Evolution of Development

Throughout the years, the ideas of the best ways to develop the
developing world have changed.

In the World War II era, there was the Marshall Plan, and the
predominant philosophy was to do development to the people. From
1950-1960 the philosophy was to do development for the people, and
money was poured in to develop infrastructure and investment
opportunities. These two philosophies were, in my humble opinion,
imperialist, and assumed that there was something wrong with the
people in developing countries; they couldn’t develop themselves, so
now we have to go and do it.

From 1960-1970, the philosophy was to do development through the
people. This was a time when many African countries were moving
towards independence, and they were beginning to assert their basic
needs. In 1970-1980, the philosophy was to do development with the
people. This was the era of world systems. The IMF and the World Bank
were founded. In my opinion, the philosophy was moving in the right
direction, but it’s still not quite there. Even from 1980-1990, when
work was being done from the ground up by development workers, it
wasn’t quite where it needed to be for one key reason: in order to do
development with the people, a partner must always be present, and
that does not lead to independence.

In the 1990s, the current philosophy of development, the one that the
Peace Corps lives by, came about: empower the people to develop
themselves. This is one of the greatest challenges and one of the
greatest rewards of Peace Corps service. I do not plan and execute any
projects alone, nor am I ever an equal partner. It is my job to ask
the right questions at the right times to the right people so that
they can plan a project to address an issue that they have identified.
Critical thinking skills are not taught at all here. I’ll post on
education later, but basically how it works is the teacher writes the
lessons on the board and the students copy it. They do not answer
questions. They do not think. They read, write, and memorize, and if
they do not do it well they are beaten.

Part of empowering the people is teaching critical thinking. I’ll let
you know when I figure out how to do that, but even asking the right
questions can be very frustrating. I am working with my community’s
primary school to apply for 1,000 books from Books For Africa to start
a library. The application requires a detailed plan for how the books
will be utilized, how the school will keep the library in shape
through the years, and what the rules will be. It requires one teacher
to be trained as a librarian, and that teacher is the one that I am
working with.

I could fill out the application myself in a heartbeat. I have so many
ideas and my own clear vision of what I think the library should be,
but that is not what I am here to do. Instead, I go to the school
every week to sit down and talk through the questions with the right
people. I offer little or no advice, and just ask the right questions
where there is information that is lacking. If I do not let the school
develop its own library, then they will not work to sustain it. Why
should they, if it all was my work and vision?

Instead of filling out an application that would take me an hour, I
must spend weeks working on it. At the end, instead of getting a
library I designed, the school will install its very own library, and
I can’t imagine anything that would make them prouder than that. The
rewards come only with patience.

I am also planning to teach Life Skills at the school. Peace Corps has
a pretty good curriculum designed for us, so I plan to use that. Even
though I may not be able to give the curriculum to a teacher so the
lessons continue, and even though it came from me and not the school,
I argue that it is still empowerment. How ever many students delay
sexual debut, decide to use condoms, stay in school, and start
planning for the future are the students that are empowered. We say
that in Peace Corps service, you will help plant trees whose shade you
will not get to sit under, and this is an example of that.

PCVs are learners, change agents, co-trainers, co-facilitators,
project co-planners, and mentors. PVCs are not individuals working
alone to Westernize the developing world. This job is hard, most
especially because many days it feels like I am not doing anything.
Offering new perspectives, skills, and mindsets is doing something in
a very big way, and that’s what PCVs actually do.

I’m not sure what I pictured when I joined Peace Corps, but this
wasn’t it. This is so much better

Swazi English

We all know that British English is different from American English, and might expect that Swazis would speak British English because that’s who colonized this region. After living here for 3 months, I can say that Swazi English is a language all it’s own. Below are some examples of how Swazis speak.

