I'm back on the old continent, Europe.Back to fast internet connections, hot water, individualism...On the plane I had time to reflect on my time in Rwanda (and Ghana).Volunteering is really one of the best ways to know a country. Tourist and investors only stay a few days or a week. They see on part of Africa, its exterior coating. Sure safaris and gorillas are beautiful but you stay in the car and don't interact with the people or the continent. You only see the surface, not what is hidden. Africa is a little like Rwanda's hills: rich, enigmatic, noisy and silent, excessive, diverse.
Africa should certainly not be treated a single entity but I will do it a little bit here. African cultures are extremely different from European and American cultures. There isn't much in common yet this is what makes the continent so mysterious and interesting. Nothing really prepares you for Africa. In the West, Africa is the Other, a symbol of poverty, hunger, war, corruption, genocide. Yes, these things exist but Africa is so much more than that. Its people, landscapes, cultures made me fall in love with the continent.
But for that you need to mingle and interact with Africa and its people: talk to them, go to the market, visit their homes. Most people in the West are indifferent, if not hostile towards Africa.
Describing Africa is difficult. I found it difficult to find the right words because African landscapes, traditions and mentalities are so different and diverse. Africa is a thousand situations, varied, contradictory, distinct. A mosaic. The more you stare at it, the more you interact with it, the more you will discover. It will give rise to a spectacle of richness. Volunteering certainly allows you do that. you walk a lot, take public transports, go to the market and shop where Africans shop, you work with them everyday, you avoid fancy hotels and restaurants at all costs, they invite you to their homes, you share a meal, establish trust and therefore learn much more than tourists (and those Chinese investors on their cellphones, standing by the side of the road) do.
The best way to help African countries would be for politicians and policy makers to actually come here and see how things work. For example, Africans have a completely different relationships with time. Westerners live according to time, time exists outside them, they are like slaves. Africans take a completely different approach. Time is something created by man. Time is a result of our actions, we influence and shape it.
Another major difference I have noticed is the sense of community that exists here. Europeans and Americans are egocentric and individualistic. Here community is everything and being left alone is seen as the worst thing that could happen to an individual. Problems are solved collectively: crimes, thefts, car accidents, traffic jams. You will often see people standing by the side of the road because something has happened: everybody gets involved, everybody wants to know, they all talk to find a solution. These kind of talks and debates take place when it comes to solving conflicts as well, or if someone is sick or needs food or money. People will seek help from a neighbour or from the community. So I think that before we impose our views on African countries and model aid and development policies according to our way of life we need to know how things work here, how people lead their daily lives. The best solutions can be found by looking at how people lead their lives and interact with each other, and by asking those whom the policies are going to target. They have an opinion and they have solutions to offer as well, more than anybody even. I think they know better than anyone what is needed. But how often do policy makers ask for their opinions?
If I ever become a human rights monitor and policy maker I hope I will not forget what I've learned here.People have a lot to offer and we have a lot to learn from them. I hope the West stops being indifferent or to this Other, to Africa, and finally starts to see it something other than the "Dark continent." When you are on a safari in Kenya or Tanzania and see people on the road or sitting outside their clay huts, go out of your car and talk to them. They'll teach you a lot. Encounter Africa.
I already miss Kigali before night falls. The birds, the cool wind, the mist, the people going back to their hills, the smoking cooking fires, the laughing and singing children coming back from school, kicking self-made footballs or rolling old tires. Rwanda beautiful at sunrise and sunset. You cannot help but stop and watch.I'll be back some day.
