Protoge

After 3 months of momentary panic, Zaman recieved his visa meaning this countries authorities no longer hold the threat of sending him home. For the first time in years he can leave Australia to visit his family and he can finally apply to have his family reunited with him here permenantly.
I don't know how much I helped in this process, suffice to say he met with me regularly to read, speak and practice his english. To understand what was being sent him in the mail and to maintain contact with the wider community.
I probably learnt more from the process than he learnt off me. When he told me had the visa a huge wave of relief washed over me, so much so I couldn't believe I'd lived with it imperceptably for so long.
Which is to say the anxiety only flared up at convenient times, mainly when meeting with Zaman and the rest of the time it was buried deep at the back of my mind.
It simply confirms for me what heartbreak lies in store for people whose whole lives are dedicated to working with refugees and development projects and the strength it takes to do it anyway. Which is to say, heartbreak is nothing to be afraid of it can be overcome more easily than a lot of other conditions out there.
Which leads me to my new student whose attitude is so much the polar opposite of Zaman she doesn't even realise she is a student and has no real drive to learn.
Yet unlike Zaman I am involuntarily stuck with her as one of my two new wards and I am here to say all that shit about the importance of making a good first impression: its all true.
Now easy option for me is to just let people manage their own careers and blindly blunder into mediocrity and bitter unfulfillment without surrendering my own competitive advantage, but as Shaq will testify, no team exists for one player, the player exists for the team.
From the outset my new protoge offers a limp ass handshake, couches all her statements with 'it seems... it appears that... we may be able to...' for fear of making mistakes. Is highly risk averse, and in a million different ways broadcasts her inexperience to the world.
Not just that but has a general strategy of trying to be nice, which is nice and they are a lovely person. But with daily gifts and offerings undermines her own basic entitlements to help and instruction and doesn't actually contribute to getting the job done.
So chronic is this girls niceness it actually makes me want to slap her in the face. There's nothing wrong with being nice, but as a strategy for career progression it doesn't add much value. For example, I can feed myself pretty good (or badly) as a grown fucking man without the need for a coworker on a lower salary to be buying me snacks and treats throughout the day. What would really help me out is if they handled some of the tough calls for me and freed up some of my time so I could work on important projects instead of the mundane urgencies of customer service.
It's very hard to answer calls and eat a chuppa chup at the same time.
I just have no idea why this girl wants to work. She seems to really just want pats on the head for being a good girl without doing any actual work.
Statements like 'oh good they want to speak to Ante instead of me. that's good' just doesn't realize how naive she comes across.
So the question is: How the fuck do I undo 23 years of being socialized into a nice complacent girl in 2 months?
I don't know, this is far more daunting than being responsible for a refugees english instruction. If I had the choice I would teach Zaman 8 hours a day every day of the week over being dumped with such a chronic pushover.
The payoff is of course probably one of the richest learning projects I will come across in my career, success even moderate will take me a long way in my own development.
I guess I've got to start with the handshake.