Nonprofit Challenges

Calvin loved his job. He worked for a nonprofit charitable organization that was trying to expand into other countries. He loved helping people and providing for the needs of those who didn’t always have the means to take care of themselves. But there was one thing he didn’t like.

Calvin was part of a team that worked to build headquarters in underdeveloped countries. Calvin enjoyed working with people in these countries and learning about new cultures and customs. But what he didn’t like was that some laws made it hard to get their job done, and the ones that were the worst had to do with squatters.

Calvin had read about squatters in the United States taking advantage of good people who would let them stay in their homes, or others who overstayed their time in rental units. He read lots of stories, but none of them matched what he faced in some third-world countries.

He was currently working to secure all the permits to start building in just such a country. His organization had purchased a nice piece of land and secured a reputable contractor. Everything was ready to proceed when the squatters moved in.

Calvin had been working for about a year through all the legal channels he could to get the squatters out. But a big problem he learned was that for some of them, this was their job. Some giant, unethical corporations were paying squatters to move in on specific pieces of property. If the squatters stayed long enough, then the land belonged to the squatters. Once that happened, the corporations paid off the squatters and took over the land. Calvin had watched this happen all around him.

One big problem was that his organization had been fighting this for so long that the time was approaching when the squatters would own the land. A related problem was that the contractor and his men were struggling to find other part-time work for the length of time that they hadn’t been able to build. They were anxious to have full-time employment.

One day, the contractor, who went by the name of Hector to all foreigners, approached Calvin.

“Would you mind if I deal with the squatters in the way we deal with them here in our country?” Hector asked.

“We don’t want to do anything illegal or hurt or threaten anyone,” Calvin said.

“It is not illegal since you own the property,” Hector said. “We won’t threaten or hurt them, but they will choose to leave.”

It sounded to Calvin like Hector planned to pay the squatters to leave. He had tried that himself, but they refused because of their contract with the big corporation. Calvin just assumed Hector knew better. He was more sure of this when Hector said it would cost about two thousand dollars.

That was peanuts compared to what had already been spent on lawyers and legal fees, so Calvin agreed. A few weeks later, Hector returned and said the squatters were gone. The government inspector came to the property to verify that, and soon, Calvin had the permits necessary to start building. Calvin was curious about how Hector got the job done and asked him about it.

“It was easy,” Hector said. “I went to a local pet store and bought lots of cobras. Since it is legal to put any animal you want on your own property, I released them onto the land. The squatters were extremely happy to leave.”

“You bought two thousand dollars’ worth of cobras?” Calvin asked in surprise.

Hector shook his head. “I paid four hundred dollars for cobras. The other sixteen hundred was to pay the snake hunters to capture them again and make sure all of them were accounted for.”

Calvin thought it was unconventional, but no one was hurt, and building commenced. Calvin was happy to know that his organization would be able to help people here, probably even the squatters themselves.