I realized I’m pretty bad about updating every two days, like I originally planned. I’ll try to do better, I promise.
This morning as I was perusing the Huffington Post website I came across an article entitled “A Different Discussion About Aid.” This piqued my interest, since the transition from bilateral aid to more sustainable forms of development is an important theme in our work here in Lesotho. I recommend reading Dead Aid, if you’d like to know more about the pitfalls of bilateral aid. Anyways, the HuffPost article is written by the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, and discusses the value of cross-cultural communication and shared experiences in addition to bilateral aid. Kagame presumably wrote this article just as Peace Corps Volunteers are beginning to work in Rwanda after 15 year hiatus to convince Americans that there is more than genocide and poverty in Rwanda.
The content of the article really doesn’t have much to do with why I’m writing about it. What struck me was this quote,
“We will teach them that in Africa, family is a broad and all-encompassing concept, and that an entire generation treats the next as its own children.”
Rwanda and Lesotho share very few characteristics, but this quote rang true as soon as I read it. In Sesotho, the local language, the words for ma’am and sir are M’e (pronounced as a cross between meh and may) and N’tate (pronounced nnn-tat-ay). When speaking to someone your own age or younger, the words are abooti and aussi (pronounced ah-boo-tee and ah-oo-see). Literally translated though, these words mean Mother, Father, Brother and Sister. I am often called M’e Grace, and those words are used in place of Mr. or Mrs. as well.
Aside from the strange panic that arises when the word “mother” is attached to my name, I think these words of respect connote a deep sense of family that resides here which can also be found in Rwanda. Although I look nothing like the Basotho people and our genealogies are different for hundreds of generations, I am still family because I am human. This sentiment better reflects why I wanted to come here, and why I want to join the Peace Corps. It’s not because my religious views mandate it, or because I want to be known as the girl who went to Africa, or because these will be profitable moves for my career, but because there are members of my family who need help. It’s really just that simple, but it’s hard to convey that in the English language/culture. We speak of others as citizens or colleagues, not as family. Ma’am and Sir connote the same respect as M’e or N’tate, but not the same level of familiarity. (This next sentence took me 10 minutes to figure out because I tried not to be cliche, but it happened anyways.) We’re all in this together, so why not roll up your sleeves and help a fellow family member?
That is one way in which our cultures are different, but I have another story about how we’re all the same. Michael is one of my favorite friends in Lesotho, he frequently drives us places. Yesterday, Michael drove me out to a town about 45 minutes of Maseru, so we had plenty of time to talk on the way there, and then back again. I like Michael because he asks interesting questions about culture and we discuss the differences between Basotho and American culture. Yesterday, we talked about religion and dating (two separate topics, not one). By the end of the discussion and comparisons of our experiences about dating, Michael remarked, “It’s really all the same, isn’t it? People like each other, then one hurts the other one, and all that matters is how you react to it.” I agreed.
I feel like I should add a sidenote about cultural similarities here. I think that we all share a common humanity, so I go out of my way to find those commonalities, and tell those stories here. Many of my friends were afraid for me to go so far from home, to a place so foreign, and this is my attempt to show them that while we may have many ways of expressing it, we all share common hopes, needs, and desires. Michael had to drop out of college when his son was born so that he could provide for him. That story has no geographic specificity, it’s just one human story. So, while I try to prove our common humanity through similarities, I will also try to share the richness of manifestations of that humanity through cultural differences.
In terms of the microenterprise course, Robby went with M’e Lenka this morning to identify 6 businesses that our students will partner with during the course. This part of the program is what I’m most nervous about, because I can’t control it. I can only teach my students and hope that they learn and actually help the businesses. I feel like this is a feeling that is common to teachers, coaches, parents, or any sort of mentor, and seeing as I want to fulfill those roles throughout my life, I better get used to this nervous anticipation. Pass the antacids, please.
Teaching starts Monday. T minus 5 days.