Development with a capital D

I've been reading "The Last Train to Zona Verde," a new Paul Theroux book about a former Peace Corps Volunteer traveling through southern/western Africa. It's a little condescending and his writing style is a bit weird sometimes, but he brings up some good points.

One of the ones which I found particularly salient has to do with foreign aid. Theroux discusses it in terms of monetary aid, but I think this issue can really be discussed more broadly – including aid in the form of money, personnel, advice, etc.

Africa as a whole is pretty much overwhelmed with foreign aid. Basically any organization of people with some kind of goodwill see that there is a lot of need in Africa, and think that their contributions can probably fix some of these things. It's a fair point, and I really think it's great that we have these people who want to contribute to those whoa re less fortunate.

But Theroux also brings up the counterargument, which is one we have heard from Peace Corps time and again (when it comes to money). If you give people everything, they don't learn how to do it themselves. Giving a man a fish, and such. You can imagine the argument. If we (and I mean "we" in the broadest sense – anyone from a somewhat more developed area who is trying to do something good) provide EVERYTHING in terms of aid, people and organizations here aren't self-sufficient. If we provide the expertise to set up businesses, governments, and other organizations. nobody knows how to go about it the next time around. If we give the money to build the schools and computer labs, there is less ownership, and the people truly value these things less.

Here's my question, though. To what extent does this argument reach? I can imagine an extension that goes, "If we provide the teachers for the schools, the locals don't learn how to teach, and the kids don't have local role models. They need these role models – teachers and otherwise – to see that they can really be successful in life." I think this argument has legitimacy, personally. However, it's also hard to say I don't have a legitimate role here. Peace Corps tries hard to make sure our efforts are "sustainable," which means I'm not just a teacher, but I should also be training the other teachers n skills so that they can continue on their own. I shouldn't be creating new programmes unless there is a local counterpart who will continue it when I leave.

The role of volunteers can definitely be debated. But I think that the question is more interesting when you dig down farther, because volunteers truly can make only a limited difference. What about foreign aid in the broader sense?

My village has gotten a TON of things from various investors and sponsors and … aid. I've thought about it broadly, but some of the local implications are still coming out. Here's an example: we are starting to plan the 50th anniversary celebration for my school, which will happen in about a year. In conjunction with this, we are discussing the future of the school. What is our vision, what do we need, etc? It's all really exciting. But when we discuss this "development" of the school, it usually comes down to money. Don't worry, they tell us. We can write grants and proposals and get the money from somewhere.

It's the same on a smaller scale. There isn't financial planning. When the kids go to sports competitions, the teachers end up contributing all of the money because these expenses aren't assumed by the institution. When the school runs out of paper, the principal has to buy it out of her paycheck. When the staff wants a microwave in the staff room, we all buy it. These are small things, but in my opinion, they are examples of how the school hasn't yet learned to PLAN. Income should be greater than expenses, but it hasn't happened yet.

Many of these things are cultural, sure. Namibia is a young country, development is still occurring, people are still getting used to the modern world of capitalism.

But still, you have to wonder. Would "development" happen faster or slower if we just left the village to itself? Is the aid a necessary component that is required to get things started, or are we simply delaying the process by which people and institutions will become self-sufficient?

"African Black Magic"

A few days ago, my kids started getting possessed by evil spirits.

I know this sounds absurd… I don’t technically believe in witches, witchcraft or “African Black Magic” as they have been calling it. That didn’t stop the last few days from freaking the hell out of me!

Sunday afternoon—my kids say something bad happens every Sunday at our hostel—two girls collapsed outside of the girls’ block (dormitory). The sisters started seeing people who they knew but could not name, screaming, writhing, kicking… Apparently they were possessed by a spell. Honestly, I wasn’t paying much attention because I thought it was a bunch of crap and would soon resolve itself.

After a few hours, the girls had indeed recovered and all was fine at the hostel again. But after dinner, a bunch of other kids “got it.” I was having our Sunday night family dinner with the volunteers of Tses, and when some of them went home they told me that there was something big going on at our eating hall. When I got there, there were about 10 learners lying on the floor of the hall, screaming and writhing, with a bunch of different elders and pastors there to help and pray for them.

