| (2003-11-10) Week 11 I’m into week 11 now. I’ve finally found a social circle. I’ve found my niche. This makes my time in The Gambia much more enjoyable. Movie night is Monday, Tuesdays and Thursdays evenings I am taking French lessons, and the rest of my spare time is mainly spent relaxing at the ocean. My social circle likes to go out drinking quite frequently, so I’m finding myself doing that more than before as well. A good time, even though I didn’t plan on coming to a Third World Country and taking part in the same activities that I do when I’m home. I’ve become frustrated with my jobs though. I’m not sure if every volunteer goes through this or not. I wish I were skilled in mechanics or agriculture or something more useful than Information Technology. I’ve expressed my frustration in this before, but allow me to go further. I believe in the power of the Internet. It holds an amazing wealth of knowledge and information; I dare anyone to dispute its ability to enrich people’s lives with its content. Every morning I teach women how to use computers. It’s taken me two months to get them comfortable using the mouse and keyboard. I’m now teaching them Microsoft Word, which I think will take me the remainder of my time here. After I leave, the chances of them using the computers is minimal. I don’t think that the computers are going to be touched after I go. I feel like a total waste of time. They’re not learning how to use the Internet. There’s no time, no resources, and no money to use the Internet. When an hour of Internet time costs 30 Dalasis, and most people make under 500 Dalasis a month, people aren’t going to spend their money on surfing the web. It’s beautiful here. It’s such a different kind of beauty than what I am used to at home. I wonder if this "development" work is good for this country or bad. I don’t know if I want to help this country become more westernized. I really don’t like much about our society at home, and bringing aspects of that society into this society… it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Is this colonialism? How am I making this country better? Is this what they really need? I didn’t come here in some attempt to save the world. I came here to teach skills, and that’s what I’m doing. I’m confused if it’s for the better or worse. I often feel guilty for taking the time of the women in my school that could be practicing their sewing skills. I know that they could make a living by being seamstress much better than a who knows how to type a few letters on a computer. Before I left, I spoke to a friend about my conflicting views on going to a Third World Country to teach about computers. He said, "It’s a skill, right? You can never have too many skills." I hope he’s right. |