Americans say…	Swazis say…	Quotes from Swazis
Here	This side	Come this side. I want to show you something.
There	That side	Go that side to get to Maputo.
Very	Too much	You are too much clever. It is too much hot.
Pickup truck	Van	You can hire a van to transport small furniture.
Flatbed truck	Lorry	Peace Corps moved us to site using a lorry.
Jacket	Jersey	You are cold. Put on a jersey. (Yes, they do tell me that I am cold when I am not. When I tell them I am not, they tell me I am wrong and insist I go get a jersey.)
Bathe	Bath	Do you want to bath now?
Various expletives	Eish!	Eish! I almost got hit by that bus!
What???	How!	How! You cannot hand out Bibles in schools in America?
A polite request	Must	You must give me a job. You must give me that wallet. You must teach this one English. You must put on a jersey. You must give me 5 rand.
Various nouns	I-various nouns	Iwater bottle, imarker, ibed, iblanket, etc.
Him and her	Him	Make (mother) wants you to give him a tea bag. He wants to make for babe (father).
Thank you	Their surnames	Hlatjwago. This chocolate is very nice.
Really freaking huge spider	That small one	Oh, you are scared of that small one? They get much bigger than that.
Take a test	Write an exam	In November, we write our exams and then we have a break.
Hey, sexy.	I love you. Please marry me.	You are so beautiful. I love you. Are you for sale? Please marry me. How many cows to marry you?
Will you please loan me?	Please borrow me	Please borrow me some matches. Please borrow me some cooking oil. (No, this is not a question. It is an order. They do not accept no easily.)
Next week Monday	Next Monday	Are you working next week Monday?
9:30	Half past 9	The bus leaves at half past 9.
Thank you	Is there more?	Why have you given me one orange? Why have you not given me two? Do you have more?
Cook-out	Braai	We are having a braai next week Monday.
Pot	Dagga	All the youth do is smoke dagga and refuse to work.
Hard cider	Beer	Hunter’s is beer for women.
Beer	Ciders	Castle is one of my favorite ciders.
You’re cute. Can I get your number?	I want to be your friend. Give me your number.	I just want to be your friend. Maybe your husband. Give me your number. You must give it to me. We cannot be friends if you do not, and we are already friends. Fine. Well, can I buy some airtime from you? What’s your number?
Restroom	Toilet	What’s a restroom? Do you mean you have to go to the toilet? There’s a free one at the library. Otherwise, they cost 50 cents.
That’s nice.	That’s beautiful.	Your laptop is beautiful. Your bucket is beautiful. Your pants are beautiful. This food is beautiful.
Delicious	Nice	Is the food nice? I tried to make it nice for you. Oh, it’s only delicious? I will make it nice next time.
Z	Zed	You spell that name T-h-a-k-o-zed-i-l-e.
Sports team	Orlando Pirates or the Kaiser Chiefs	Do you like the Orlando Pirates? I like them. Did you see their hat in Shoprite? I have an Orlando Pirates belt buckle.
Track and field	Athletics	Our school’s first term sports are football and athletics.
I missed the bus	The bus left me	I was only 15 minutes late! Can you believe the bus left me?
Like	Love	Do you love carrots? Do you love driving a car? Do you love that man over there? (Swazis use love for everything!)

A lot of the phrasing here that sounds rude to American ears is simply an issue of being lost in translation. English is taught a certain way, and that is just the way it is spoken here. In addition, it is worth noting that Swazis show respect with gestures, whereas Americans show it with words. When shaking hands, you support the right hand with the left hand here. Ordering people around is not disrespectful - accepting a gift with your left hand is. It's different, and I hope that this has not given anyone a negative impression.

 

The pickup lines here are ones only used in jokes in America. I got two good ones this month. The first was in Boxer, a grocery store in Simunye. A man followed me for three aisles saying, “Rose? Rose?” I did not answer because I did not know he was talking to me. I caught on, and turned to look at him. “Isn’t your name Rose?” he asked me. I responded in the negative. He then said: “Oh, but you must forgive my mistake, for you are more beautiful than a rose.” I walked away without saying anything else.

Another was when I was walking in Siteki, my shopping town. A man shouted at me across the street: “Hello! How are you?” I responded that I was fine. He then gave me this gem: “I’m Trevor, and I like what I see!” I again walked on. The trick with these men is to just keep moving. I’ll do another post on the sexual harassment here – it really is something else.

Names are also interesting here. On my homestead surveys, I have met Lucky (male), Linda (male), Belly (female), Chenneth (male, and it was spelled like that), Girlie (female), Comfort (male), and many others. Something gets lost in translation over here at times. Names of stars are different too. Leon Rich is Lionel Ritchie, and there are other examples. It makes conversations very challenging because I can’t tell if I know what they are talking about or not.

There are also intersections with the culture. One of my Volunteer friends was playing football (soccer) with some Swazis. The ball was punctured. He commented that they need a new ball. In this culture, that is not an observation, but a promise to buy them a new one. They harassed him until he caved. I was asked by the police chief to buy cars, uniforms, and walkie-talkies for his force. I told him that Peace Corps is about teaching and training. He then told the Inner Council that I had promised to train all his new officers. It is a culture that will look for any chance to take you for all you are worth at times, and if they cannot get you for all you are worth then they will take as much as they can get.

I’m still learning Siswati, but I spend just as much time learning Swazi English and the tricks of Swazi culture. It’s harder than you’d think!