Letter to Mom&Dad - Nov 15

Everytime I wonder if I should stay and sit this thing out, God seems to give me a gift or an incentive to stay. There's a book I told you about that gives a pretty convincing argument on why all this aid (money and aid workers) should stop and get the hell out of Africa. The book discusses this travelers experiences traveling from Cairo to Capetown and his observations along the way.

There is an industry of charity in Africa that is too firmly entrenched. Aid groups come in, give money, leave or stay and continue to give money for a while, but do no training. Foreign aid workers come in and try to fill gaps of missing teachers, doctors and highly trained jobs while the people who are from Africa get trained in the same job and leave to a western country to work instead. I'd say at least 85% of the conversations I've had with men about my age group have entailed the following "You and me need to get married and go back to America" - "Will you pay for my ticket to America, I'll pay you back" - "I'm going to America someday, will you help me?"

They tell me these things like a priest at a confessional and they been waiting from someone from a "white country" to help them. After reading the book Dark Star Safari by Paul Theroux, I don't put up with that anymore. I tell them "I'm not staying here long. 2 years is nothing, after I leave you gotta do this yourself. I'm here to help and give ideas, not to do the work for you. Get it? I don't give out money, but I'll help you look for ways to earn it."

To the chaps who want to leave, I just tell them "No, and you don't know how good of a country you're in. This country IS improving and not many African countries can say that. This country is one of the very few who is better off than it was 20 years ago, most are worse."

Typically when I give either of those speils, the men shake their heads in disappointment and the women listening nod in agreement. I've had only one women of all of the women I talk to say that they want to leave. Women are such the backbone and legs of this country; the men are blind to it.

I have found a few people, just a few, who I think really care about improving their community without filling their pockets first. I'm just now starting to get to know them and I hope I can create something sustainable with them while I'm here. They are the few who I think are worth it. Anyway, I know Peace Corps seems like any other aid group, but to be honest, it is one of the better, in regards of providing skills that are transferrable and requiring sustainable projects to be our goal instead of a quick cash flow. I'm sure to be biased, but I also thinke Peace Corps needs to leave Burkina in the next ten years.

Anyway, the little reminder that kept me motivated to stay was a simple walk through the village around sunset. It seemed like a really pretty place for once. The slant of the sun, the greens and browns waving in the wind. The rhythmic grinding and mashing of maise along each household. I'm beginning to like it more here, but when I leave, I want to leave believing that these folks don't need me or anyone's help anymore. It's lofty, but it's more realistic and helpful to save lives that way than to want to stay and to the work myself.
Love, Laura