It’s ironic that the hardest part about being here, in Africa, is dealing with the Americans. Really.
I’m not saying we haven’t had a share of cultural challenges and a lot of adjusting to Ghanaian ways. I’ve definitely collapsed more than once based on some differences I couldn’t handle. But the breaking point has been the difficulty communicating and understanding the westerners. There has been a lot of confusion, miscommunication, lack of cultural sensitivity, and questionable motives (and I’m being generous here!) A lot of it has to do with organizations who come here to help but have never spent more than a week in the country and expect to solve its problems by dumping a bunch of money on it. First of all, it seems that the corruption and manipulation is fed by western funds which are carelessly thrown at whoever is the first to latch on. Secondly, the westerners have an agenda of their own, and though it seems to be honorable at first, it can quickly turn into a numbers game or ego trip based on the perceived success of their efforts. Most of their concern is how it is perceived to westerners, and that is very easy to manipulate. For instance, it would not be hard to sensationalize our trip here, to tell of all the wonderful things we’ve done, all the lives we’ve touched, and to make it sound easy, or to make it sound like we are overcoming all the obstacles in our way, or to tell you a sweet story about the kids and make you cry (and these kids could do it in a second, they really are amazing.) I’ll admit, I’m even making up a slide show of our pictures and I’ll probably set it to some cheesy music about making a difference or we are the world or something. So yes, I suppose I am guilty too.
The real danger comes when we start selling something that isn’t real. I want to be honest about the challenges we face here. If we aren’t up front about that then we risk creating a false sense of how easy it is for Us to solve their problems. Even the idea that we can solve their problems is faulty. We want to send our money to change something that we don’t even fully understand. I’m not saying they don’t need the money. They definitely do. It is a big part of the solution… but only if it is put in the right hands, and invested in the programs that are actually benefiting the people here for the long run, not just making for a good photo opportunity or a heartwarming story for Oprah. A lot of the stories we read or see on television are actually creating more problems for the people. It looks wonderful to send a poor child on a Disney vacation, but what kind of shock and dissatisfaction will it give them with their life once they return? What kind of long term damage do we do to a family by teaching them how much wealthier they could be without giving them an opportunity to improve their situation? We need to address the issues of poverty based on their felt needs and their own gifts while emphasizing their personal value despite the size of their bank account. - Even that statement is completely based on a western mindset and we can’t approach Africans that way. We have been here for eight weeks and have just recently made a few relational breakthroughs with people we have been living with this whole time. It has taken this long to build enough trust for them to open up and reveal some deeper issues that they are dealing with. And we certainly don’t have the credibility to make nearly the difference we need to because we haven’t been here long term. A lot of the issues we see here stem from a western belief that we can save Africa. That all they need is a new car, or iphone or a vacation to make them feel good about themselves (okay I’m overdoing it, but you get my point.) We leave a lot of destruction in the wake of our good intentions (or ego stroking) and the destruction comes in a form of disempowering the indigenous leadership, creating a dependency on western provisions and instilling an increased value on possessions and property (which often gets muddled into the idea that people can actually be owned too – sometimes it begins through sponsorship or employment which can turn into bribery and coercion – and then what we are doing can easily be compared to some of our most shameful history in this part of the world. Maybe I am overstating my case, but we have definitely seen evidence of some tactics that draw those parallels.) At the same time we see the good intentions of people and those who are being as careful as possible to be sensitive to cultural differences and to gain understanding of them before stepping in to “fix” the problem. I do believe there is help to be given, there are things that they need here that should be provided to them, we just have to be very careful about how we give, what we give, and where we give it. Most importantly we have to understand the complexity of the issues. I know we will never be able to eliminate all mishaps or do as much good as we originally intended, but we have to keep trying. Giving up on it all together is not the right option either (though it is often very tempting!) I am really thankful for the time we have here to gain as much insight as we can so hopefully we can be a little bit more perceptive of the needs and the approach we should take to addressing them.