Four For the Fourth

Part of being a Peace Corps volunteer is working with the communities on development projects. Part of it is learning about the host country and bringing that knowledge back to the States and part of my work is bringing a bit of the States to my host community. Pretty much every time I sit down to drink tea I'll get a question about back home and many times I'll try to prompt my friends to get some idea of what they know about who Americans are and what we believe so that I'm not answering the same questions. I of course get the 'it's fantastic' or that 'everyone has money' answers. Many times when I tell people I don't have money they answer that my dad must (always the father) and that he'll gladly give me some which I can then pass on to them. I tell them this isn't the case, that I can't just ask my dad for money (despite what my dad might have to say about the matter : ) ) but they refuse to believe me. 'There is money somewhere, if you look for it' they say. I leave it at that - there is no way I can convince them otherwise (as I sit on my fancy laptop listening to my iPod and drinking a soda!) For many in Mali this is what the US represents. We're a wealthy country that spreads that wealth out to the world. This isn't necessarily how we see ourselves though and that is another concept that is difficult to speak about.

I think many times we see our role in the world as being black and white. Either people love the US and want to go and live there or they hate us and are some varying form of terrorist. Now I think this idea has softened a bit with Obama taking office, but it was a matter of policy under Bush for sure. The reality is far more complex than this. Some people hate some of our actions but still look favorably upon us, others think here and there we have done good things but overall we're having a negative impact (and of course we have the extremes too. We do have blind faith countries that'll follow us into the flames and we do have terrorist states looking to end our existence but I believe they're far less of a presence than we may perceive them to be). Most Malians I have talked with look upon the US favorably. We're seen as a strong, powerful country that works to help the world. They see a nation giving money to Mali to build infrastructure or develop democracy and that's all they need to know, that's enough to make a positive impact. I don't believe most people I've talked with have considered the implications of US aid. There are strong political ramifications of accepting money from the US. Now its not as bad as it was during the Cold War, but there are still strict guidelines in place for a country to receive funds from the States. For those who are aware of this, there is a bit of hesitation over certain issues. This is one reason that many love the Chinese here. They have come in with no political agenda other than to secure resources and radically changed the landscape, building roads and bridges and all the things Mali has lacked over the years. They work quickly and things seem to be done efficiently. Not to say the US doesn't achieve the same ends, but the means are a bit different for sure.

But by asking the question, "What do you think about the States?" I wasn't looking to have a discussion on development aid theory or the political implications of accepting funds from the United States. I wasn't even looking to discuss my family's financial situation. Instead I was looking more for an answer to 'what does the US represent to you and your community, what do you know about people from the United States?" More of a sociological answer. When I rephrase it to include these aspects, I get some pretty wild answers. For example, I've heard from villagers that all Americans raise partridges and pheasants in their houses and that Africans have tried so many times to domesticate the fowl but failed and that Americans have successfully done this. (And for some wild reason we're keeping the secret from them!) I chuckled at the idea of my sister going out and feeding the family partridges or my mom de-feathering a plump bird for dinner. (There is no concept of pre-packaged, deboned chicken breast and what it looks like. we logically must eat what they eat and its probably from the same place. If only they knew.) As I ask this question more and more, I continue to get some pretty radical ideas about America and Americans and in honor of the Fourth of July, I've included them here for you. Here are somethings that even I didn't know about the United States:

- America has 52 states, not 50 and as an American I'm misinformed. I've questioned so many times why this is, where those two extra states are located, to no avail. I thought maybe they had assumed Washington D.C. was its own state and that they had maybe heard of Puerto Rico or Guam or something to that nature. This seems logical, right? But no, its not this. After discussing it with some PC friends I've heard two very plausible theories:

1.) The first theory is that Malians who have seen a map of the US see the Continental States and think there are 50, thus making Hawai'i and Alaska the 51st and 52nd states. . If you can't count, and you're not sure what's a state and what's a river - I'm looking to you Delaware - you'd have no idea how many states exist. The more plausible of the two theories, and as I understand it the most likely, option but...

