An NGO comes to the village

written Thursday, 2 August 2007

 

 

On Monday a woman from a Belgian NGO came to my village and held a meeting.  The NGO wants to give the women's group in my village two machines, one that will produce a bio-diesel fuel out of a plant that the NGO wants my village to start growing, and a second machine that is basically a generator that will run on the bio-fuel that the first machine produces and which can then be used to power a grinder or water pump.

 

After explaining what the NGO was offering to do, the woman asked my villagers if they were interested in the project.   Of course they said yes - to them, this is like presents falling from the sky, and they risk nothing if the project doesn't work out.

 

I thought it was a rather strange way to operate - coming to the village and telling them what present they could have, and asking them if they wanted it, rather than having a real discussion with the village about what they need.   But the machines sound like they could be useful - my village could certainly use a water pump.

 

Unfortunately, though, the plant which the NGO wants my village to grow for bio-fuel is believed by the villagers to house evil spirits.   It is said that anyone who grows such a plant will soon find themselves forced to leave their home and village.  But no one told the toubab NGO woman this, because she just wouldn't understand.   (I got told about it, because I am "integrated" in the village.  This sort of insider information is exactly why I was interested in doing Peace Corps).

 

So there is a good chance the project will fail, because of the NGO's failure to understand local beliefs.   This seems typical to me of aid to Africa - good intentions, but not quite on the mark.  But there is hope - the villagers are discussing whether it will be okay to grow the plant, as long as they plant it far enough away from the village so that the evil spirits will not reach the village.   So we'll see.