Overcoming Cynicism

As you know, my past semester was spent in Ghana. Ghana is one of the more developed and stable countries in Africa, but it is certainly not without its problems. The country is riddled with poverty, a crumbling infrastructure, and corrupt politics. Amidst all these problems, people remain engaged in their communities and appear quite happy under their current circumstances.

Despite Ghanaians appearing content, us Americans still see a need to improve on the present situation. In doing so, this semester I worked with a water filtration organization that distributed and maintained simple bio-sand water filtration devices in villages around Accra. My opinion of this project as a noble and important one has not wavered, I do question however, it's effectiveness. In practice, it seemed that every week we would install a new filter while we discovered that last week's filter was going unused and breaking. I could not understand why this fantastic and free product would go unused, especially when it was providing a much needed service to these villagers who lacked access to clean water. I could not understand what would prompt someone to forego filtering deadly bacteria out of filthy drinking water. Finally, I could not understand what we as an organization could to fix this major problem.

After working with SafeWater for 4 months, I left the country having only partially answered some of these questions. I realized that the normative and cultural practices of the village proved to be an insurmountable obstacle for us. It wasn't as simple as explaining the biological findings on these water conditions, and expecting people to understand and adopt the practice of diligently filtering their water. If a Ghanaian family were to go through the past thirty years drinking this dirty water and lived to tell of their practices, why would they use the filter? Pouring water into a blue bucket was simply laborious and unnecessary. It wasn't that they didn't appreciate and understand the concept of what the filter was doing, but they just didn't see the need to use it. Having come to this somewhat haphazard understand of the lack of use problems, I moved on to tackle the final issue of how to fix the problem... A question that has proved nearly impossible for me to answer.

SafeWater was plagued by a lack of funding, which certainly contributed to our roadblocks along the way, but the organization was run by passionate and committed people (namely, the fantastic Josephus Hallie). Funding issues notwithstanding, I question whether this model of distributing these devices throughout these villages is effective or needed. I question whether it is our place to come into Africa and make this improvement, moreover whether it was our place to decide whether it indeed was an improvement at all. With this understanding I have come to the conclusion that maybe we don't need to move forward at all. Although the mission and intention of international aid organizations is noble, I question whether it can be completed. Are consistent and positive results from the the push model of development possible? I say no. It is this resounding 'no' which is discouraging to hear myself say, as it is in essence admitting defeat; nonetheless, I don't have answers. I can't see how this model can effectively work and I don't know where to move on from here... It is this jaded cynicism that I am challenged by and am working to overcome. But again, I am tempted to embrace cynicism and accept that although we have good intentions, we may not have all the answers to the world's problems; furthermore, our egregious amounts of funding to these aid projects can only do so much.

Hopefully I will realize that this seemingly pervasive reality of failed aid is not the norm, but the exception; currently however, I am far from convinced of that.

JW

PS.

I recently stumbled upon a TED video about this kind of problem and I believe it illustrates the issue quite accurately.