The direction we are taking

The very first time I visited a developing country the most burning question in my mind was "how do the people feel about their lives?" I had seen the oppressive poverty on TV but I had not witnessed how people mentally responded to it. I had imagined that they were constantly upset, dissatisfied with their lives, and distraught. Having visited a few developing countries and having lived in one for a year, that view point seems laughably naive. The real answer is that people generally feel the same way about their lives as we do (whoever we happens to be). Point is, you adapt to the situation you are in whether or not you make a few dollars a day or a few million, your daily attitudes and thoughts are remarkably comparable. I should say that I am speaking in generalities and in no way am I trying to trivialize real poverty that does profoundly peoples lives in a very sad and unjust way. What I am saying is that in the developed world we have this concept that on a daily basis our lives are immeasurably better than those of people living in impoverished nations, when the reality is that I cannot say that my friends here are less happy or enjoy their lives less than my friends in the states. In fact, looking at what some of my friends in the states have gone through, if I had to choose I would say that on a daily basis people enjoy their lives here more than my friends in the states. I am not sure why exactly, but despite this truth, we are still so convinced that our lives are so much better that descriptions and reports on this topic only register at a superficial level. We say, "huh, yeah that is true. How interesting." and then move on. Think about the phrase "money does not buy happiness." We all know this to be true but we still chase after money as if it did. Also, if we know this to be true how come only a few of us have attempted to answer the follow up question "If it doesn't then what does?" Its like we forget to ask and just go with the last answer we had, money. With the current crisis we are crazy not to rethink this situation but not that much more crazy than not rethinking it even without the crisis. It was stupid before the economic and climatic crisis and it sort of slaps you in the face now. Lets review, the system we use to chase after false progress is falling apart and it is ruining the physical world we exist and survive in. Perhaps this false idea of progress is the real crisis? At the same time we are terrified of anything that "would be a step backwards." Reduce consumption? "That would ruin us!" Which is a flat lie and many of us know this. The problem is that we think of it only as loosing something without ever considering what we gain in return. If getting and using more money is what we are looking for then it is certainly a reduction. Yet, if happiness is what we are looking for many of the changes are not reductions but increases in our quality of life. Why does that seem like such a crazy idea?

As you think about that, read this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2009/jul/15/technofix-climate-change

"Instead of asking how to continue to grow the economy while attempting to cut carbon, we should be asking why economic growth is seen as more important than survival."

PHOTOS! PHINALLY!

Ok, I'll admit, I am really bad about posting photos. But here are some now.

Ghana trip:
http://picasaweb.google.com/z.swank/Ghana#

Mali v. Ghana World Cup Qualifying game:
http://picasaweb.google.com/z.swank/MaliGame#

Dogon Country, Mali:
http://picasaweb.google.com/z.swank/Dogon#

This album showcases why I bought the expensive camera. I really like photography because I really like art and I believe that there is a tremendous amount of art to be found in our world. Photography does not allow me to create art, just to capture a bit of what is already out there. I will periodically update this album and many of these are repeats from other albums:
http://picasaweb.google.com/z.swank/BestPhotos#

Interrupted Service

As of the end of this month, the number of volunteers in Mauritania will be about 1/3 of what it was just a few months ago. The majority of this is due to the fact that the second year volunteers have finished their service and there are no new volunteers because the Mauritanian government did not grant them visas. This is old news. What is new is that we were just offered the option to take interrupted service. If we accepted the volunteers from my class would return home and have the option to re-apply to another country or just finish their service with full benefits. This was offered due to a variety of factors and many people on the ground here view it as an overreaction. I can see how a country with an unstable government and religiously motivated killings of Americans can seem pretty scary to people at home. However, I can not discern any change in the security situation of volunteers since we arrived. I also have complete confidence in our Country Director, both that he has the best information available and that he will make the best decision based off of that information. I thought briefly about going home and trying to go to a different country since I was considering doing a third year as a way to see more of the world and that would just be the reverse of that; 1 year here and 2 years somewhere else. However, after the initial novelty of that idea wore off, it was very clear that I am committed to being here. I enjoy the work that I have created and I enjoy the level at which the Mauritanians have engaged in my projects. It will be sad to loose more volunteers but the ones who are sticking around are the ones who are generally happier about being here, so we have a good crew left. For some people it was a good thing that they had this option, but for me it will be difficult enough to leave here a year from now and it is impossible to walk away from now.

To my gardening friends and family

I was told that I would hit my stride being here and working here at the one year mark. Having just passed that date, I have to agree. I am comfortable with the conditions I am living in and the projects I am working on have improved in quality and are coming along easier than before. One idea that I have had for a while but have not done anything about is buying vegetable and plant seeds in the states and trying them out here. I've sat on this idea mostly because I am not sure where to being looking for desert varieties, although I am sure that if I had enough time on the internet I could find out. This is where you all come in. I was wondering if you could help me research, and then send to me, good varieties of vegetables and ornamental plants that will grow well in dry (200-300 mm of rain per year) sandy and clay soils. I am thinking that if you could get your hands on a seed catalog that is intended for people in Arizona, that would be the best bet. When they garden here, the three most popular things to plant are mint, watermelon, and lettuce. Which is interesting because all three of those require lots of water. They have to varieties of mint here, small leaf and smaller leaf. They would probably poop their pants if they saw the type of mint that grows wild back home. After sugar, water, and tea leaves, mint is the final ingredient in the daily rounds of tea. If you could get your hands on a variety of mint that has big leaves or can tolerate a LOT of sun, since they have to cover the mint they currently grow here, I would be a god. A varieties of lettuce and watermelon that can tolerate lots of heat and sun would be amazing as well. Frankly any variety of vegetable that can tolerate excessive sun and heat would be awesome.

