A reflection piece I wrote for Senegalese Society & Culture
11.12.09
Before last week and before coming on this program, whenever I would think about my potential future involvement in international development, I would have these grand ideas of working for USAID, the UN, or some well known international NGO. I had visions of myself writing policy and traveling through developing countries to familiarize myself with issues facing different regions. I spent quite a bit of time thinking this past week and I find myself becoming disillusioned with development organizations and the idea of development work itself.
Our Peace Corps Volunteer, Daniel, spoke highly of the work he had seen USAID doing. They are building middle schools throughout Senegal. They are not providing these schools with better teachers or implementing any programs to improve attendance so the schools may not actually make much of an impact. However, they are building these schools so that when government policies change and attitudes toward education changes, the schools will be there—fully equipped with desks, chairs, and computers. Despite my recently developed hobby of criticizing USAID, it was good to be reminded that they are completing some goals even if they are failing on others.
Many ideas I had about development work changed over the course of the week. Daniel is in the environmental education program of the Peace Corps. His mission also includes health education. He talks to villagers about issues that affect or involve the environment and health, but his main focus has been making gardens in the village. He started a vegetable garden in the middle school and the village responded favorably to it. During our week, we started another garden in his host brother’s compound. We pulled out weeds, built a fence, and started a nursery. His plan for the next five months before his two years are up is to start a more gardens in the village. He does not hold any grand aspirations to substantially boost the local economy or to bring running water or electricity to Dindefello. His plans are simpler, yet they are effective and immediate. Being able to add just a few more vegetables to one meal adds variety and brings nutrients they were lacking to their diets. The gardens also bring a little bit of extra commerce to the local economy.
This kind of work that Daniel is doing is the kind of work I had not given much thought to before coming to Senegal. Work like this, on a micro-level, is what people can do rather easily and successfully. It does not take much funding, just some money for seeds and maybe for tools. It takes time and hard work, but it can visibly improve people’s lives.
Daniel said that being in the Peace Corps has affected him a lot, personally. He is not sure, however, of how much he has affected the village and how much they actually need him. He calls his type of work “behavioral change.” He does not know how well he is doing his job. Even if he talks to the villagers every day and teaches them about the importance of good nutrition and education for their children, he cannot guarantee that when he leaves in April that the community will not just forget everything he taught them. It is this idea of personal will that makes me start to question the concept of development work. If people are provided with adequate education and are aware of the pros and cons of certain behaviors, what more can any one person or organization do to change another’s behavior? Does it become anyone’s place, then, to try? How much should anyone do before it comes to a question of someone’s own personal wishes and will?
I have no answers to any of these questions. I feel like I have learned a lot about Senegal and about myself last week and throughout this entire program. Yet I find that I am so much less sure about things than I was before I left the United States. I am glad I have had these experiences. I just wish I knew where to go from here.
