitian recovery. Our newest digital work center is being built by our service partner in Mirebalais, 1000 Jobs/Haiti. Mirebalais is one of those towns many Haitians have fled to. This underdeveloped region is a particularly important long-term focus for Samasource, because a stronger economy here will draw more people from the overcrowded city of Port-au-Prince. By bringing digital work to this area, Samasource is creating high-value jobs where they are needed most.

Alex and I spent four days in Mirebalais, helping 1000 Jobs/Haiti plan out its physical computing infrastructure and negotiate high-speed internet access for the town. We also taught, mentoring the team leaders and conducting classes for our new workers. Their new skills will be the foundation for the expanding numbers of digital tasks that our Haitian workers will be able to handle over the years.

Throughout the training, we were constantly impressed by the workers’ motivation to work towards improving their future. Despite the unreliable internet connection, they faced their computers all day hoping to catch the trickles of network activity that would allow them to complete a few tasks at a time. It was actually a challenge at times, convincing them to pause working so we could explain new exercises.

These are people with big ambitions. Conversations during breaks were filled with talk of dreams for the future. A number of our workers asked us how they might receive a scholarship to attend school in the United States. Alex has even received a Facebook friend request from one of the workers, followed shortly after by an inquiry of how to start building a website.

Mission 4636

Our Haitian partner hit the ground running with its first, critical mission. In the aftermath of the earthquake, a coalition of non-profit organizations (Mission 4636) established a free SMS shortcode (4636) that all Haitians could use to report their emergency needs. A sophisticated human processing chain translated and categorized the torrent of incoming messages and, where possible, located them on a map of the area. The many NGOs and foreign aid services in Haiti were then able to receive targeted reports of the situation on the ground and deploy services in real-time.

Samasource workers were brought in last month to handle this large volume of human processing tasks. They are uniquely qualified to do the Haitian-Creole-to English-translation. Mission 4636 has matured into a critical piece of infrastructure in Haiti, and is now evolving to handle post-crisis needs. Reports of earthquake-related emergencies were supplanted last month with calls for aid and security-related issues. Today, the service is beginning to be integrated with Haitian government services (police, traffic services, medical emergencies) that are getting back on their feet.

Our workers in Haiti are incredibly proud to be doing what they’re doing. Not only are they developing valuable skills, they are doing work that assists people in need. We at Samasource are, in turn, incredibly proud of them.

We are thrilled to have Lloyd Taylor on our Board! He brings a great deal of experience from his time at LinkedIn where he scaled their infrastructure to support their rapid growth to developing an infinitely scalable global physical infrastructure for Google’s server farms. We are very lucky to have his input and guidance.

A typical day of work in Nairobi for me starts with the commute to work using a matatu (usually a minivan/minbus). The roads are pretty bumpy and the traffic jam is quite heavy, no one can predict when the bus will reach its destination. By the time I make it to the office (a shared space kindly donated by one of Samasource’s service providers) most people are already at work.

While the official business language in Kenya is English, a good thing for foreigners like me, most Kenyans are trilingual (they fluently speak their tribal language, Swahili and English). The dress code is rather strict and most people doing business in Kenya wear a suit.

The aspect of time takes getting used to especially when scheduling an appointment in Kenya where it is common work on Swahili time. On needs to program this extra time to the initial appointment and be very patient for your contact to show up. Personally, I did not experience this problem during my work, because I am not a local. In fact, Samasource partners were kind enough to adapt to US culture and were always timely. But I had to deal with African customs when scheduling personal appointments and learned to be very flexible about time.

The mornings usually go by very quickly and tea is served frequently. A habit that I think was introduced by the British and carried on by the Indians and now a staple of work life for the Africans. Most of Kenyan workers that I met are welcoming and relaxed people, I feel very secure and comfortable when visiting Samasource Service partners. They usually have a positive opinion of Westerners and are mostly kind and respectful. The lunch break is around one o’clock and that’s when most of the team indulges in chicken curry with chapattis (large tortillas) at the local restaurant.

