Let
me begin with a disclaimer. This post
has absolutely nothing to do with US politics.
It does not debate healthcare reform, immigration policy, or the budget
deficit.
But
how can a phenomenon known as the Obama Effect have nothing to do with domestic
US politics? Come to Africa and see for
yourself. Electing Barack Obama as our
president was arguably the best foreign policy move the US has made in Africa
since PEPFAR. Due to the simple fact
that Barack Obama’s dad is Kenyan, people here identify him as “African.” And hey, if a guy from Africa can become
President of the United States, anything is possible.
It’s
hard to describe how much people love Obama here. They know nothing about him personally,
nothing about his domestic political agenda, and nothing about his foreign
policy initiatives. Most Burkinabe cannot
name a single other US president. Yet images
of Obama can be seen in every village and city of Burkina Faso. Kids and adults
alike sport tank tops with his picture plastered on the front. Images of Barack Obama appear on backpacks,
flashlights, and lighters. There are
even toothbrushes that display his smiling face, as if to say “I’m Barack Obama
and I approve this toothbrush.”
While
Burkinabe identify with Obama, they usually don’t pretend to know anything
about him personally. However, as
Americans, they expect us to. A common
question in the Burkinabe greeting process is “How is your family?” which is
occasionally followed by “And Obama?” as if we have any idea how the most
powerful man in the world is doing. I’m
guessing he’s probably pretty stressed
out.
Burkinabe’s
obsession with Obama illustrates a broader point. Nearly everyone in Burkina Faso wants to come
to America. Our country is seen as “the
promised land.” According to Burkinabe, everyone in America is rich , healthy,
and happy. If I told Burkinabe that the
streets in America are paved with gold, they would believe it. When I tell Burkinabe that there are homeless
people in America, they don’t believe it.
Almost
every day, I get asked to help someone get to America. Most of the time, it’s phrased as a joke, but
that’s like saying the marriage proposals that female volunteers get every day
are “jokes.” If you said yes, things
would get serious real fast. As the
“take me to America” proposition is a daily occurrence in volunteer life,
volunteers have developed different response mechanisms ranging from a repeated
“no” to a more elaborate series of questions designed to ascertain how little
the person in question has actually prepared to go America.
I
usually begin by asking them if they speak English. If they say no, I explain that no one in America
speaks French or Jula or Toussian and ask them how they would communicate with
people. If they say yes, I ask them to
speak to me in English. Most Burkinabe
who can “speak English” get as far as “Good morning. How are you? I am very fine. Bye bye.” More advanced speakers can add “Where are you
going?” and “Give me money.” Either way,
I end up explaining to the person in question that they don’t know enough
English and they should keep practicing.
Another
entertaining line of questioning is to ask why the person in question wants to
go to America. This stumps most
Burkinabe because they’ve never really thought about it critically. For Burkinabe, the answer is so obvious that
they…umm…..well…they don’t really know it. In reality, a lot of Burkinabe would be
terrified to be so far away from their family in a country that is a stark
contrast linguistically and culturally to Burkina.
The
“why” question seems ridiculous to Burkinabe due to the prevalence of “The Promised
Land Assumption.” This assumption is
based on the fact that all of the Americans that they’ve seen on TV or heard
about from their friend who has a friend who met one are rich and happy. Therefore, it must be true that a person’s
presence in America ensures immediate access to the riches of the Promised Land
and guaranteed happiness. For Burkinabe,
the “American Dream” is simply gaining access to the country. No thought is paid to the hard work and
intelligence that it takes to be a successful immigrant in America. “The Promised Land Assumption” provides the
foundation for the classic Burkinabe “Take me to America even though I don’t
speak English, have no family there, and no intention of working” argument. Burkinabe think that just being American
entitles you to certain things.
Are
they right? Well….in a sense…..yes. As an American, you are entitled to a lot of
rights and privileges that either don’t exist or aren’t enforced in Burkina. But it’s ridiculous to assert that material
wealth is so plentiful in the US that one is just entitled to it. I mean that’s communism. And you know how us
capitalist Americans feel about communists…
In
short, Burkinabe have some serious misconceptions about America. And I don’t blame them. It’s a confusing place. For example, the Burkinabe in charge of
Safety and Security for Peace Corps Burkina Faso visited my site a couple weeks
ago. He saw the big California flag on
my wall told me it was pretty. Then he
asked, “Why does it say California Republic?” He knew that the national
government of US was a republic, but he didn’t know that each state has its own,
separate representative government.
Clearly this man is well educated, has years of work experience with
Americans, and has actually been to the US and other developed countries. However, I could tell that my brief attempt
to explain the concept of federalism didn’t make much sense to him. To be honest, federalism in practice doesn’t
make much sense to me sometimes either.
