"God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other."
------Reinhold NiebuhrI've thought about change in Zambia being organized this way. I'll reflect these thoughts openly .
What cannot be changed is the bit of culture that Zambians still have to hang on to. Because things cannot, or should not be changed, certain outcomes of the unchanged will continue to effect the country --good or bad. And as change agents we sometimes have to right or power to change them.
What cannot be changed is pieces of culture. Pieces of culture like women covering their thighs. Many people argue that women should be allowed to show their thighs for many valid reasons such as: girls should not have an underlying dress code, women should not have to cater to men and their lack of self control (the thighs are considered taboo and those who wear short skirts or leggings are seen as prostitutes or even accused as "asking" to be impregnated), we live in modern times and women should be able to dress as so. But for me, as an outsider-- I need to pick my battles, and this is one I choose not to pick. I cover my thighs, accept the culture, and focus on fighting for girls' education rather than girls' dress code. I just don't feel I have the time or capacity to change that.
What cannot be changed is time keeping. This, in my opinion SHOULD be changed. But I have adapted to it and no longer run my patience getting angry over it. Watches and clocks are rarely seen and people typically estimate the time by eyeballing at the sun. It's a problem because meetings don't start on time which in the time-is-money philosophy can intensely disrupt all programs for the rest of the day. Ideally, you can fit a series of programs into one day- heck you can even schedule all your monthly appointments on one day to get them all done and over with. Zambia does not fit that mold. The reasons are: no transport, chores at the home, waiting on other people's schedules, etc. I've learned to just schedule one meeting in a day and not rush it into another.
The culture here is sitting, visiting, listening, caring. It is not appropriate to walk 3 kilometers to a meeting without greeting each person I pass or stopping to chat- that would be rude. So people show up late, things are not timely, but there are always good reasons, and even though it means development is a bit slower, it's nothing I have the power to change. It's within their culture, it's something they must change.
Most of these changes are achievable although overwhelming. And there are a million ways that the NGO's, developed nations, missionaries, and government can reach out to make these changes. But with a young country that is still fresh, that has been molded and remolded, told this and that--- we need to be careful how we go about making change.
I can honestly say that all the issues I listed can be changed through education. Even government subsidies on maize. The action to be taken for this problem is to simply eliminate the yearly practice of giving out of millions and billions of Kwacha (Zambian currency) for each bag of maize produced by each farmer. But people still need to be educated on alternative ideas of crop growing (maybe something that involves nutrition for a change). When you examine everything at the most basic of levels; people just don't know, don't understand, don't get it. Poor nutrition is a way of life. But people assume just because a belly is full from all the Nshima that was just eaten, it means that person is healthy or fit. People assume just because they go to church, they are protected from HIV. They cannot see how conservation farming which involves patience and doing things just a little bit differently than traditionally carried out, will improve their soil, increase food security, and maintain the land they are farming on. There is little thinking about the future, about how one action can affect the next.
What is unique about Zambia and other African countries is to also consider what has ALREADY been changed, and what needs to be re-changed after a mess of bad changes. Like...cleaning up after colonialism without re-committing colonialist actions. Not everything from colonialism or western influence has changed the country in a bad way. But the influence is there, and it's obvious, and almost irreversible. In Zambia, there is a church here, there, and everywhere- it is considered a Christian nation in the most in-your-face-way possible. On Sundays you can hear Gospel songs ringing out from every village, town, and city. We pray before every meal, every meeting, every school day. Even those households that have no literate residents, or no money to buy books- own a single bible. It's the only book in the nation that's printed in local languages. Now that's the power of God (or the power of missionaries).
Other examples include: BOMA's -- British Occupancy Military Area, something that was introduced to Zambia long ago and the name just stuck. Every district has it's own BOMA where all the ministry offices are held along with markets and transportation options. My BOMA for example, is Kasama. It's almost seen as a little oasis in the eyes of mere villagers- a place with lots of people! electricity! a place to buy bread! cold soft drinks! It's like a dreamland for village teachers who work hard making connections or finding ways to score a teaching position in the BOMA.
Tea time is something I have never had the privilege of experiencing in America, but have fallen in love with in Zambia. There is a tea break (involves tea and some sort of a biscuit ) at every workshop and meeting (well not in the village). We do a lot of workshops in Peace Corps, each involving a morning tea break around 10:00 a.m, and an afternoon tea break around 14:00 p.m. They only last about 20 minutes each, but it is delightful!!! This is absolutely the doing of the British , and actually-- something I think America should adopt!
The changes that have been made which I see as necessary to be re-changed include:
The British concept of rote memorization in the classroom should be changed to critical thinking teaching and learning methodologies.
The culture of corporal punishment, which is also part original Zambian culture, needs to be changed into school environment which involves empathy.
Farming exploitation- white farmers coming in and promoting fertilizer as a necessity should be changed into organic farming education for the sake of preserving Zambia's land and prosperity.
Well, that's all for now. I'm down to six months. Again, thank you all for the donations, support, letters, packages, and consideration in one way or another. The preschool is almost finished, I will write a final report with pictures when it's completed !
Preschool building progress
My apologies for always posting almost only preschool pictures. They are just so darn cool!
Shannon, you are amazing. Love this post. While I've been over here in Korea, I can relate to some of what you're writing about. It's hard to explain to people back home why things are the way they are and why we shouldn't just go around changing things. It's hard teaching these students new ways of doing things without pushing too far. For example, rote memorization is such a HUGE part of their education system here. And I can't stand it. I am constantly trying to have them think creatively, but as a collectivist society.. it's novel to them. FInding that line where you say, "it's there culture, and this particular thing is not going to change." We also have daily tea break. It's really important in Korean culture for relationship building between coworkers. I LOVE it too. Enjoy your last few months!
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