iambeckyroar!
Lessons Learned 02/19/2012
 
The past week has been a crappy week, full of a few ups and many downs.  In the emotional rollar coaster that is the Peace Corps experience, I definitely went down Splash Mountain one too many times during the past few days and vomited.  Now on the rebound, I can say that I have already learned many, many lessons this week.  Here's a summary.

Lesson #1: Poverty sucks.  

No one, in their right mind, should ever opt into poverty.  Poverty is not picturesque mud huts and smiling African babies or just being poor.  Poverty is having no money, no water, no electricity and no food.  It's being thirsty all the time and sleeping in a room that feels like an inferno because you can't open the windows for fear of letting deadly bugs inside.  It's struggling with alcohol abuse and eating food exclusively from cans.  It's cramming 11 people into one hut and missing school to walk miles for water.  The people who currently live in poverty would never, ever hesitate to better their situation.  Nobody living in poverty wants to be living in poverty.

This week, I got a small taste of the biting edge of poverty.  It's a really, really rough life -- and I haven't even experienced it to the fullest.  I don't have children or siblings to support; I don't have illness to combat; I don't have to overcome illiteracy or injustice.  I used to feel guilty for growing up without ever having to struggle the way others do; now I can't feel guilty because I know that no one actually wants to live in poverty.

Don't get me wrong, I still feel as though I owe the world my time and effort in order to better the lives of others.  I just no longer feel guilty that one of my ancestors, however many years ago, looked around and thought, "I don't want to live like this anymore."  Because poverty sucks.

I guess Lesson #1 is a blessing in disguise, because now I think I am so incredibly lucky to have been born in America with all the resources and options that it offered me.  In the lottery of life, I somehow hit the jackpot.  I would advise all my readers who feel the nagging discomfort of first world guilt to stop feeling guilty, start feeling lucky, and just give back as much as you can.  It feels a lot better, and you can get a lot done.

(And an easy thing to do is loan those in poverty a small amount of money to help them start a business; visit www.kiva.org for more information.)

Lesson #2: Sometimes you have to cut yourself some slack.

I'm one of those people who never, ever cuts herself some slack.  I have a tendency to berate myself for not trying hard enough, working hard enough or being the best at something.  Metaphorically speaking, when I'm struggling to keep my head above water, I actually get angry with myself for not swimming -- or winning the race.  This quality is a bad one to have during times of physical distress, because it drives me to ignore warning signs and push myself as hard as I can.  It was my downfall this week.

Lesson #3: When living in Afica, bugs will find their way into your home.  No matter what.

No matter how much pesticide you spray, they will return.  Eventually, you'll have covered your home in poison and will make yourself sick from the spray.  Just let them be, and hope they'll give you the same courtesy.

Lesson #4: Personal cleanliness is a luxury.

Seriously, it is.

Lesson #5: Botswana is fake developed.

Internationally, Botswana is heralded as the gem of Africa.  It is a little known, small and stable country that experiences almost no civil unrest.  It is a socialist democracy (my words) that has vast diamond resources that were discovered after independence was declared from the British.  Relative to the rest of Africa, Botswana is rockin' out.

However, Botswana also faces some major challenges.  They have one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS in the world, as well as a very high level of income inequality (as measured by the Gini coefficient).  They are also "a lazy people," as one of my Motswana colleagues said.

What makes me call Botswana "fake developed" is that it's wealth is highly concentrated in a few areas amongst a few people.  The capital, Gaborone, is like Miami.  Another large urban center, Molepolole, has malls.  But my village, a stone's throw away, has nothing.  Development happens from the center outwards in Botswana, and those on the margins get left behind.  Here are some statistics from the CIA World Factbook about Botswana:
  • Per capita income is US $16,300 (2011)
  • 30.3% of the population lives below the poverty line (2003)
  • Gini-coefficient is 0.63, ranked as fifth in the world (1993)
  • Unemployment is 7.5% (2007)
  • 24.8% of the population is in infected with HIV/AIDS, ranked as second in the world (2009)
  • 74% of the urban population has access to improved sanitation (2008)
  • 39% of the rural population has access to improved sanitation (2008)
And much of this data was recorded before the recession hit and diamond sales plummeted.

My village has one paved road, no reliable source of water, no electricity and access only to canned food.  And yet I still live in a community that is better off than many others in Botswana.  As much as development has arrived in urban areas in Botswana, it has yet to trickle down to the populace.
 


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