Visiting the Partner sites can sometimes be challenging in that there are no bus maps to indicate locations or times. Sometimes the partners are kind enough to pick me up. Others do their best to send me as much information as they can to help me locate their store or office.

The workforce at the Service Partners comprises roughly of equal amounts of men and women. I found the Kenyan women to be very hardworking and ambitious: They are usually multitasking, switching from their job to family matters and home activities with ease. They are astute entrepreneurs, and many are in highly regarded positions are handled by women. Adept Technologies is a good example of a Samasource partner founded by highly efficient women entrepreneurs. Indeed, both the CEO and the president of the company are women: Diana and Mercy. They have an excellent background and have “joined forces” to create Adept Technologies, a small but stable company employing 15 people.

Since my initial task to create the worker’s profiles for the Samasource website is now complete, I am now assisting with the greeting cards project. In this endeavor I am training Samasource workers to create greeting cards www.samasource.org/gifts The greeting cards include beautifulful pictures from Kenya as well as greetings in English and Swahili. This project will allow our partners to earn an income while giving them the ability to work in a new and creative way: Make sure you participate in their efforts and enjoy one of these cards yourself!

When arriving in Nairobi, one can quickly feel stifled by people, noise, pollution, so the charm of the city is not obvious at first. This city is like a whirlwind that can be stunning. But after the first shockwave, one gets used to this environment and appreciates the kind of life Nairobi has to offer.

I have been working as a Samasource (Samasource.org) fellow for one month now; it has been an experience which can be described as a journey of discovery, adaptation, meeting and sharing. Discovering the lifestyle here, adapting to the time and skills, meeting welcoming partners and talented workers, sharing of ideas and skills.

My initial task as a Fellow was to populate a new online database for Samasource for their website. This site now has the profiles of potential employees which allows new and existing clients to get a better feel of the knowledge, expertise and circumstance/aspirations of people they work with. My task was to compile a profile for every worker who participated in a Samasource project. Once the profiles were reviewed and the photos available I uploaded them onto the Samasource website. They are available on: www.samasource.org/impact.

This is great way to literally “put a face to a name” and to connect the workers with employers. It allows one to forget about the distance and understand Samasource’s goals by linking workers to jobs.

In visiting all the Service Partners and people, I learned how Samasource has given not only a “hand-up” but in fact provided life changing opportunity to workers. One of the workers I met was single mother who could not provide for her two children. Samasource, working with the service provider, has helped her to become independent and take care of her livelihood.

I met all kinds of people during this project, most of them are young and educated, went to or are actually at university in various sectors such as Hotel Management, Information and Technology, International Business, etc. All workers seem really motivated, talented and open minded. The service partners in Nairobi always provided a warm welcomed and I had really interesting discussions with some workers about various subjects as life, work, and the impact of Samasource projects.

Daproim (daproim.com) one of Samasource partners, provided me with office space during this project as well as Internet access. Steve, the president of the company, is an enthusiastic young entrepreneur who wants every employee to be treated with respect. He is interested in various training projects aimed at distressed people. Daproim, like some other Samasource partners, offers part-time work to local university students and facilities for disabled workers. Daproim started in 2006 with four employees, today it has already around 10. The plan is to grow to 20 or 30 people in the next years.

Steve is supporting a Cisco training center a few kilometers away from Nairobi. There, young women, often single mothers, are trained to do data entry and transcription tasks. This training is subsidized by an NGO. These women really want to succeed, and you can see in their eyes their thirst for knowledge. Steve feeds their motivation, while acknowledging that he needs to connect these women with jobs. There is no doubt that future difficulties lay ahead. The notion of hard work is on everyone’s lips, as there are no other means to succeed and the only way for them to benefit from a better life. Thus people are totally ready to offer their best.

So as I get used to the hustle and bustle of the city and plan my visits to the different service partners I feel good about lending a hand. I have to say that in my month of working as a Fellow for Samasource and helping create the Profiles database I too have learned the value of hard work! In my next blog I will write more about a typical work day for me in Nairobi.

