Cynical

[taurendur]

I am discouraged. Maybe because I haven’t been working as much as before (it’s too hot and my work will naturally pick up again when rainy season starts). I am frustrated with Malians and with Mali. I am getting to the point where I feel like all international aid is pointless. We come in with our great ideas, with our perfectly workable

Comments

[spidra]

When I hear the "but it's their culture" argument (usually in regard to something like FGM), I retort that slavery was American culture until the Civil War. Does that mean we should have kept it? Some cultural things are really important and worth keeping. Others, like sexism, homophobia, infanticide...are not.

I can't imagine how frustrating it must be for you. I haven't been to any 3rd World countries. I took Economics of Developing Countries from an Egyptian professor and that course was really eye-opening. I guess ultimately the help has to come from within. Perhaps Malians will hear it best from a Malian. Maybe it's even more limited than that and they'll only really change habits when someone from their own ethnicity (rather than nationality) tells them. I imagine it must have taken a while for bath-taking and hand-washing to make their way through Western culture as well...

Hang in there. I'm very admirous of your generosity of spirit.

[deema]

Yeah, one could come in and put a stone house with all the utilities where your village is and all people might embrace it and live there happily, but if that were to happen you will have killed the culture of cooking on three stones. The horror of killing culture. :)

[thefirstnet]

I agree that there is nothing you can do. And this probably isn't going to be helpful but...maybe you all should let them decide when to change their culture. Are they hurting anyone besides themselves? As long as they're not...I mean, it is their lives. And like you said, they know what to do to make their lives better, so if they want to make a change, they will. Sorry, I'm sure you're really frustrated being there and being so ready to help and finding out that there really isn't anything you can do. I don't really know what you should do. I guess the problem is that no one does.

[taurendur]

I've mostly come to the same conclusion: when they want the change, they'll make it. For that reason, my day mostly consists of reading books and not leaving the house. I jump at opportunities to share what I've learned to people who come to me, interested, but am mostly done with trying to proactively teach others.

What's really frustrating is coming into Peace Corps with the expectation that you'll be working with people who have decided to make that change, only to find that they don't. It's a waste of my time and the tax payer's money.