When I first thought about coming to Ethiopia I expected a dry, brown, sad place where life was difficult and hard and anything but enjoyable. I would venture to guess that when most people think about Africa there is little positive that comes to mind. From movies, magazines, newspaper articles and books, I have found there is little positive said about this large and diverse continent (which is often lumped into one place, “Africa”, and rarely its individual countries). Daniel is in the middle of one of these books, where the only things discussed are how terrible everything is here-- the corruption, the poverty, how NGO’s have destroyed people’s work ethic, the spread of HIV, etc.
I can’t help but think back to an assignment I was given in graduate school to do a community needs assessment of the Delray neighborhood in Detroit. My professor wisely told us that we were to look at the area’s strengths--not to focus only on the problems. As those of you who are familiar with Detroit know, it would have been very easy--and most likely what we would have done. Only focus on the bad....the run down houses, the boarded up buildings, the liquor stores and miss what positive things were very much there but easily overlooked when going in with a negative mindset, the houses with beautiful gardens, the churches, an active community center, etc.
While I am sure that all the bad things people write about and highlight in movies about Africa are true for some people, it is for sure not the case for everyone. Where we are in Chiri, I am often times jealous of the life that people have here. Children grow up in green, lush mountains able to run around and play without worries, families are unbelievably close, people will go to great lengths to help others (even if it means carrying a neighbor who is in labor on a stretcher up mountain roads for up to eight hours in order to get to a doctor), because no one has a car people walk everywhere giving them ample opportunity to spend time with friends and family, there isn’t the constant advertising of products and things that can make you feel like you never have enough...the list could go on but I think you get my point. Of course there are a lot of hardships that come with living in a developing country like Ethiopia-- the chances of dying from a treatable illness is huge, people don’t have a ton of opportunities for a meaningful career, most people can’t turn on the tap to get water or have a stove to cook.
While I realize no situation is black and white and that neither place is better then the other, I can say without a doubt in my mind that Ethiopia is an engaging country with beautiful, happy and generous people which turns any assumptions about what “Africa” is on it’s head. I just wish there were more journalists and filmmakers that saw the other side that exists here. I wish there were articles about the families who sit by their loved ones beds and bring them food for days on end while at the clinic, or the parents who carry their children for hours, and even days in some cases, when they are malnourished. I wish there were movies about the many families who are surviving just fine working their fields and don’t rely on food aid. I wish there were NY Times articles about people who work hard, go to college and work in places like our clinic helping their community. I wish there were films that conveyed how green and mountainous and lush this country is. I wish the news told the story of the men and women who are entrepreneurs who are growing towns like Chiri.
What I really wish is that you could see all this for yourself....I don't think that this blog can give justice to all that I have seen and felt in just the short time I have been here. I do wonder though why this is the case....is there something we get out of labeling places like Ethiopia as poor and in need of saving? Why don't we hear more about all that is positive here?
(If you are wondering where the title to this blog comes from, a classmate in social work school wore a button with “AFRICA IS NOT A COUNTRY” which really amused me)
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