I am troubled when I hear people talking about living in the States as "real life" and that working in Sudan is some kind of phase that I am going through and some day I will come to my senses. I am troubled because life in Sudan to me is about as real as it gets. Let’s consider the following since Westerners are so keen on statistics.
I come from a country that makes up just 5% of the world’s population and yet we consume around 50% of the natural resources and contribute around 50% of the greenhouse gas emissions that are contributing to record temperatures each passing day. People in the USA, and the western world, have the highest average yearly income per capita that affords them to spend three dollars on a cup of coffee and $250 on an iPod. Rampant consumerism has been preached as gospel in my country and it’s spreading and as a result people can’t imagine giving or sacrificing any of their precious luxuries on the behalf of those that probably were responsible for supplying them in the first place.
Close to 60% of the world’s population lives on less than two dollars a day. Above that you still have relative poverty for Central Asian and Eastern block nations along with the rest of the Western Hemisphere. Most of these people live in houses that are made of mud and some sort of thatched roof. They eat rice and beans as a staple seven days a week if they are lucky. The women are treated as property and do the majority of the work in their communities. These people don’t have access to clean and safe water, much less water to flush a toilet so they probably use a pit latrine if they are fortunate enough to have one. Most of these people have seen war and atrocities that would boggle the mind, stories enough to be told for hours.
Therefore through the logic of statistics I think it’s safe to say that how people live here in Africa and around the world is real life. Mud houses, crapping in a hole and bathing using a bucket with water from the Nile is reality; little mansions with two car garages, shopping at the mall, drinking lattes and throwing away 50% of the food that I buy is not. For me it has taken seeing just how little I can really live on and still be perfectly happy to awaken me from the pipe dream that is consumer culture. So that’s the view from where I’m at on the ground is not pretty but it’s not hopeless. It just is. However it’s always hard for me to see this when I am back home standing on the backs of those people that are exploited so I can live my life with a view that is uninterrupted by all the unpleasant things that are below me otherwise it might cause me to have a guilty conscience and change my life accordingly.
20 comments:
Dude, you're never coming back... at least not to stay... I knew that when you left. You are living while the rest of us here merely pretend... Keep the faith and keep looking up
i don't know you, but thanks for sharing this. i needed to hear it.
Ouch! That hurts in a good way :o) Thanks for the reality check. I agree with Stephen - it looks like you're ruined :o)
You have perspective, I can tell. Many people working with humanitarian organizations come to the third world for the adventure, nothing less. majority don't need the money, wants to live "wild" like the "natives" for a change then go back to their convertibles and airconditioned flats.
Few, if any look at it the way you do. Africans are exploited in order that those in the west could enjoy cheap chocolates, espresso coffee, diamond necklaces, etc. Only afew take a minute to wonder where these things come from...
If only they could have eyes that see and hearts that feel...
not that i'm doing anything meaningful at the moment, but i definitely understand where you're coming from. i think that's a major difference between our generation and our parents'. our generation is more social conscious and globally aware and more willing to get out there and do something ourselves because we feel enough is enough and something must be done. then again, that could just be me transfering mine and my parent's opinions on the rest of the population ...
raising awareness and educating back home is just as important as the actual work abroad. keep it up!
Hmm.
Lots of thoughts there, man. Beware of false dichotomies. I don't mean that to take away from your post, because a man has to write strongly to get a strong point across. I'm glad you're knuckling through this stuff for the rest of us to read.
Jason, I don't see my position or this post as threatening to make two halves out of a complete whole. Instead of things being mutually exclusive I think it's more of a ying and yang thing.
For instance: My wealth and my lifestyle that I am used to (ying) would not be possible without there being an appalling amount of poverty in the world so I can get stuff for cheap (yang).
Also I am not trying to come of as an idealist that is saying everyone should have tons of money or that America should live in mud huts. I was merely pointing out that by the numbers earth houses are where it's at when it comes to "real life" as so many have aptly named it.
The question this leaves me with is how can I live here in the great US of A without living a life of pure exploitation? I have rolled these thoughts around in my head, thoughts you have written out in black and white, and I have not come up with a satisfactory answer. Is it just the nature of all things, that there has always been a wealthy class and a poor class and now we see it in a global way and not just a localized ruler/peasant scenario? I know there is no easy answer, but surely there is something (in my case something short of moving to Sudan I hope:)
You have very eloquently described the "real" and those who might say you are living in a dream world only condemn themselves.
