The Spirit of Generosity

A ramble from Tyler

Generosity has always been something I felt pretty good at. I gave to charitable organizations, fundraised, volunteered, etc. It was one of those motivating factors for joining the Peace Corps too, no lie, but on the ground here it looks a lot different than it looked back home.

Someone once said it’s “good to make the poor feel uncomfortable in their poverty,” that this discomfort will motivate them to work out of it. Well, I’d agree a lot more with this statement in the United States than in Burkina Faso. On the contrary, a lot of days I feel rather uncomfortable with my wealth here, and even after being here for 16 months it’s been a struggle figuring out how to deal with that.

A dollar a day
We see the fabled people that live on $1 per day here in Burkina. They’re the subsistence farmers whose livelihood depends on the diminishing rains and depleted soils. They’re the elderly who are no longer able to work, who like 95% of the population do not have a savings/retirement plan, who are now dependent on their families and the generosity of others. They’re 75% of our neighbors here. The dollar a day scheme offers no safety nets, an unbalanced diet, and very limited access to growth opportunities. How should their poverty motivate them? To start a business? With what money? Send all of their kids to school? With what money? Get a job? With what employer? Aside from the civil service (which requires at least an 8th grade education), there are very very few employers in villages and cities, even in a city of 30,000 people like Tougan.

Six dollars a day – Wow!
For perspective, the Peace Corps gives us about $6 per day to live off of. Sounds pitiful, yet it’s more than adequate. We have never withdrawn money from home, and yet we’ve been able to eat at fancy restaurants in the capital, travel around Burkina and to the beach in neighboring Ghana, drink Cokes and beers more or less whenever we like, etc. But we don’t have to use our $6 for a safety net, as PC provides medical coverage, and we can always choose to pack up and go home to the land of plenty. Additionally, that $6 each isn’t responsible for feeding a half dozen children.

A penny for the poor
It isn’t uncommon for people in town to come up to us and ask for money, a sight seen in big cities worldwide. In a predominantly Muslim country, almsgiving is very important, so everyone carries a few coins in their pockets to give to beggars. But in Burkina it goes beyond that. From kids that come up to us asking for soccer balls and old toothbrushes, to people young and old coming to our door to ask for work, money or food. We’re reminded of our wealth on a daily basis as people ask for a chunk of it. While this phenomenon is exaggerated by us being white, in Burkina (and Africa in general) people aren’t too proud to state their needs and ask for things. Wealth and wellbeing are seen as community things, not personal. People are truly able to rely on their neighbors and families here if hardship falls, in a way we don’t often see in the USA, and I have to say it is a good thing 90% of the time. No one is immune to hardship here (the way people often are in the USA with insurance and personal savings), so the policy is “I’ll take care of you if hardship falls, and I know you’d do the same for me.” Community and people are valued more than self and personal gain, and I think we could use a little more balance back home.

Please Sir, I want some more: Oliver meets miserly Scrooge
But how does this play out for us? We feel pretty good about spoiling or neighbor kids who help us in our yard, and with our ‘family’ here. But it isn’t too hard to be kind to those who are kind to you. Yesterday an old woman came to our house asking for food. We gave here a couple pounds of rice and gave the traditional blessing. But it wasn’t finished. She said thank you for the food, and then asked for money. My internal American reaction was “What? I gave you something and you’re telling me it’s not enough? That’s insulting! Well, you can’t depend on me for everything, and look I already gave you food, which is being generous, right?” But is it? The Bible for one never puts limits on generosity. In American we would say “you can’t give like that all the time,” for fear that word will spread around and you’ll have people lining up outside your door, dependent on you. But here I have to question that. I don’t want people lining up outside our door, but if I were to give this woman $1 it would make very little difference in my day to day life, but a fair amount of difference in hers. The woman was absolutely right that the rice wasn’t enough, and that she did need money too, and I can’t fault her for asking. The countless kids that ask for soccer balls could bankrupt us, true, but isn’t it equally a crime that they’re growing up without something basic like a ball to play with?

Teach a man to fish – sustainable development
I feel that there is no way to figuratively or literally teach fishing (see aforementioned lack of opportunities). Everyone here is already farming, it’s just not enough. However, as a development policy handouts are frowned upon because they unsustainable and teach dependence. Very valid points indeed. But we have to consider that Africans have a system of interdependence, and I guess we’re now part of it now. Giving someone a hand may not be sustainable, but it can still be good thing.

It’s difficult to differentiate what feels right and what is right. It’s important to remember that the fundamental difference between my life and hers is where we each were born and who are parents are. I was born in the most powerful, opportunity filled country in the world, and she was born in the 3rd poorest country. As Mr. Smutzler often reminded me, “life’s not fair.” But that doesn’t exempt us from trying to do something about it.

Summer 2010

Summer 2010

It’s difficult knowing just how to start this blog. As many of you already know, Tyler and I were temporarily pulled out our site this summer and spent a lot of time in the capital city of Ouagadougou. Good news, however – we were finally given the go-ahead to return! As difficult as it was to be away from site, I think the past few months definitely provided some excellent opportunities to travel and get to know other volunteers and PC staff.

A good friend of ours recently informed us that while he loved reading our blog, it could potentially turn into an “all day event” complete with popcorn and an intermission if we weren’t careful. Unfortunately, three months without blogging may make it impossible to be short, though I’ll try to be precise.