In terms of plants, these are a bit trickier because I don't want to be the guy who becomes known for introducing the invasive species that has now taken over everything. You would think that would be difficult to do in dry land areas, but someone brought over a species of cattail that is now choking out canals here. Really what people want are ornamental flowering plants. Enough bushes and trees exist here that I do not want to mess with them by adding anything new. Also ornamental flowering plants tend to be pretty benign. My requirements for flowering plants are that they tolerate heat, sun, dry sandy or clay soil, and most importantly, that goats do not like to eat them.

The rainy season is just about here, YAY!, so I wish I had sent this out earlier, but that's not really important. If you are interested in helping me research this, let me know what you find or where you are looking and I can help out. Also, please forward this to anyone else you know that might be a good resource, aka someone from Arizona.

Thanks for the help!

Not everyone is all up in everyone else’s business.

Recently someone from home asked me how the situation in Iran is going to affect elections here and what people here thought about what was going on there. It was at that moment that I realized that I have never heard anyone here talk about what is going on in Iran. I asked a Mauritanian friend about why there wasn’t any discussion about what was going on in Iran and he said that it wasn’t Mauritania’s business. When I thought about it more I realized that in general people here do not have strong interests and opinions about what is going on internationally. The only events I can remember people talking about since I came here a year ago were Obama’s election, the short/long war between Israel and Palestine, soccer games, Michael Jacksons death, and the economic crisis. That is not to say that they are not informed. In fact, with all of the news they listen to on the radio and on TV, I would wager that they are more informed about what is going on internationally than most Americans. The difference is where as Americans have an opinion on everything that happens in the world, even though we might not always act on that opinion if there is not enough of a vested interest, Mauritanians simply don’t. They are concerned with what concerns them directly and do not have an overarching feeling that the world ought to act politically like them. Of course, they have a very strong opinion on how the rest of the world should act religiously but that does not seem to extend to political events. As I am writing this, I realize that what I am saying might only be true of the black African ethnic groups and not the Moors, they tend to have strong opinions about how everything should be. At any rate, I have not been able to decide if I like that they are not overly concerned with the affairs of the rest of the world or not. On one hand, we Americans are nosy, are sure that we are the pinnacle of civilization, and are easy meddling in more countries than we ought to be. In that sense, it is nice that Mauritanians seem to be content to let other countries run their own affairs as they please. On the other hand, this feeling of apathy towards goings on in the rest of the world also extends to political events in Mauritania. Even as apathetic as we are towards politics in America, compared to other developed democracies, our level of interest and involvement still blows Mauritanians out of the water. Both sides of the issue are germane enough that I am reserving a value judgment and will chalk this up as another thing that is just different.

More News

Ok here is the run down of new developments, nothing major. The connection is slow so I can't post links, but you can google all the stories.

Apparently the N. African wing of Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for killing the American teacher, although the officials doubt that it was actually them. The PC and the embassy are monitoring the situation. The FBI is also getting involved in the investigation of his death. At the moment there are no further security measures that are being reccomended besides being vigilant.

After reaching and agreement about the upcoming elections and then breaking it and then reaching a new agreement 3 or 4 times, it seems that the different political factions have come up with an agreement that is going to stick. Elections are set for July 18th.

The volunteers that were supposed to come here have been reassigned to different countries. It does not seem like my class of volunteers will be going anywhere. At this point the most likely scenerio is having a new class next year that is twice the size of a normal class since it will take the PC 6 months to find a new class once the Mauritanian government decides to grant visas again. This is going to make it harder to win the West African Invitational Softball tournament next year, but we will just be all the more vicious because of it.


Here are some exerpts of recent news stories:

Mauritanian Political Solution In Sight - Mediator
NASDAQ - New York,New York,USA
NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania (AFP)--Rivals in Mauritania have agreed on a way to overcome all the obstacles to a political settlement and achieve a new ...
See all stories on this topic
N. Africa Qaeda says it shot American in Mauritania
Reuters UK - UK
DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's North Africa wing claimed responsibility for the shooting of an American aid worker in Mauritania, saying it was done in ...
See all stories on this topic

Organisation de la Presse Africaine (Communiqué de presse)
MAURITANIA / US Department of state Daily Press Briefing
Organisation de la Presse Africaine (Communiqué de presse) - Lausanne,Canton de Vaud,Switzerland
QUESTION: A faction of al-Qaida has apparently taken responsibility for killing an American in Mauritania and saying that he was proselytizing. ...
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MAURITANIA: Controversial opinion writer jailed for writing about ...
Menassat - Beirut,Lebanon
Considered one of the most vocal critics of the Mauritanian regime, dissident writer Hanevy Ould Dahah was jailed last week and charged with defaming ...
See all stories on this topic
Mauritanian journo detained
Le Mali en ligne - Mali
Mauritanian journalist Hannefi Ould Deha, who runs the online information site "Taqadoumy", is being held in a prison in the northern suburbs of the capital ...
See all stories on this topic

Bad news

Today an American aid worker was killed in Nouakchott, the capital. At this point I don’t know any more details than what is in this story: http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSLN880180._CH_.2400
but I do know that I am still safe here. I am more safe in my village than I am in Buffalo or driving through the Adirondacks. Keep in mind that people are killed in the states every day for all sorts of reasons. Also, although the Peace Corps sucks at sharing information with us they have direct access to the embassy and can get (not give) the best intelligence the government has. If there is any real threat to my security, they will take the appropriate measures. For the moment, no one is going into the capital.

Its funny how hearing that some one from your country doing your type of work was killed in the country you are currently in affects you in ways that other news of peoples demise does not. For example, when I was just in Mali and we received the news that an British man was beheaded in Timbuktu, that did not phase me, but this hits home. Our lives are not always as hunky dory as we personally like to believe they are.