Other
aspects of America that Burkinabe find confusing (or just outright ignore):
-Size. Burkinabe tend to conceptualize most
countries of the world as similar in size to their own. This includes the United States. But the United States is a huge country. Burkina Faso is only about the size of
Colorado. I like to tell Burkinabe you
could fit 50 Burkinas inside the US. I’m aware that’s not very accurate, but it
definitely helps them conceptualize the vastness of the US.
-Language. The vast majority of Americans only speak
English. 99.9% of Burkinabe do not speak
English. Yet they still think living in
the states would be way easier than living in Burkina. While many Burkinabe know 2, 3, or even 4
different languages, English is not usually one of them. And if you can’t speak passable English,
you’re going to have a rough time in America.
-Culture. American culture is vastly different than
Burkinabe culture in just about every way imaginable. For example, “sexual harassment” is not a
concept that exists in Burkina. Women
are called to, smooched at (a kissing noise directed towards a specific person)
and hissed at (yes I’m serious). To be
fair, hissing is actually a common way of getting a waiter’s/waitress’
attention in Burkina, but it’s a horrifyingly demeaning practice from an
American perspective. And that cultural understanding clearly doesn’t excuse
the Burkinabe that direct it towards women in general. In fact, the cultural understanding makes it
even worse because hissing implies that the “hissee” (individual receiving
hissing noise) is supposed to serve the hisser (individual making disgusting
sound). “Customer service” also doesn’t
exist in Burkina. Often times, the only
way to get what you want in Africa is to be an asshole, a strategy that has
been perfected by urban Burkinabe.
They’ve adopted an “ends justify the means” philosophy that includes an
unwillingness to wait in lines. Instead Burkinabe will crowd the window/person
that has what they need. A typical
Burkinabe male would get arrested within five minutes of stepping foot in an
American restaurant.
-Climate. It’s hot in Burkina Faso. During the “winter” temperatures drop to the
60’s (in the middle of the night) and Burkinabe are freezing. In fact, they don the heavy winter coats as
soon as it hits 75. It’s colder than 75
for most of the year in the states, even in desert. In any city with a noticeable winter,
Burkinabe would be miserably cold.
Due
to all of the misconceptions above, it’s next to impossible to explain to
Burkinabe how amazing my trip home was.
But my friends in village are satisfied to know that my parents and the
rest of my family are doing well. And
that Obama is still president. In all seriousness, my trip back to the
California was a whirlwind of awesomeness.
It seemed like I barely had enough time to see the people I wanted to
see and do the things I wanted to do.
However, I managed to spend a significant amount of time with family, meet
up with a ton of friends, and experience my favorite parts of home. I won’t recap the whole trip, but some
highlights included
-My
nephew’s Bar Mitzvah. It was amazing to
be with my family as we came together to celebrate. Congrats to my nephew!
-The
beach and the ocean and surfing almost every morning. Two of the best swells of the winter happened
to hit the South Bay during the two weeks I was back. I’ve touched on this subject in earlier posts
(i.e. almost every blog post) but I LOVE THE OCEAN. Never again will I be away
from it for so long.
-Las
Vegas trip. One of the dilemmas of my
trip home was that I didn’t have enough time to visit my good friends in Norcal. The solution?
Meet in Vegas. We ended up with a
random crew including my brother and his wife, good friends from high school,
and good friends from UCLA. It was hands
down the best Vegas trip of my life.
-Food. Amazing, glorious food. I gained 15 pounds in two weeks. I’ve since lost all 15.
-My
bed. It’s like a big comfy cloud. I hadn’t been able to snuggle beneath a mountain of
covers since my trip to Cape Town. And
it felt so good.
A
lot of people asked if it was a “culture shock” to have spent so long in Burkina,
a place that has so little, and then come to America. There’s no doubt that I appreciated
everything in a way that is difficult to describe (without sounding like a
Peace Corps douche), but to say I was “shocked” would be an overstatement. Everything was so easy back home. I didn’t have any trouble adjusting and fell
right back into things. If anything, I
was shocked to be so happy all of the time.
You don’t spend 22 years living one way and then completely forget how
things were after 17 months in Africa.
In fact, you spend an unreasonable amount of time sweating in your hut
and day dreaming about how awesome things were during those 22 years.
It’s
safe to say that those two weeks I was home were the happiest weeks of the past
17 months of my life. I was surrounded
by the people I love most in the world.
I was constantly reminded how lucky I am to have people in my life who
honestly care about me. I know that’s a
weird thing to say, but it’s easy to forget that feeling during Peace Corps
service. International texting and care
packages are a poor substitute for actually smiles and hugs. Much love to the friends and family who made
my trip home awesome. I’ll see all of
you in 8 months!
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| Two of my favorite people in the world: my uncle and my grandma |
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| Yeah..this is where I'm coming from |
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| Mom, brother, and nephew...on a boat! |