Well, the post (like many of our posts) doesn't contain just one idea. "Real life" in the U.S., as described by those talking condescendingly toward your work in Sudan, isn't a prison sentence unless it's characterized with all the adjectives you hang on it in your post. So I probably didn't read your post as generously as I ought've.
But, shopping at the mall, drinking lattes, and throwing away 50% of the food you buy is real life, too. It's just of the selfish and gluttonous variety, which I think you're right to criticize and shun.
As you put it, reality, in its many forms, "just is." But you're right, there's blame to be shared.
Having spent time living in both worlds myself and in particular having come back to the US from living in an African village these are things I've struggled with quite a bit...I still struggle...all the time, every day.
But reading your post disturbed me a bit. I probably won't do a good job explaining why, but here goes.
These things aren't just a white, western and rich vs. black, African and poor. What you've described in the global macrocosom is just a reflection of what happens in every society. It's unfortunately human nature and the way human society seems to end up.
In the US, less than 5% of the people control 95% of the assets and they do it by oppressing the American poor. It's there (even more obviously) in the African microcosom as well. The selfish corrupt souls exploit the unrest and misery of the poor in their country to get money and mansions for themselves. Corruption sucks and although it structures the society it doesn't define every African person or their lifestyle. It's just as invalid to say that commercialism defines all Americans and their lifestyle.
Like I said, I'm not disagreeing with anything you said...just adding the idea that real life is everywhere and no matter how different it may seem, it's all really just the same.
thanks for sharing aaron. I'm glad you haven't "grown up" yet. I hope you never will. From someone who lived in Africa first, and then had to come to the United States to be "educated" I can say, Africa has never left my system. Once the world gets in, its hard to get it out.
I just wish more people could experience the agony and ecstasy of knowing there is more out there than a second car and white picket fence. Luckily for me, and I imagine for you as well...Fox has taught me to love the world outside.
Keep dreaming. I'm not sure when we stopped believing we could (and should) change the world. I haven't stopped believing. I don't think you have either.
peace and grace.
Materialism is a serious problem in the states, no doubt. But having a mortgage, car, family and having a 9 to 5 job isn't nearly as evil as you let on. God blesses people with those things. Even Solomon had great riches. It's what we DO with those that really matters. Are we spending money on useless objects, or are we managing the money that God has given us in ways that further His kingdom? Even a man living in rags can poorly manage that which God has given him...
Robert - I don't remember saying anything about those things being evil. In fact the point that I was making was that the background that I come from is not how the rest of the world lives.
This was also written because I am tired of being talked down to by those that know about "real life" but probably couldn't find Sudan on a map.
Reality is relative to whoevers live is being lived.
Duuuuuude.
Just happened upon your blog today and I love this post. Of course everyone is living his or her own 'real life' wherever s/he is, but it's definitely fair to say that Africa is real life, too. And that 'real life' in the US is not all that it could/should be. I'm with you - I feel much more hopeful for the world when I'm in Africa than in the US.
The other thing that makes me crazy is when people tell me how wonderful it is that I go to Africa and help "those poor people." I don't even have words to describe all the ways that bothers me.
anyway, looking forward to reading more of your blog!
marie
Hello Aaron,
I really like your blog and I really enjoyed reading this post:)
Are you working with an organization/ngo? I would love to go to South Sudan but I just can't find any opportunities to go there.
A Sudaniya
Erica, I'm your parents generation and left the USA twenty years ago for a similar path to Aaron's. We weren't all quite so unaware :).
God bless you, Aaron. Keep it up. You probably will find a wife with a passion for this life, and every time you go back you can model this kind of simplicity to those around you. It does work, it does impact suburbia. Found you through Sudanese Thinker, btw.
Hi from Congo. I must say I am not so deeply penetrated by the poverty I see, nor so critical of life back home. To me it just is what it is and I'm doing my little part to make it better somehow.
Also, we must consider that (at least here in Congo) just about anybody would kill to have that luxurious life so many live in the States. They don't glorify their own poverty and think "Gee, isn't it great to live simply."
I like what Proverbs says about asking the Lord to give us just enough because if we were rich we might forget about Him and if we were poor we might be tempted to steal.
OK, gotta run,
Jessica
I am so happy I found this blog. I am very shy but I have values that I hold dear to my heart. This experience is valuable for you and it is helping you, as a person. I definitely want to do something like this in the near future. I am sort of scared to make the step because I do not have much resources. I am very appreciative however that you show me that making that move, can be accomplished. Regardless of what people say.
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