Man in the Mirror

Several months ago elections were held throughout Senegal. Following the campaigns, newly-elected officials held annual budget planning meetings (called PLD, Planification Locale de Development). These meetings are long, drawn-out, rarely productive and have no real impact on the actions or spending of the government.

During this same election cycle, the Communitaire Rurale is chosen within each commune. The Communitaire Rurale is sort of like a capital city only on a much smaller scale. The villages are chosen by the President of Senegal without ever visiting the area, and is usually based on where he has family throughout the country, not strategic, facts-based decisions.

The former and current Communitaire Rurale of the commune of Dabo (my road town) is Dialembere. Dialembere is located on the very edge of the boundary of the commune, has no health poste and is where the President's cousin coincidentally lives. Geographically it makes no sense for Dialembere to be the Communitaire Rurale. So this year my village, geographically located in the middle of the commune, with a health poste in the process of completion and the full support of nearly every village in the commune, actively campaigned and petitioned to be elected the Communitaire Rurale. Not surprisingly, Dialembere retained its title and my village was and is STILL not happy.

So when the newly-elected President of the Communitaire Rurale came to my village to facilitate the mandatory PLD one month after elections, he was met with hostility, no cooperation and finally left without so much as formally beginning the meeting.

The people in this country have so few options to stand up for themselves. Particularly a village deep in the bush whose population is largely illiterate and poor. Not only did they stand up for themselves, but continue to do so today, months after elections were finished. I was incredibly proud of their determination and character. We all knew nothing would change, but they were making a statement.

And now it is being used against them.

A refusal to do the annual PLD meeting means that that village forfeits its status as a recognized village essentially. It can't receive any government money. This is usually not a big deal because government funds rarely make it out to the people for whom it is intended. But we are building a health poste. It is a medical facility that, once completed, will and must be supported by the Ministry of Health to pay salaries. So now, the big cheese Medical Man in Kolda is threatening my village that he will not support the health poste until my village gives in, says they are sorry for protesting the assignment of Dialembere as Communitaire Rurale and agree to do the PLD.

Here are just a few of my concerns:
1. The PLD doesn't really even matter. Even if they do comply, the meeting will be a disaster and my village will be slighted in their rightful alllocation of funds (that won't ever be seen anyway).
2. If they threaten my village with withholding the funds for the doctor's salary before he has even arrived, what's to say they won't threaten them with the exact same thing whenever they want something from my villagers or any of the villages in the commune for that matter?!
3. The President of the Communitaire Rurale is a bad man. He is greedy and untrustworthy and vengeful. My village is very leery of him and for good reason. If my village was to agree to their terms and let him facilitate the PLD, he would make them beg. And I am sure that one of two things would happen: 1. My head would explode or 2. I would hit him. Hard.

As you can see, I am in a very difficult position. I was basically given an ultimatum to pass on to my village: give in or give up the health poste. And I struggled for almost a week before I got the courage and conviction to even tell them the problem, let alone make a suggestion. I was having serious moral and ethical concerns. The reality is that they should probably just give in, play by the book and be quiet because no matter how long they hold out, it is only hurting them. The likelihood that anything tangibly positive will come from this is beyond unlikely. But how could I possibly advise them to give up? Who am I to say that their protest is not worth it? And since when do I ever do anything the easy way?!

When I finally called a meeting to discuss the concerns, I was literally shaking. I kept my sunglasses on the whole time even though we were in the shade so they wouldn't notice me constantly glancing at my trembling hands. I talked them through the entire situation and at the end, when they asked me my opinion, I apologized before telling them to give up. I secretly hated myself.

And then they changed my entire world.

They asked if I might be able to set a meeting with the head of the Ministry of Health in Kolda. THEY wanted to speak with him! Are you serious?!?!? This is a culture known around the world as non-confrontational and suddenly an illiterate, powerless, informal group of farmers felt it was appropriate to knock some sense into one of Senegal's elite medical professionals... I LOVED IT! Absolutely!

I don't know why I ever doubted them. They have been the most honest, respectable people throughout this whole process. Now, I recognize that I am going to have to lie to get this meeting set up - this is a man who could not possibly lower himself to speak with villagers. And I recognize that IF I can set up the meeting, he will be irate when the six of us show up. And I also recognize that if he doesn't throw us out in the first five minutes, we may piss him off royally and ruin any future opportunity for compromise.

But they want to use their voice. They want to explain their position. They want ownership of this project and control of their own destinies. And I certainly can't advise them against that. It is possible that this health poste will not open during my service, if at all. This is a reality I am loosely accepting. But if and when it does, it will have been done the RIGHT way. It will have been a group effort marked by honesty and determination. I no longer feel guilty for telling them to give in - I think it was my obligation. And it is my pleasure to help them do the exact opposite.

Third Time's the Charm

There is a well-documented and equally well accepted phenomenon known as "Africa Time". What it means is that people are free to be late, hours late, with hardly any acknowledgment, let alone consequence. As you might imagine, this drives me batty! You see, I inherited a genetic disorder from my mother in which I am always at least 10 minutes early - can't help it, and I get flustered when I am not. Being exposed to Africa Time has perhaps in some small way relaxed my obsession, and it has certainly forced me to find ways to deal with it.

Since the very first meeting I held in my village I have had a rule that I will wait one hour for people to show up. If they don't arrive within that window, I will not be mad (most of the time), but I will also not wait any longer. I am happy to reschedule the meeting, training or whatever it is another day, but the opportunity for that day is gone.

For 20 months in village, I was not let down once.

But that all blew up in my face two weeks ago when I tried to hold a training for the health extension workers that will work at the health post when it is finished. Not once, but twice I waited one hour and not once, but twice only half of them showed. They were mystified when I eventually got angry - not at their tardiness, but their lack of commitment.

(Please allow me to stand on my soapbox for a moment). The likelihood of this facility failing is astronomical. More than half of all health postes in this country are non-functional. The other half only stay open because NGOs pump money into them. Even if we manage to get it open, fully stocked and supported by the government, corruption, greed, poor economy and disinterest are all factors that WILL close it down in no time. If these people are not 1304957890% committed to fighting for this thing everyday, it will not last. And I only have four months left in this country. I have a very short amount of time to prepare these people and I absolutely don't have time to reschedule the same training three times.
There, I'm done. Stepping off my box now.

So I told them if they organized a training on their own and told me about it I would come, wait one hour and if it happened a third time I would no longer work with them (which was a TOTAL bluff). But it worked.

Two days later, everyone was present within 15 minutes of the set start time. We had an amazing training. They participated. They understood. My pulaar was awesome. They understood my pulaar. And we had a very honest talk about their responsibilities. Which they totally accepted. The only way I could have been more thrilled is if it'd happened the first time.

So we have come to an understanding. I made my point. I only cursed Africa Time four or five (hundred) times and said the Serenity Prayer about 49587 times more than that. I'm still working on the serenity part. Whether this thing opens, and whether it remains open is out of my hands at this point. But it is reassuring to know that they understand its success is within theirs.