Accusations of Racism in the Village
If a volunteer raises that they feel subject to racism in the village or believe that they have witnessed it, to avoid inflammation and escalation and to deal with the situation appropriately, follow these steps:
- Listen to them; allow the volunteer to share the details of their experiences and express themselves.
- Validate them and thank them for sharing the information with you. Assure that you will follow up in an appropriate manner and follow our processes accordingly.
- Assure the volunteer that we address the topic during prep-visits (pre-project) to the village and that it is something that is often not thought of in a Fijian village in the same way (*see note). It is almost certain that the comments were never meant to offend but this does not negate the response and experience of the volunteer which is important and to be valued. We have a zero tolerance for racism.
- Inform the Project Coordinator to discuss a plan of action and agree on outcomes.
- Organise a short conversation with TNK or bring up in an upcoming meeting. Raise that as a leadership team, you have become aware of one of the volunteers feeling uncomfortable with certain words being used in the community.
- Kindly request that the message be passed on to the village broadly to try to remain vigilant with the use of certain words that may cause offence or behaviour that would segregate based on race.
If it persists, inform TNK again and request that the issue may be gently addressed more specifically with individuals if necessary.
*NB: Community members in the village will not intend to offend but may perpetuate topics in a way that is unintended. Words in the English language that first-language speakers will fully understand to be offensive can occasionally crop up in discussions in the village. These words may have been commonplace in the late 19th century when English was first being adopted by rural communities and dated with very little challenge at a community level. An example can be ‘the N word’ which is occasionally used in passing conversation in a village.