I, with some of the other teachers and community members, was there from about 9 until after 3am – sitting with them in the hostel, holding down kids who were literally trying to get up and run away, restraining kids who were trying to claw at each other. Most of the children affected were girls, but there were also a few boys. Apparently this kind of thing is more common with girls and it is also more common around times of stress, like exam time. I know there are probably millions of psychological explanations for everything that happened – but in the end, it is children who are in a great deal of physical and emotional pain, and regardless of why you think it happens, it definitely, definitely sucks and is really hard to watch!!

As we were in the hall that night, there were obviously times of more and less panic. Sometimes the kids were quiet and we sat around drinking tea, and sometimes they were literally punching and kicking at us! We had some help from a few other learners, as well as company from those who were unwilling to go sleep in the blocks that night.

All of the affected learners slept eventually, so I assumed it was all over. But Monday morning at school, more kids started going wild! More learners were affected during class and many of the same ones from Sunday were still having issues. The story goes that there were a few “main” learners who were being witched by a jealous lady who worked at the hostel, and those few were the ones who suffered the most and for the longest time.

Monday afternoon, the kids were a mess. They were all scared of the hostel/blocks/kitchen/food/matrons, and a few were still “possessed.” We tried to send these ones home to their families ASAP but some of them stay far away so we sent them to other families in Tses, just to separate them (so they couldn’t build off of each other anymore). It was so strange to go around carrying some of my learners who were unconscious, when they are normally very strong individuals; holding some when they thought they were being choked, etc. A different way of seeing them, I guess. When I wasn’t busy there, I was going around to all of the different groups of kids around the hostel, trying to comfort them as much as I could. Which wasn’t much, but at least some of my normal visitors came over to visit my house (as well as another group of the boys who I normally think are very independent but were clearly terrified).

Monday evening, we had what must be called an exorcism. We had leaders from all the different churches in our hostel’s eating hall along with community members, all of the hostel matrons, most of the teachers and all of the kids from the hostel. There were all of the “affected” kids (including a few new ones) in the back, writhing; and all of the learners in the front, praying and being prayed for. After what seemed like hours of prayers, the pastors prayed for every child individually (it took forever!) and sent them back into the blocks. They were obviously terrified to go alone, but I think it helped some of them to overcome that fear. At this point, the pastors “got out the demons” from the affected children. The pastors prayed, touched the children, yelled at them, spit holy water in their mouths and faces. Eventually, they got every child to say that they believe in God and Jesus as our savior. (I’m really glad I understand Afrikaans, since the entire night was not conducted in English!)

Almost the whole time, there were weird things going on. Girls rolling around in the back, clawing at each other, kicking. A bunch of them truly seemed like they were possessed by something strange. One boy wasn’t allowed to sit with the others (he had been possessed but was now feeling better) so he sat in back with me. He seemed fine, just weak and scared, and kept leaning on me or holding my hand or something. It was really cute but also really sad to see him this way, because he’s normally a really rambunctious kid!

By today, most of the weird stuff seems to have settled down. There were a few odd cases throughout the week, and our school is now really empty because most of the hostel learners have left for their families for the week. Last night, we had another church service to try to keep the kids on the right track.

Coming from my culture at home, this stuff all seems weird. And I know that probably most people reading this will agree that it is all a load of crap! But guys.. honestly, I don’t know what to say about all of this. Do I believe in witches? Not really. Being possessed? Not really. But obviously, something was psychologically and physically affecting my kids, for a long period of time… and no matter what you think it was, it was really sad and really hard for the kids. Everyone at my school is exhausted because nobody has been sleeping (even though I wasn’t personally too scared, I had about 10 kids sleep in my house for a few nights because they were afraid of the blocks… and getting woken up in the middle of the night because they were scared). Whatever is going on—even if it is some kind of mass hysteria (or “exam-phobia” as the regional education director just called it), it doesn’t matter much to me. The effect is not good either way!