A couple posts ago, in the comments it was requested that I write a little bit about how the locals perceive me, (first and foremost) a Westerner, spending time in their country. This is a great question because to be honest, I hadn’t thought about it before coming here. However, within the first week, I realized that the foreigner dynamic was going play a massive role in my experience here.
Let me start by saying, that here in Benin, the people are much more concerned with the world outside of their country than an average person from North America would be. This is simply because their lives are more affected by what goes on around them our stable lives in North America are. For example, if the US were to get involved in another war, it would be news in Canada but barring Canada’s entry into the war, our lives would stay pretty much the same. However, in Benin, another war would mean the US might reduce its international aid budget in order to fund the military, and Benin could suffer greatly from it. You see the words “development”, and “international aid” everywhere, from stickers adhered to the bakery walls to the sample paragraphs in English textbooks. Simply put, Benin relies on other countries in the world for help, and this has become assimilated into the Beninois culture itself.
This is important to consider when thinking about how Benin’s locals see foreigners. If you noticed someone new and from a different country at your high school who has come to be a TA, you might be interested to know what moved them to come there. In Benin, you’re almost assumed to be an international volunteer as a foreigner. This may just be my particular experience, but local people don’t really care for listening to me when I’m sharing my job description – they’re just not interested. So what are they interested in? Not where you’re from, how old you are, or what you are studying.
Its money they care about. In the past two days, every local I`ve been approached by has started with the question, “what did you bring for me?” (Possibly before then as well, but now I can understand it). If someone asked me this in Canada, I might be taken aback, but here, it just makes sense. If you struggled to make enough money from day to day while living in one of the poorest 30 countries in the world, you would probably jump at the opportunity for some help. In fact, the title of this blog is actually a reference to the final sentence of the children`s song I talked about earlier, and it means, “give me some bread!” This is yet another example of how aid from foreigners has become part of the fabric of their lives.
Since everyone here thinks that I am rich (I guess relatively, I am), it makes sense that they are less interested in me, and more interested in what I can do for them. It’s like your local politician: they’ve got so much influence that you are more concerned about what they can do for you than their personal agendas. The Beninois who are better off aren’t too interested in who I am either, because they have seen many like me come and go from their country.
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| A street vendor close by the Gate of No Return and one of her children. |
So I guess the answer is, it has been sort of underwhelming how little the people are concerned with me or my work here. I am used to being recognized or appreciated for contributing to volunteer work, but that’s just not how it is here. This isn’t because the people here are rude or unappreciative, it’s merely because for them it has become a normal part of everyday life, and they have more important things to be concerned about than the coming and going of every international volunteer they see.
What is the greater impact of this? Well first off, there’s no way for me to be sure that every volunteer here has a similar experience in interacting with the locals, so I can’t say. I don’t even know if I’m in the majority. However, no one who I have talked to about this has been surprised. If my experience does hold true to the norm, then it’s probably a negative thing for the future of in-country volunteer work here, simply because people are used to being appreciated more and may not feel inclined to return. There are other problems here that might discourage people from volunteering but I’ll save that for another post.
It’s an unfortunate situation, and ultimately it all boils down to Benin being a developing country to begin with. This is something I try to keep in mind whenever I become frustrated with my volunteer position here, lack of appreciation, or anything of that sort. Besides, being appreciated is much less important than helping those in need. Hopefully this has answered your question Raj! Thanks for the comment, and to everyone else, please tell me what you want to hear about! Until then.
Anonymous Hey G-man, thanks for writing the post. I am really impressed with your positive attitude. I am glad that you are keeping in mind the local peoples' perspectives on foreign volunteers, rather than getting frustrated with their lack of expressing gratitude for your volunteerism.
I also found that whenever I was travelling in poor countries, that people always assumed I was rich. I have to admit that at times this did make me frustrated and annoyed because I was not particularly rich. However, if one views life from a poor person's perspective, we are definitely richer than we think.
Keep up the good work.
Raj