Reflections - Westerners in Africa

I warned you that I’d soon be ranting about the behavior of Westerners in Africa. In general, too many bazungu are unhygienic, unprofessional, and inappropriate. I used to be one of them, but my time in Rwanda has helped me realize that’s not okay.

Rwandans expect foreigners to furnish and decorate our houses, just as they do. They expect that we’ll keep our houses clean, like they do. They think we should shower and wear clean clothes – it’s the Rwandan way, after all. Not only that, Rwandans often dress up much more than Americans would for a similar occasion, and most tend to be quite fashionable. I would even say that things like jewelry, make-up, and nail polish are expected, particularly among young people. People comment, constantly, on Westerners’ clothes, shoes, accessories, skin, hair, nails, teeth, etc. If we’re dirty or underdressed, people notice and they lose respect for us. When Rwandan girls wear skinny jeans and stilettos and white girls wear t-shirts and Keens, is it any wonder they sometimes don’t think so highly of us? Frankly, it’s pretty condescending of Westerners to assume that Africans just don’t care about hygiene or fashion.

Alcohol is, of course, another issue, though less of one in Rwanda than in many countries. Many Rwandans drink a lot (especially Catholics, to generalize), but many others don’t drink at all. In some situations here, drinking isn’t a problem. But, when the Rwandans around aren’t drinking, it’s really not appropriate for Westerners (Western women, at least) to either. And, it’s almost never appropriate to drink to excess.

Even some things we wouldn’t think much of are a big deal here and can make people here lose respect for Westerners. The first thing that comes to mind is spending a lot of time alone. Being social is highly valued in Rwanda. If Westerners often stay alone in their houses, people find them to be anti-social, unlikable, uninterested in Rwandan culture, and just weird. Rwandans’ social behavior is also taken very seriously – a teacher at a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer’s school was recently fired, solely because the school’s administration viewed him as too anti-social. Another thing is sleeping in. Rwandans tend to get up really early and assume others do as well. When Westerners are known to sleep late, Rwandans view them as lazy and unproductive.

Maybe there is some value in “not caring what people think,” but being respected is essential for personal and professional success here, especially among Peace Corps Volunteers, who are continually trying to develop relationships with locals and gain acceptance in their communities.

Another thing I’ve grown critical of is short-term volunteering (which I’ve done, and enjoyed, in the past). As a disclaimer, I think there are, possibly, some projects that could benefit from this type of assistance, and some people offer specialized, technical skills or knowledge that could be useful in this context. But, that is often not the case. Short-term projects often include manual labor, for example, often take jobs away from locals. And, when volunteers teach for a week at a school, they don’t know what the students have learned or what they need to learn. Worse, when volunteers spend a week at an orphanage, they worsen the attachment and abandonment issues those children likely already have. And, in any of these cases, the volunteers certainly know very, very little about local culture, needs, or resources. Peace Corps requires a two-year commitment precisely as a way to reduce these problems – and some people would say even that’s not enough time.