Dichotomies

Di-chot-o-my: noun {pl. –mies}  a division into two especially

mutually exclusive or contradictory groups or entities.

The last week has offered challenges and perspectives. 

As I was about my days in Maseru I was observing.  People were going about their lives.  Young men walking down the streets appeared as young men to elsewhere; confident, self-assured, strong.  Somewhat older men in another part of town dressed in shirts and ties - business men, government officials - appearing capable, purposeful, and in charge.  Teenagers hanging around the mall in the latest tacky gangsta garb – cool, confident, in control.  I was reminded of a scene in the movie, “The Last King of Scotland” where Idi Amin’s character is berating the white doctor about coming to Uganda, and thinking he could make a difference. 

Might that be what these groups think of me?  Do they welcome or appreciate what I and others offer?  They appear to possess the capacity, capability and confidence to run their lives and their country.  Many are well educated.  Do they resent white foreigners who might think they are being helpful?

Later in the week I and one of the Mustard Seed members traveled to a village.  We had run into a snag in the school bursary application of one of our Mustard Seed girls who lives in the village and needed to collect a document.  We arrived for what I thought would be a twenty minute hello, get what we needed, and go.  But is seems the villagers had been waiting for the ‘white man’ to show up.  He, they believed, would help them with the process of applying for school bursaries. 

Together with my Mustard Seed colleague we explained and shared the information on applying for the government school bursary.  We advised of what the Mustard Seed could provide and what we expected families to contribute. We provided travel funds so that one Nkono (grandmother) could obtain the needed documents and then travel to the appropriate government office to apply for the bursary.  (She was successful in submitting an application!) 

I was struck and saddened by the contrast.  These too were capable and concerned individuals, but somehow they were outside the loop.  How was it that they were reliant on a white foreigner to provide the information and encouragement to access opportunities for their children.  So much potential, so much desire, where was the help, information and support of the seemingly competent and capable groups. 

I have read that one of the biggest challenges of development is getting the help to those who truly need it.  In this village and hundreds of such villages across Lesotho, where poverty is the deepest, why must human potential languish until some white guy shows up?   A division, a divide.  One group - capable, able, confident - in whose presence I feel superfluous and intrusive.  Another group, in contrast, who look to a periodic white visitor for information, hope and opportunity. This divide is not right. 

One positive on this trip was that I met a local community councilor.  While she too had been waiting for me, it was to obtain information so that she could become the source of information and encouragement for her village and other villages in her area.  This feels better, though it is still sad that she needed to wait for a foreign white guy to get the information she wanted about a Lesotho government program.

Another divide that has become clearly apparent this year is the gulf between the aspirations of girls and the commitment of many caregivers. 

One of the girls we will help this year completed grade seven - primary school.  (Primary school is provided free.)  When funds were not available for her to continue on to high school, she went back to grade seven.  The next year, funds still were not available to attend high school.  Determined, back to grade seven she went again.  This year fortunately she is moving on to high school, thanks to a specific donation from Canada,  though she could have qualified for the bursary for double orphans.  While she was determined, her caregivers were not.  Getting the necessary paperwork and documents together was not enough of a priority for them, and the application deadline has been missed.  Another girl we are working with this year appeared almost in tears when it looked as if her application would not be completed in time.  It was, but her sister’s was not; in part because there was not a family member who made it a priority to obtain what was needed.

I am in dismay at the waste of potential.  If the divides, the dichotomies, within the country could be bridged, what a brighter and more prosperous future more people might enjoy.  Wendy's and my time here in Lesotho will end some day.  Before that happens, I look forward to seeing members of the Mustard Seed becoming the ones that a village looks forward to seeing, bringing hope and information that may begin to bridge the divides.  

~ Benno ~

Some Few Minutes

December and January have been busy times at the Mustard Seed.  As everywhere, most folks leave things to the last minute.  We have had numerous last minute requests for support, as well as have been finalizing the school funding applications for others.  In between it has been collecting report cards where girls have no guardians, and that is where ‘some few minutes’ has relavence.

In mid-December one of the board members and I traveled to pick up a report card on the precribed date.  I though we would arrive late and miss the initial rush, but when we arrived a meeting was in progress.  Concerned parents are active in this school, and before the release of the student reports, a parent school meeting was in progress, in Sesotho.  Before entering the meeting I inquired, "Would it be long?"  I was assured the meeting had been running for some time and it would be just ‘some few minutes’ and it would conclude. 

The board member and I entered, and sat down.  The meeting was being conducted in Sesotho, so I understood very little of what was being said, but I did realize that among these parents were ones keenly interested in the schooling of their children.  Questions from the floor were often preceded by a five to ten minute preamble.  ‘Some few minutes’ stretched to thirty and then forty five, and after an hour I excused myself and attended to some other matters I could do.  A further thirty minutes later the meeting finally came to an end and reports were available for pick up.

Without a staff member this year I am working with one of the board members finalizing what we can get done before the school funding application deadline.  We run into barriers and frustrations, sometimes seemingly without rational, and lots of waiting.  I need to remember to take a book to read during the waits and to learn from my colleague who never seems to be rushed or bothered by the waits.  It just is something that has to be done, just some further few minutes.

~ Benno ~