After speaking with my dad on the phone, I realized what an opportunity I had to speak a little about what a victory for Barack Obama and his ascendency to the office of President means to Peace Corps Volunteers, Africa, and people in general. Before I continue any further I would like to state that these opinions don't necessarily reflect my own, but those who I have talked to in village and in Niger. Nor do they at all reflect the views of Peace Corps or any other organization.
For Peace Corps, Obama has promised to double the size of Peace Corps by 2011, increasing our funding and the amount of Volunteers. Bush made the same promise eight years ago, so let's hope that this is followed through this time. Like everything else that Obama championed, this move stands for hope. It hearkens back to a time when America was seen as the philanthropic democracy, a place where anyone could succeed and do good in the world. There are so many links, real and imaginary, between Obama and Kennedy that I won't go into them here, but I will say this: if America has squandered this capital of political goodwill on costly wars and perceieved imperialism, we can gain it back by serving and sharing in other cultures. And for me, Peace Corps has provided this tenfold.
This idea of democracy is also integral for the world and Africa especially. I was in Niamey the day before the election, and a taxi driver, who must have been somewhat traveled or educated because he knew English, told me that Barack Obama could never be president in America. He said a black man could never be president. "Look at the pictures," he said, "white, white, white, white. Obama will never be the first black president." Well here we are. This election was historic because it represented so much for an entire continent. It lifted people up, gave them an ideal, destroyed cynicism. African leaders must now be responsible to their countries and their people as the citizens of Africa believe anyone can overcome any challenge and succeed. They now have many more expectations for their leaders. And not just Obama has put forth this change. With election violence in Kenya and Zimbabwe, McCain's concession speech gave many Africans a model for proper political behavior which we may hope to determine future election protocal here in Africa. Acknowledging defeat and proclaiming unity is an example of the democratic spirit America represents in the world.
My villagers have spoken a lot about France and America, about their differences and how these differences are reflected in our current political situation. The French, according to my villagers, came to niger and taxed people who'd been living in the same place for generations. They created artificial divisions among the people, mistreated everyone, and generally brought all the trappings of colonialism to Niger. The Americans, on the other hand, brought development and aid to millions who needed it. With Obama's election, they see the old America resurgent. They see an end to a war in which so many have died. They see diplomacy returning and conquering the rhetoric that has dominated the past decade, and they see America as a true democracy, a place where everyone is equal, something they hope Niger and all of Africa can one day attain.
And that's the greatest gift of this election: hope. It's something that American has stood for for years, in theory and somewhat variable practice. I can't believe how strong the reaction has been in my community to an election thousands of miles away. Strangers stop me in the bush to offer congratulations. Everyone listened to the election results even deep into the night. To see so many people happy about something one would expect to have such a small impact on their lives is unreal. To be American, which I've always taken for granted, is suddenly a lot more meaningful.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Culture and the Balance of Emotion
29 October 2008
3:10 pm
It's cool and at least somewhat heartening how quickly things can turn around. The past few days I've been pretty down and listless. It's a form of laziness, but it's also been just a complete apathy to working, socializing, or even moving, and I have to admit it's been hard. Without any American neighbors close by, I've had no one to talk to about any of this, so it just continued for several days. But, with one or two small things, I've realized that a great day can be ruined, or a bad day can turn out really good. Last night was better. I went over to my neighbor Djodi's house to chat, as I occasionally do. I got over there and one of the guys was messing with his phone. Now, there isn't an electronic in Niger that doesn't suffer horribly, but this phone was a true piece of crap, even by Nigerien standards. It look like it was about five years old, it was missing its keypad, the screen didn't work, and the clock said it was 14h00 rather than 10 pm. The best part about this is he was trying to fix the clock from memory of how to run through the settings.
So everyone was getting a big laugh out of this guy's phone. One of the biggest came when it nearly died and he told us he'd charged it that morning. I asked him where he'd gotten such a terrible phone:
"Did you find it on the side of the road?"
"No, why?"
"Because it looks like someone got frustrated with it and chucked it out the window of some bush taxi."
