seun kuti

Alright I don’t know where to start for today!

I had my internship seminar at 8 am. I’m getting used to waking up way earlier than I did in New York, and it’s not so bad, as long as I can get a nap in at some point during the day. Anyway, so internship seminar went well, as usual. Today I led the discussion. We are reading The White Man’s Burden, by William Easterly. It’s a REALLY, REALLY interesting book about development and Western aid. It deals a lot with the issues that I talked about in previous blogs—about how much aid is too much, how aid should be allocated, etc. Easterly makes an argument against “Big Plans” and distinguishes two distinct categories of people the “planners” and the “searchers”. The Planners are those governmental organizations, celebrities, major, famous non-profits, etc. that make bold, sweeping claims about “eradicating poverty or eliminating AIDS”. The searchers are those who go into the countries, starting at the grassroots level, and focus on the small, immediate needs that are specific to that place. For instance, he gives the example of the road on the way to Cape Coast from Accra, and how one village 30 years ago was lacking any source of clean water. Today, this village has pipes that come carry clean water from Winneba. Searchers found an immediate need and met it at a local level. Through these smaller, but more impactful projects, development is tangible and can be seen. Easterly argues that the planners (organizations like the IMF, World Bank, USAID, WHO, UNICEF, celebrities like Bono, big charity fundraises like Live 8, etc) who set lofty goals, and whose bank account receive the checks we haplessly write, are often not executed, or not executed in the most effective way. He says, and I find myself agreeing:

“In foreign aid, Planners announce good intentions but don’t motivate anyone to carry them out; Searchers find things that work and get some reward. Planners raise expectations but take no responsibility for meeting them; Searchers accept responsibility for their actions. Planners determine what to supply; Searchers find out what is in demand. Planners apply global blueprints; Searchers adapt to local conditions. Planners at the top lack knowledge of the bottom; Searchers find out what the reality is at the bottom. Planners never hear whether the planned got what it needed; Searchers find out if the customer is satisfied.”

He continues on about what each is or isn’t, but essentially, I think he makes a very valid argument. The book is very conversational and easy to read, and something I am VERY interested in. I recommend it to EVERYONE (you can find it on Amazon or BN.com). It’s a response to economist Jeffery Sachs’ book The End of Poverty, which I haven’t read. Sachs is a big advocate of the Planner, and so he and Easterly often debate via editorials in the NYT or through their books. Both sides are very interesting, and I plan on reading Sachs’ book when I get home. OH! And Easterly is the top developing economics professor at NYU. I encourage all of you to read this book, so we can all have a dialogue about it when I get back. I’m just enthralled by all this and still don’t know what to make of it all.

ANYWAY, so we talked a lot more about that in the internship seminar. In my Society, Culture and Modernization class we talked about traditional politics, specifically the role of a chief. Ghana’s political system is divided into two parts: A) the democratic, elected officials part, with a parliament, and B) the traditional politics, aka the obeying of chiefs. These two work together, and exist simultaneously though sometimes they’re in conflict with each other. Anyway, the chiefs rule over different tribes in different regions of Ghana, and are revered. The chief does not speak to anyone directly, not even the Queenmother, who is the only person who can publically rebuke the king/chief. The Queenmother doesn’t necessarily have to be the king’s mother, but has to be of the same lineage—so, an aunt, a sister, a niece, etc. The chief’s wife has no formal role. The chief’s main duty is to protect its people, and to be the region’s spiritual leader. There are many other forms and traditions the chief takes on, but they are aplenty, and I have a lot more to write about, so I’ll move on…

TODAY WAS MY FIRST DAY TEACHING AT WAAF!! Leigh and I went to Flagstaff, a school about 15 minutes away. School got out a little later than anticipated, so we were sitting outside waiting for class to be dismissed so we could use the classroom. While we were waiting, some pre-school girls came up to me, and I started teaching them how to play patty-cake. They were so amused, and started playing with each other. One girl, though, was scared of us Obrunis, and wanted nothing to do with us. She stayed a few feet back while her friends came up and played with us. When the bell boy came up ringing a handbell (letting them know school was out), everyone, including the 4 year old preschoolers to the teachers recited Psalm 23. The ENTIRE thing, much like reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. It was a REALLY cool thing to see, and so unexpected. It’s amazing how much religious life is infused in everything, including public education. Anyway, so the class we taught was made up of 10 boys and 10 girls, primarily 4th and 5th grades. Their teachers chose them to be peer educators and be a part of the Passion Squad, so they are the best of the best. Leigh and I went back and forth teaching them basic facts about HIV / AIDS, ways of transmission, modes of prevention, signs and symptoms and basic facts about STIs. It’s a lot for 9 and 10 year olds to take in, especially when it seemed most of them didn’t really know what HIV / AIDS was, or what the acronyms stood for. What I found most surprising was that a lot of them thought you could get HIV from kissing someone. Leigh and I spent a lot of time clarifying this, making sure they understood that kissing someone with HIV could not give you the virus. I think they finally caught on, but because they didn’t know much about the virus to begin with, they didn’t seem to have many questions yet. I think they were soaking it all up and taking thorough notes. Maybe next week they’ll have thought more about what we taught and have more questions. They’re great kids though, and really proactive and want to learn. I am encouraged by today’s work, and encouraged by the kids and their willingness and interest to learn. I know what WAAF is doing is making a difference, and I’m just thankful to be a part of it.

I took a nap when I got home, and after dinner at Sunshine Salads, a bunch of us went to a concert by a man named Seun Kuti. He is a famous Nigerian musician, whose father was the founder of Afrobeat, a popular form of African music (which we learned about in our African Popular Music class). Seun is really revered here in Ghana and all over Africa, and for good reason. His concert was outside in a mini-amphitheatre type place. He sang and played the sax, while his band was comprised of several drummers (the bongo kind), a few more sax players, a cowbell-type person, and backup singers (men and women). His music is infectious, and we all were dancing along to the songs for hours. If you want to listen to some of his music, his Myspace website is:
www.myspace.com/seunkuti. You can sample his songs on there. I plan on buying his CD and making multiple copies for everyone!

Marykate, Gillian and me at Kuti's concert.
A bad picture, but the man in the white stripped outfit is Kuti.

Well, this blog is long enough and my wrists HURT! I’m going to take a shower and hop in bed. Gotta be up by 8 to be at WAAF by 9:30! Shouldn’t be a long day tomorrow, though, so I’m excited. Blessings!

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