I remember a conversation with a friend over a beer in Ann Arbor shortly after I returned from almost 3 years in Africa. She challenged my drive to work in Africa, more specifically my desire to bring small scale electricity systems to rural Africa. Why do they need electricity, she asks? It's a legitimate question. A lot of Americans still picture Africa as an almost mythological place where people live in seclusion with no exposure to Western culture and the only light they need is the moonlight. They believe if we bring electricity to Africa, we will somehow be "westernising" them, or selfishly "making them like us". After all, illiteracy isn't a new phenomenon, and they've survived this long. I struggled to see it her way, but I've seen so much evidence to the contrary.
In Kadiaradugu, Mali, where I lived for two years with no electricity or running water, a village with a population of 270 people, there were only a few people who could read, and nobody could read at a level that Americans would consider "literate". Diarrhea, malaria, malnutrition, infections affecting whole limbs, and many other diseases are rampant. There is no school in the village, so primary school children walk 1 km, and if they move on to secondary school, they have to bike 8 km, assuming their families can afford bicycles. Most students didn't make it that far, and almost none made it to the high school. It's true that the community members were amazingly happy despite the everyday struggle to keep themselves and their families alive. It is a myth, however, that they are somehow cut off from Western society. Most men had cell phones, whether or not they could afford to buy credit or use it properly. They also had small flashlight bulbs they hooked up to 4-D cell batteries to see at night. The chief had a solar panel hooked to a car battery, which is where I charged my cell phone, until it broke. Another man had a TV that he hooked up to a generator when Mali was playing football, or on the rare occasion that he was feeling generous and wanted to show Terminator, provided he could afford fuel. Most people have radios and listen to music or the news. They are using electricity, but it's expensive and unsustainable. Batteries litter the ground and more than once I saw toddlers chewing on them. I imagine this is not a unique situation in much of rural Africa.
So, if we're to avoid "westernising" these communities by bringing them electricity, and allow them to continue to live how they are, throwing aid money at them for emergency food, vaccinations or ARV drugs, then we are doing them a disservice. Because of our overconsumption in the western world, climate change is already hitting subsistence farmers hard; those whose entire livelihoods depend on predictable rain and weather. Our electricity consumption is directly pushing people on the edge of survival further into poverty. We have a tendency to sit back and think of reasons, - "if they would only have less children....", or "their governments are so corrupt it's beyond help". With a life expectancy of 49, 10% of children dying before their first birthday, and almost 20% dying before their fifth birthday, who are we to judge how many children they have? Corruption indeed runs deep, but it's a small percentage of dishonest people, and many more are the victims. How can they lift themselves out of poverty under such dire circumstances?
In order for people to lift themselves out of poverty, they need education. They need to know market prices for their crops, best farming techniques, how to prevent disease, and they need to understand what to expect from their governments so they can work for change. Does the fact that Egypt's youth organized their uprising on Facebook somehow show that they are so "westernised" that they have lost their culture? I think many Egyptians, on 11 February 2011 when Mubarak stepped down, were embracing and celebrating their culture. How could this have been possible if they couldn't read, or didn't have electricity? Education in Africa begins with improving schools, providing good teachers who have incentive to teach. In addition to good schools, they need to be healthy. But, how can vaccinations and medications be kept cold, and how can night surgery happen without electricity? How can children study at night without light? How can students become engineers and doctors without electricity?
I strongly believe that teaching someone to produce electricity using everyday items found in local markets isn't "Westernising" them or causing them to lose their culture. On the contrary, I believe it is empowering them to take important, life-saving matters into their own hands. Teach a man to fish and he becomes less dependent on foreign aid and government help, which may never come. Learning to produce your own electricity generates income, encourages out of the box thinking, makes learning fun, and provides a desperately needed service.
In Kadiaradugu, Mali, where I lived for two years with no electricity or running water, a village with a population of 270 people, there were only a few people who could read, and nobody could read at a level that Americans would consider "literate". Diarrhea, malaria, malnutrition, infections affecting whole limbs, and many other diseases are rampant. There is no school in the village, so primary school children walk 1 km, and if they move on to secondary school, they have to bike 8 km, assuming their families can afford bicycles. Most students didn't make it that far, and almost none made it to the high school. It's true that the community members were amazingly happy despite the everyday struggle to keep themselves and their families alive. It is a myth, however, that they are somehow cut off from Western society. Most men had cell phones, whether or not they could afford to buy credit or use it properly. They also had small flashlight bulbs they hooked up to 4-D cell batteries to see at night. The chief had a solar panel hooked to a car battery, which is where I charged my cell phone, until it broke. Another man had a TV that he hooked up to a generator when Mali was playing football, or on the rare occasion that he was feeling generous and wanted to show Terminator, provided he could afford fuel. Most people have radios and listen to music or the news. They are using electricity, but it's expensive and unsustainable. Batteries litter the ground and more than once I saw toddlers chewing on them. I imagine this is not a unique situation in much of rural Africa.
So, if we're to avoid "westernising" these communities by bringing them electricity, and allow them to continue to live how they are, throwing aid money at them for emergency food, vaccinations or ARV drugs, then we are doing them a disservice. Because of our overconsumption in the western world, climate change is already hitting subsistence farmers hard; those whose entire livelihoods depend on predictable rain and weather. Our electricity consumption is directly pushing people on the edge of survival further into poverty. We have a tendency to sit back and think of reasons, - "if they would only have less children....", or "their governments are so corrupt it's beyond help". With a life expectancy of 49, 10% of children dying before their first birthday, and almost 20% dying before their fifth birthday, who are we to judge how many children they have? Corruption indeed runs deep, but it's a small percentage of dishonest people, and many more are the victims. How can they lift themselves out of poverty under such dire circumstances?
In order for people to lift themselves out of poverty, they need education. They need to know market prices for their crops, best farming techniques, how to prevent disease, and they need to understand what to expect from their governments so they can work for change. Does the fact that Egypt's youth organized their uprising on Facebook somehow show that they are so "westernised" that they have lost their culture? I think many Egyptians, on 11 February 2011 when Mubarak stepped down, were embracing and celebrating their culture. How could this have been possible if they couldn't read, or didn't have electricity? Education in Africa begins with improving schools, providing good teachers who have incentive to teach. In addition to good schools, they need to be healthy. But, how can vaccinations and medications be kept cold, and how can night surgery happen without electricity? How can children study at night without light? How can students become engineers and doctors without electricity?
I strongly believe that teaching someone to produce electricity using everyday items found in local markets isn't "Westernising" them or causing them to lose their culture. On the contrary, I believe it is empowering them to take important, life-saving matters into their own hands. Teach a man to fish and he becomes less dependent on foreign aid and government help, which may never come. Learning to produce your own electricity generates income, encourages out of the box thinking, makes learning fun, and provides a desperately needed service.
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