I have lived in many different places, both in and
out of the US and one thing I know For
Sure is that people are people no matter where you are. When many people
think about Africa (said in a voice of awe and grandeur), they imagine a place
where they would have Nothing in common with the people in these
villages, and thus pity those people. I am here to tell you that you have more
in common with these “village” people (ignore the band please) then you ever
thought.
I will make an example: I work with a small village
of only about 300 people (or around the amount of people that live in a small
neighborhood) and within this small village, they have spilt between the north
and the south. Now, the north and the south do not like to work together,
thinking both sides have it better (back in the neighborhood, you might have a
similar problem, one side is closer to the school or gets more money from the
government, so there is now animosity in this small place). A small community, no matter where it is in
the world, will have similar problems in the end. One problem with development
is that we forget that we have similar problems at home, and we need to
remember how we overcame those problems, to help them overcome them as well.
People here and everywhere worry about similar
things: Money, family, food, life. I wake up every morning around 6am, go to
the bathroom (which is quite a walk), come back to my house, and sit on my
balcony. Within 30 mins, I hear the women coming to the Vondro (lesser
cattails) reeds right across from my place. I know that they too have been up
for some time, getting food ready, saying goodbye to their husbands as they go
to work (mostly to their farms and fishing) and hopefully sending their kids to
school. Does this scenario sound somewhat the same for many of you, the only
difference is what you will spend your time doing. They spend their mornings cutting and
collecting the reeds to sell, and you might go shopping, go to work in an
office, or stay in the house, cleaning or taking care of young children. Their
house is a simple thatch wall and roof structure, that lets a wonderful breeze
in and will never have to clean their floor…b/c its only sand. Your house is
probably made out of plaster, wood and other materials, there is No wind that
comes through your house unless a window is open and you are in constant action
keeping the floors clean. Both of these lives have their problems and their
joys; each group wishes to know more about how the other lives, but could not
imagine how they live that way. Both only know how the other lives through
movies, TV shows, magazines and what they might teach in school. None of these
are a good way to learn how the other lives.
With this and my last blog, I write to show others
how different and similar life is here to where you might live. Peace Corps is
a great experience that showed me that people are people no matter where you
are and that’s a wonderful thing! Many people still have this image of Africa
in their heads of naked people in mud huts, with no food, and for the most part
unhappy with their lives; could not be less true, just because you’re naked and
live in a mud hut, does not make you unhappy. There are of course starving
children, but they are everywhere in the world, not just in Africa. Here is my
blog post all about Africa: https://peacecorpstesssmay.blogspot.com/b/post-preview?token=6dqiKUYBAAA.VsYeNXCoDH8nxYV1TjzM4w.846aLRohEsJeTWl29wkeaA&postId=813804449211661175&type=POST
I love my life in Madagascar, I know many of the people
I work with in the villages also love their life in Madagascar. Don’t judge
what you don’t understand, don’t give unfair voices to those whose you have
never spoken to, be the best person you can be, without making others out to be
the worst person. Ok, I think that’s enough for now, J
Till next time, Merci!