July 15, 2009 (San Francisco, CA) — My internship began in early June as I boarded a plane for Kenya with Leila Chirayath Janah, Samasource’s CEO and Founder.

What I experienced on this two-week trip was life changing. I have previously traveled to developing countries and witnessed phenomenal economic growth juxtaposed with abject poverty, but I was not prepared for Kenya.

Nairobi, a city of contradictions

Nairobi, the nation’s capital, is a bustling city with many apparent contradictions — wealth and poverty, Muslims and Christians, nature and pollution, advanced and antiquated. Yet those descriptors do little justice. After all, how can I adequately summarize a city that is home to high rise office buildings, a week day market filled with goods from Maasai tribeswomen, a sophisticated cultural museum with the world’s oldest human fossils, a rotting cattle carcass next to a main thorough fare, trustworthy cab drivers and questionable hoteliers? The city streets were filled with vehicle exhaust, a healthy fear of carjacking, entrepreneurs (e.g. individuals walking between vehicles to sell things such as posters and car fresheners) and speed bumps –- some by design, some not. While navigating these streets, Leila and I had a whirlwind of meetings.

First, we attended the AITEC Conference, sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation, focused on outsourcing and shared services for NGOs and development agencies. Information, Communication and Technology Services are a top priority for Kenya’s economic growth, especially with the recent arrival of the fiber optic cable in East Africa. Conference attendees included U.S.-based consulting firms Accenture and McKinsey, which made me realize just how big of a market opportunity this must be.

Subsequent meetings included site visits to our existing service partners. From Adept Technologies to Preciss International, I was able to meet bright, qualified youth who are working for Samasource’s partners to provide quality services to U.S. clients (note: English is an official language in Kenya). Many of the employees are current college students, who use their salaries to pay for school –- ranging from engineering to nursing studies. Leila and I conducted a training session with the service partners to review Samasource standard policies and procedures as well as to garner feedback on the existing partnership. A photo from the training session, held at Enablis offices, is below.

Pictured (L to R): Nicholas M. (Beeline), Lakshmi M. (Ken Tech), Lucky V. (Ken Tech), Amos K. (Styles), Benson K. (Preciss), Mwangi M. (Beeline), John S. (Ken Tech), Eunice M. (Styles), Andrew K. (Flytech), Mugure M. (Preciss), Stephen M. (Daproim), Diana G. (Adept) and Leila

Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee camps

After a week in Nairobi, we departed for Dadaab Refugee Camps. The camps are located in eastern Kenya, near the Somali border. We traveled by guarded convoy with CARE International. Various check points along the way reminded us that we were in dangerous territory. Our Kenyan hosts were incredibly generous and patient as I snapped endless photos and asked a plethora of arguably naïve questions.

Some 12 hours later, we arrived in Dadaab.

We spent the majority of our time at Dagahaley and Ifo Refugee Camps –- over 90% of the people there are from Somalia and include many women and young men. We trained them on the internet and gauged their interest in completing remote internet-based work, as a way to generate income. Many of the camps have very limited job opportunities and those that do exist (e.g. butchering and ice making) compete with limited resources. This leaves many of the youth susceptible to recruitment by militias. Similar to youth in Nairobi, many of the trainees indicated they would use the funds they earn to pay for schooling. As Leila blogged earlier, we met with one of the Lost Boys of South Sudan – Paul Parach.

After one of the training sessions, a young woman named Abdiyo insisted upon buying me a soda. This woman lives in a refugee camp where the average annual income is extremely low. It was the most generous and delicious soda I have ever received. To learn more about our innovative launch of the Refugee Worker Program, take a look at the following presentation:

Go fish

Two weeks and thousands of miles later, I found myself back in Palo Alto, California. As I commute to Samasource’s San Francisco offices, I reflect on the things this trip has taught me. Nairobi and the refugee camps are very different from my experiences in investment banking and private equity. While I am a novice when it comes to international development, I wonder if the some of the capitalism I practiced on Wall Street is applicable there.