Ghana
After a week long “Training of Trainers” in Ouahigouya Tyler and I headed south to the country of Ghana with six other Volunteer friends for a short vacation. Three long days of travel by bus, taxi, and various tro-tro’s finally brought us to the beautiful beach of Busua.

It only took about a second to fall in love with the place. We stayed at “The Alaska,” a beach-front hotel complete with sleeping huts, monkeys, hammocks, and barbeque chicken (can you say yum?!) Only about 200 feet away from the tide, Tyler and I fell asleep to the sound of waves each night and woke up ready to boogie board each morning. Busua was full of good culinary opportunities - lobster, shark, fish, and some of the best crepe-like pancakes I’ve ever had. When we weren’t swimming or eating or kicking it back, we were swimming, eating, or kicking it back. The most productive thing we did that week was hike over to the next town of Butre where we visited an old Dutch fort. The fort was pretty cool, but what was even more spectacular was the view! (see pictures)

After a few days at Busua, we all headed to Cape Coast where we again visited the beach, ate fried rice (our favorite Ghana cuisine), and nervously enjoyed the view atop the world’s highest rainforest canopy walk which dangled us 300 ft above ground level. Sites in the rainforest also included a conveniently distant view of a black cobra, butterflies galore, and impressively large bamboo.

All in all, our vacation was pretty fantastic – but next time we’ll make sure to make it longer.

Training-in new Volunteers
A good portion of our summer this year was spent as trainers for the incoming Peace Corps Volunteers. Our role was to assist other training staff with session-planning, logistics, and general support for new-comers. Tyler and I both really enjoyed the opportunity to be a part of this year’s training which included all four sectors of Peace Corps Burkina (health, small enterprise, secondary education, and girl’s education). We feel that being Volunteer trainers really helped us better appreciate our role in Burkina and also gave us a leg up on meeting other volunteers.

ALC
When he wasn’t training in new Volunteers, Tyler was assisting at the American Language Center (ALC) in Ouaga. During the summer, ALC organizes two month-long, camp-like English courses for school-aged children and invites PC Volunteers to help. Tyler, along with two other PC Volunteers, assisted English teachers with their curriculum on American culture. He helped organize relay races and other American games, English song competitions, and poster contests. ALC was a great opportunity to work on Peace Corps’ second goal: “To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.”

Discovering Burkina and Building Friendships
This summer also allowed us the opportunity to invest in our friendships with other Volunteers and travel throughout Burkina. I spent a fabulous day with my friend Chris playing speed scrabble, walking around town and making chili. Tyler and I then headed out together to visit our neighbor Andrea, where we again played lots of scrabble, got to know her village, and also visited the library she had built with a Peace Corps Partnership grant. A few weeks later I visited my friend Mikey in one of the coolest villages I’ve been to yet near the Ivory Coast border. We spent a lot of time just hanging out on his porch, eating popcorn, drinking tea, and listening to music (it was one of the most peaceful days I’ve had in a long time). After my visit to Mikey, I met up with Tyler and a host of other Volunteers to attend an American-Burkinabè wedding in the beautiful southern city of Gaoua (which in my opinion could be considered Burkina’s very own Ireland – perhaps that’s an exaggeration, but it sure was hilly and green!) When we weren’t hanging out with Volunteers at their site, we were getting to know a number of other Volunteers and PC staff during our time in Ouaga. Needless to say, while Tyler and I were eager to return to our site, we also feel very fortunate for the time we were able to spend strengthening our friendships with other Volunteers.

Swear-In
The summer ended with the usual Swear-In ceremony of new Volunteers. This year’s ceremony, however, was anything but usual. Swear-In was held at the newly-built American embassy, included 76 new Volunteers taking the oath, and was attended by Burkina’s own First Lady Chantal Compaoré. Tyler and I were happy to see the Volunteers we helped train finally making their transition into service – we are very proud of them all!

Back to Site
As was indicated at the beginning of this blog, Tyler and I have returned to site. The Director of Peace Corps Burkina herself accompanied us back to our site to meet with our work partners and explain to them our absence over the summer. Neighbors and friends welcomed us back with smiles, food, and even dancing (that would be the two older ladies in our neighborhood who don’t speak French – so they just dance up and down while shaking our hands to get the point across). We have been back for about a week now and are happy to say that all is well and already getting busy. I have began meeting with work partners to plan this coming school year’s activities and Tyler has been working like a mad man in the courtyard weeding two-months worth of rainy-season growth.

Tyler and I are sad to report that our summer has a bittersweet end. While staying in Ouaga we lost our beloved Patience to the vastness that is the capital city. We made several attempts to find him, even going out at 4:30 in the morning with a can of tuna. Unfortunately, our potential search area was too big and we never did find him. We are confident that he is safe and know he is just out literally “chasing tail” (we never did get him neutered). But we are nonetheless disappointed and miss him greatly.

Of course life has a funny way of making you keep moving. Only four days after returning to site we received an early-morning knock at our door. It was our neighbor boy holding a rice sack with not only one, but two (don’t tell me, you’ve already guessed) adorable and of course need-to-be-loved kittens. It didn’t take but a glance to know we wanted to keep them. They have instantly taken to us (which may or may not have to do with the fact that we provide the chow) and we of course do nothing but spoil them and allow ourselves to be distracted by each of their ridiculously cute endeavors.

Well, that’s all for now. We are more than halfway done with our time commitment in Burkina which means it won’t be long until we get to see all of you again. We are excited and eager for this second year, but also always missing you all. Thanks again for all of your support.