The Only Thing Sustainable Here is Cynicism. And Overactive Sweat Glands.

In all development work, one of the major issues is of sustainability. If you find a problem and develop a solution, that solution must maintain even after all the NGOs, IGOs and westerners have packed up and moved out. That's why (a lot of) development work has failed so miserably in the past: an NGO comes in, gives money or builds water pumps or mosquito nets or food or medicine or whatever, and leaves--without teaching the villagers what or how or when. So the villagers use it (if they even know how to) and when its finished or broken its over and they wait for the next rich westerner to give them something else. And the more this happens, the more the behavior of the villageois is reinforced.

Here's a Burkina specific example: the Burkina goverment, along with an international organization (perhaps several, none of which I care to name right now) developed the idea to conduct vaccination campaigns at the village level for things like Polio, Elephantitis, Meningitis, etc. because very few people take their children to the CSPS to get these vaccinations administered (even though they're FREE if the child is under a certain age). So, these several day-long campaigns are composed of going from house to house, finding the target population (in many cases, its children), administering the medicine, marking the target population with a marker, marking the house and leaving.

So what are we teaching the villageois? What has been reinforced? Essentially, we're encouraging mothers, fathers and children to stay in their homes and do nothing but wait for doctors or westerners to give them something for a disease they have no understanding of. They are not learning any lessons about the importance of these vaccinations, the diseases they're preventing or the necessity to go to the CSPS themselves--unprovoked--to take preventative measures.

Here's another example: mosquito nets. I have heard way too many stories of NGOs giving mosquito nets to every family in a village--and even though everyone now has a net to sleep under and prevent the deadly disease of malaria--they don't use it. We westerners fail to realize that its not necessarily the lack of a product or administration of a service that is the problem, but its the comprehension of what the problem is, where it comes from and how to go about preventing the problem that is truly in need.

PCVs aren't exactly like NGOs because we stay for two years--but the same kind of problem arises--unfortunatly fairly often. As a volunteer (and I can second these sentiments) its so easy to get discouraged when you don't see any visual successes (like a school or running water or what have you), so we end up investing our time in these kinds of "monuments" only to discover a year or two or ten later that our monumental project has been completely neglected.

I read a letter yesterday from the Country Director of Cameroon, who goes into great detail about this "Edifice Complex." He reinforces the idea that the best monuments are typically the living, breathing ones--the people who have been influenced and invested in the intangible messages you have helped produce and spread in your service. You may never see the fruits of your labor during your service, but the impacts has the potential to last far beyond a box of mosquito nets.

That being said, it is incredibly difficult to restrain from being cynical in a world that demands cadeaux because they are so habituated to recieving gifts from white people with no idea what to do with it. This cynicism in no way will deter me from trying many (MANY) overly ambitious projects during my next two years....

...But the heat might. Its now in the 100s--even at night. Even with fans blowing in my face I cannot stop from sweating. Not just sweating, but sweating A LOT. And CONSTANTLY. I'll let your imaginations run wild as to how lovely I might look completely dripping in sweat in a conservative top and shirts or pants that fall below the knee...

Sad News in Benin

Some of you may have already heard, but sometime last week a Peace Corps Volunteer in Benin (a country bordering Burkina) was murdered in her village late one night. She was described as being very well-respected and well-liked within her community, and was nearly finished with her two years of service. She was 24 and a college graduate of William and Mary. I am overwhelmed with sadness, concern and even fear, but I have been reassured by the PC Burkina Faso staff that this was an isolated incident and (I agree) this in no way reflects the people of Benin or any other country or village in West Africa. Despite the anxiety I'm having over the news, I still feel very safe in my village and will take all the advised percautions to maintain that safety. I'm also currently in the middle of three full weeks of in-service training out of my site, which is probably best given the timing of this sad news. I had had a great last few weeks in village that I would love to share with you at a later time. I just ask that you keep Kate in your thoughts as I know it is a difficult time for her family, friends and fellow PCVs in Benin.