In this job, I will be doing my job if I keep myself busy helping or educating other people. I will consider myself successful, however, if I help the most people the most that I can. I can't judge that success based upon how effective my work is, but I can't ignore this aspect of my work. I would be successful if I were to obtain the money and permission to build a new school, even if nobody came - assuming there was a need in the community.
Of course, there are prerequisites to helping people, and that includes learning language and being aware of myself. I have been focusing on both of these for a couple weeks now, with the additional side effect of educating people about Moz. I also need to gain respect within the community, which I'm always working on.
Respect is not just complimenting people and saying thank you. Sometimes it's the complete opposite. Respect is not being everyone's friend, but being friendly with everyone. Respect is lending your services, but only once a relationship has been established. Respect is paying for things what they are worth, no more and no less. Respect is saying no to most invitations, and yes to some of them. Respect is handing items with your right hand, addressing people properly, not staring at people, not smiling all the time, not losing your temper, stopping to have conversations, never being in a hurry, clasping your hands, asking to learn more about their culture and freely answering questions about your own, not wearing tattered clothing or shorts around town, not pointing, not talking loudly, learning the local language, showing a sense of humor, not showing off all the stuff you have, keeping well shaven but growing some facial hair if you can, not doing your own laundry (for men), not cooking (the same), and a million other things that I will discover over the next couple years.
I don't do all of those things just yet, and I will never stop cooking. But I am an individual, and as much as Mozambicans like to think of themselves as cogs in the wheel of their community, they are just as different from each other as are Americans. The fact that I can find respect in who most of them are, should dictate (and does) that they should be able to respect me. It's just too early for me to tell what that means from a Mozambican point of view.
It's very hot today, and I needed to go to the market, which I decided to do at the hottest possible moment, clearly.
It came time to buy bread, and next to the padaria, is a refrigerator with Coke and other sodas. For 6 Met. And did I mention they were cold? Possibly the best thing I've ever tasted.
And I'm not a big fan of the whole commercialization, especially exploitation, of 3rd world countries by American companies. In fact, it downright disgusts me at times. But when I can buy a bottle of ice cold refreshment sold in recycled containers for 25 cents, I can't help but feel a guilty pleasure.
This doesn't mean I'm changing my mind about McDonald's. They're still pure evil.
Let's put it this way - if some startup MOZ soft drink company were offering cold drinks for about the same amount, I'd buy that first in a heartbeat. But MOZ has better things to be concerned with than meeting the pop needs of its people, which Coca Cola can handle just fine. It is, however, jarring when you pass people humping rice sacks provided by USAID, drinking a refresco that they had to pay for. Do either of these things really help the people, or does it just improve their lives for a day? Coke can disappear, and suddenly a market opens up, but nobody knows how to capitalize on it. Or, alternatively, the rice disappears and people discoer they never learned how to find food during a drought, leaving them worse off than before.
We Americans are suckers for a bright, smiling face and healthy-looking poor people. We don't always consider that these people have pride, just like us. Pictures of Americans with intense, battered faces resting in front of their labor denote pride for us. So why are we not concerned with instilling the knowledge that would allow other people to be just as proud in developing....
(THIS IS WHERE THE LATEST ENTRY ENDS.....SORRY!)