2.) The second choice is that there are, in fact, fifty states around North America but that Israel and Iraq are states as well. This one I find to be so off the wall ridiculous that I choose to follow this idea because it entertains me. One Malian told me that we invaded Iraq and killed Saddam, so we're now in charge of the country and it belongs to us. (Which, by the way most Malians don't think was bad. There in agreement that killing Saddam, an Arab, was the best decision. Plus it means we're super strong and tough, and that's cool too.) And we give so much money to Israel that we of course own them. I'm still amused by this theory, even after hearing it so many times! There is a bit of logic to it, in a political science kinda way, like the Feds and AIG, we just kinda own it... sorta.

- All Americans can fly a plane and we all own one. I've told people that in America I can drive a car and could get around on a motorcycle pretty easily, so they then ask whether I can fly a plane. I wonder about this one a lot. Where and when did a villager see someone in a plane and think we can all fly and own planes? James Bond maybe? People refuse to believe me when I tell them I can't. Sure, I could learn but that's something difficult and expensive to achieve so most Americans don't do it. Imagine if we all could fly planes - all the accidents, all the deaths, all the pollution and crazy people zooming around above our buildings and streets. Drunk flyers would be an absolute mess. Thank goodness the 1960's videos of the future were wrong and we don't have jetpacks. Wallai!

- We all know karate and we can fight whenever we need to (and we fight a lot!) This comes from kung-fu movies and action films that are easy and entertaining to watch even if they're in English, not Bambara. Kids always pose for photos in some Jackie Chan position with the most intense look on their faces. All throughout Mali classes and programs are offered to learn karate and most people who say they know it claim to be blackbelts. Never fight a Malian, that's the lesson from this! (Though really, everyone is a blackbelt?) Many Malians also tell me that they invented kung-fu, that its a traditional African fighting system. Yes, many traditional tribes had/have fighting styles (I'm thinking of the Zulu warriors in South Africa who fought against the British) but never have I heard of karate coming from here. I guess all the Japanese, Chinese and Thai fighters who train from traditional methods are being duped, they're just learning an imported version from Africa. Prison Break is a really popular program here and many people have little snippets on their phones that they watch over and over again, most of these being fighting scenes. I think its a sad day when we're exporting Fox programs as cultural representations (though the Simpsons do get a free pass.)

-Every American owns a money making machine and the government will give you one if you request it. This is one thing I've had a hard time understanding and for the last two years wondered if I was just mistranslating what people were saying, but many people in my village tell me that they believe all Americans are so wealthy because we produce all the money we need in our houses. Now I automatically think about what this would mean for inflation, but I can understand how one would come to this conclusion. If you think about all the money we supposedly have in the States, all the wealth we each individually possess, it's gotta come from somewhere, right? Why not from a machine in our basements, right next to the one that washes our clothes (another concept that blows my village away: A machine that washes your clothes for you, like on a washboard machine? Yeah, like on a washboard.)

Another thing that I love about US/Malian relations is that Malians adore Barack Obama. He's they're guy simply because he's black. George Bush gave tons of money to Africa for development - he may have stipulated that we teach abstinence with that money, but regardless, it was money. But he was a stiff white guy. And frankly, kinda boring. Barack on the other hand is lively and hip, he represents change and being black will automatically help out 'his people' in Africa. (Many of these reasons are why we love him too. He is that powerful of an image.) As a result of their infatuation, Malians strive for things with Obama's face or name adorning them. You can find belts and bracelets and shoes and jeans and underwear with either Obama's face or name scratched across it. Many times it's misspelled or it doesn't look like him, but regardless, its the point behind it that matters, right? One of my favorite things I've seen was a pair of sandals this old guy was wearing that said O' Bama. No wonder the Irish love him so much, he's one of us. I also get that he isn't really American, that in fact he's a real African. Being lighter skin just means he's from the herding tribe, the Fula or Peuhl people, and surely he can speak their language, you just need to ask. 'A ye Fula nuyman ye, tiendon' - He's a good Fulani, for real.

I've been keeping tabs of some of the other things that make me chuckle, the other misconceptions that Malians have about the United States. What it comes down to is that most Malians know very little about who or what the U.S. is. Many actually think France is a state in America and that we can get there by bus and they wonder why I don't just visit home more often. I say that although my mom would agree, I can't just get go by bus, that there is in fact a giant body of water in between and I must go by plane. I will inevitably get the question, 'But how do you go to the bathroom?' And every time I chuckle. No, they don't have open air bathrooms on the planes, it just wouldn't work.