Now Nigeriens love a good burn. They love it even more when the white kid who is still learning the local language can join in and torch a guy in Zarma. He told us that he'd dropped it in water, which none of us much understood as it's hard enough to even find water in this country, let alone find enough to ruin your phone. I told him he'd be better off using a rock, and after the clock reset itself to 2:37 am, I picked up a rock, pretended to make a call, and said, "It's for you, a brand new phone. It's much better than the one you have now. Just make sure to keep it charged." This, of course, caused an uproar as this poor guy just couldn't catch a break. An important lesson: in Niger, if you think you're going to get off light with something ridiculous (i.e. a bad haircut or a broken-down phone), think again. They are merciless, not in a mean way, just that they love to laugh, and people do a lot of ridiculous things here.
After we calmed down a bit, we talked about the stars. One of the greatest things about Niger is the lack of electricity means there's almost no light pollution from cities and towns. On clear nights, you can see the Milky Way and all the stars in the sky. I found an Audobon Society star guide here, and I've been learning the constellations. I told them about the Pleiades, and how the Polynesians believe that they used to be one bright star that boasted of its brilliance so much that the gods threw Sirius, the dog star, at it and shattered it into the pieces we now see. The younger guys didn't know the stories, but Seydou, an older man, knew them all, and I have to admire him. He told all of us that the Zarma equivalent of the Pleiades were called "Gorndariaze" - the hen and her chicks. When it's crests the sky, in mid-October, the rains are over and won't come again until next year. It's a connection with nature that we just don't have in America anymore. He doesn't seem very bright, but that's because he never had any schooling. He didn't even learn to write letters until he was 28 and living in Cote d'Ivoire. Everything that he lacks in academic learning, he makes up for in experience and age.
3:10 pm
It's cool and at least somewhat heartening how quickly things can turn around. The past few days I've been pretty down and listless. It's a form of laziness, but it's also been just a complete apathy to working, socializing, or even moving, and I have to admit it's been hard. Without any American neighbors close by, I've had no one to talk to about any of this, so it just continued for several days. But, with one or two small things, I've realized that a great day can be ruined, or a bad day can turn out really good. Last night was better. I went over to my neighbor Djodi's house to chat, as I occasionally do. I got over there and one of the guys was messing with his phone. Now, there isn't an electronic in Niger that doesn't suffer horribly, but this phone was a true piece of crap, even by Nigerien standards. It look like it was about five years old, it was missing its keypad, the screen didn't work, and the clock said it was 14h00 rather than 10 pm. The best part about this is he was trying to fix the clock from memory of how to run through the settings.
So everyone was getting a big laugh out of this guy's phone. One of the biggest came when it nearly died and he told us he'd charged it that morning. I asked him where he'd gotten such a terrible phone:
"Did you find it on the side of the road?"
"No, why?"
"Because it looks like someone got frustrated with it and chucked it out the window of some bush taxi."
Now Nigeriens love a good burn. They love it even more when the white kid who is still learning the local language can join in and torch a guy in Zarma. He told us that he'd dropped it in water, which none of us much understood as it's hard enough to even find water in this country, let alone find enough to ruin your phone. I told him he'd be better off using a rock, and after the clock reset itself to 2:37 am, I picked up a rock, pretended to make a call, and said, "It's for you, a brand new phone. It's much better than the one you have now. Just make sure to keep it charged." This, of course, caused an uproar as this poor guy just couldn't catch a break. An important lesson: in Niger, if you think you're going to get off light with something ridiculous (i.e. a bad haircut or a broken-down phone), think again. They are merciless, not in a mean way, just that they love to laugh, and people do a lot of ridiculous things here.
After we calmed down a bit, we talked about the stars. One of the greatest things about Niger is the lack of electricity means there's almost no light pollution from cities and towns. On clear nights, you can see the Milky Way and all the stars in the sky. I found an Audobon Society star guide here, and I've been learning the constellations. I told them about the Pleiades, and how the Polynesians believe that they used to be one bright star that boasted of its brilliance so much that the gods threw Sirius, the dog star, at it and shattered it into the pieces we now see. The younger guys didn't know the stories, but Seydou, an older man, knew them all, and I have to admire him. He told all of us that the Zarma equivalent of the Pleiades were called "Gorndariaze" - the hen and her chicks. When it's crests the sky, in mid-October, the rains are over and won't come again until next year. It's a connection with nature that we just don't have in America anymore. He doesn't seem very bright, but that's because he never had any schooling. He didn't even learn to write letters until he was 28 and living in Cote d'Ivoire. Everything that he lacks in academic learning, he makes up for in experience and age.
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