It takes a village.....

I’ve been living alone in Conakry for almost one week now as Raymond is in Vancouver and then on to San Francisco to meet and hopefully hire two new teachers. We will be losing our two American teachers and we need to replace them.  It is not easy to recruit teachers, let alone competent teachers who are interested and willing to come to Africa, and  not just Africa but Conakry. There is the “hardship posting” aspect of  Conakry also that  unnerves people.  What exactly is a hardship posting?  It is a location where expatriates will not find all the amenities that they are used to in their home countries, their support systems and their points of reference for every day living. You know the usual Starbucks, Walmarts, Canadian Tire, malls, cinemas and corner street diners. Life in developing countries is just not developed in the same way. What is a developing country anyways? We used to call countries like Guinee, poor countries, third world or underdeveloped countries. Now this is politically incorrect. We use the words “a developing nation or country”.

I’ve pondered these words lately….a developing country. Developing in what exactly? Is Guinee that underdeveloped? Guinee is struggling with economics, poverty, a failing school system, health and malnutrition of its population. Failing infrastructure  with adequate water supply, electricity ,very bad roads with huge potholes and a non existent sewage system are other important issues that this country faces. Extremely slow internet seems unimportant when people’s basic needs are not met, but that is another issue. I guess this is a pretty long list. So I look at this now and I wonder in which way is this country developing?  There is a huge bridge with several exits being built right now and this is giving employment to hundreds of Guineans and the progress of this ambitious project is remarkable. On a weekly basis, we see changes. It is very encouraging. More NGO’s are entering the country, apartment buildings are rising and changing the skyline of Conakry and several flights a week  from Air France are bringing in more expats to work in the mining sector. There is a housing shortage at the moment.  So it is a developing country when we consider the physical aspects. But what about emotional and social aspects? Is this country still developing?

My personal experience and observations of the last 2 years have taught me this. It takes a village to raise a child. It is an old saying which may have lost its charm but nowhere else does it make more sense than here in Africa. People take care of kids here. At church today, I was watching a little 2 year old child crying as his mother stepped outside with the hollering baby sibling in her arms. Right away, a man sitting beside the boy  sat closer to  him and patted him on the head, then a woman sitting in front turned around and picked up the boy and put him on her lap. The boy stopped crying immediately. It is not the first time that I have witnessed this. It is with adults as well; there is an understanding that you are all brothers and sisters here. People’s cars break down (and they break down very often because the cars are ratty and rusty) and others run out to push the vehicle off the road. Brotherhood seems very developed here. Compassion and regards for others seems very developed here. A woman I barely know invited me to her wedding next week. This is a celebration and people are invited to celebrate.

Expressing joy, sorrow and anger are also very developed. Dancing around the kitchen was our cleaning lady’s way to show her gratitude when we gave her a pay increase…her joy spilled over and she danced for joy literally!  When kids bump themselves at school, the teachers cuddle them instantly and say I’m sorry over and over until the child stops crying. When we gave the maintenance crew a bonus at Christmas, they bowed down to us. I get goose bumps as I write this. No one has ever bowed down to me. There is something of humanity touching humanity that is rich here.  Not afraid of showing compassion to your fellow man or woman is obvious here. There is something very tender that perhaps we need to develop in our western culture. These past 2 years, I feel I have been raised by a village, raised in a way that I have become more sensitive to the needs of others, more understanding of poverty, less judgmental towards a culture that is new to me and more transparent to the needs of those who suffer. It has taken a very big village to raise me, to transform me and for this I am grateful. Grateful for the experience of  awareness….