And perhaps the only way to world peace and prosperity is through the creation of opportunities for sustainable, dignified employment.

Our slogan at Samasource, until about a week ago, was “Give Work, Not Aid”. The last portion is a bit controversial and we have wrestled with the unfortunate fact that it may be turning away potential supporters. Our new, simpler slogan, “Give Work”, is open to the idea that countries in Africa and other developing nations may require a two-fold approach. One of aid, to supplement “traditional” government services such as infrastructure and health care, and one of work – a way for individuals to financially support themselves and their families.

Samasource focuses on the latter part. Give Work.

As the proverb goes, “Give a man a fish and you have fed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”. By leveraging technology to create jobs for the next billion, Samasource is teaching individuals how to fish. Fishing … I can’t think of a better way to spend my summer.

Palash Mondal lived for most of his life in a residential care home in Kolkata, India. His parents were unable to provide for him and so they reluctantly decided he would be better off in the care of others. This is not an unusual situation in India as few people in “orphanages” here are actually orphans. While at the care home Palash was a student of Uddami’s free computer training school, which is funded by Uran Software Services, a Samasource provider.

Palash was forced to leave the care home after he fell in love with Shukali, his future wife, against the wishes of the care home authorities. For 2 years Palash tried to make ends meet. He and Shukali moved back to his parent’s village where they shared a small room. Palash describes the difficulties of that time, “It was difficult for me to get job at any IT company or anywhere else because I had low education and zero experience.”

In 2005, after the birth of his first child, Palash got back in touch with Uddami. Uran Software Services was being formed and Palash was hired as one of the first staff. At first he worked part-time but as USS developed more clients a full-time position was created.

Palash developed quickly in his job. He had a great interest in web development work and was able to use his knowledge of html learned at Uddami to understand a wide variety of web tools and techniques. Quickly he began to manage projects independently because of his extensive knowledge. He was promoted to web development manager in 2008 and helps manage and train other staff in web tasks.

Palash now says it was Uran and their founders “…who believe[d] in my capabilities … They both trained me and made me work hard for my better future and today I dream to be a web developer which I never thought I could be.” His healthy, happy 4 year old son, Bumbol, is the best testament to the brighter future ahead. Palash’s story demonstrates the power that giving work, not aid has in transforming and empowering the poor.

Mildred Ampadu-Nyarko, or Mildy, was born in Accra, Ghana in 1984. With a mother in the lowpaying
Ghana Education Service, and a father who depends on intermittent contracts for his
construction services, Mildy grew up in a happy but financially stressed home. Upon graduation
from high school, she could not find the funds to pay for a four-year university. As a result, Mildy
entered a three-year Polytechnic school, where she learned textile manufacturing.

As Mildy says, “There would have been no way to rise up. There are very few textile
manufacturers in Ghana, and so many graduates like me in the textile field, that even getting a
job is hard, let alone rising to a position of influence.”

Enter Rising Data Solutions (RDS), a Samasource provider. When Mildy first came to RDS, she
was a happy but unskilled young woman, with little experience in technology or technologybased
skills such as typing. She was hired for her positive attitude and willingness to learn.
Mildy was not the best agent to start off with — there were others who typed faster, discerned
the English language more fluidly, and had fewer errors when transcribing messages. But it was
Mildy’s attitude that separated her. Every day, she strived to improve, arriving early to work to
practice typing. Every day, she came to work with a smile on her face and a positive attitude
which was infectious, inspiring everyone on the floor to smile and enjoy their work.

After only 8 months, Mildy was given the title of Team Leader, as is now responsible for 15
colleagues, coaching them, motivating them, monitoring them, and creating complex reports
which are sent up the chain to the Operations Manager, who depends on her and the other
Team Leader’s accuracy to measure RDS’s performance as a company.

These days, Mildy’s future is bright. She is an example of the potential of the youth of Ghana to
rise up and rise to the occasion.