Development and Mud huts
Development is great. Church aid organizations often help build orphanages and other homes for underprivileged people. My problem with Western development is the ignorance of culture and tradition.
Who or which culture sets the standard for development? Here is one example. Is a mud hut by definition a substandard home? What does it say if that is how your people have been living for thousands of years? Does it mean that their traditional homes are inferior to those of concrete? I never realized how cool a mud hut home is compared to a cement structure until I stayed in one. I never realized how well they keep water out with only grass roofs and how much cooler they are compared to metal zinc roofs (which is the main alternative in Ghana at least.)
If mud huts are well maintained – worked on every year, they are very accommodating homes. They are cool and comfortable. They are affordable and within the price range of nearly every Ghanaian at least in rural areas. They are easy to maintain and not so costly as more Western style homes. The people already possess much of the expertise to build and maintain them.
I grant that cities can be a different animal since people are living right on top of each other in ways that are not accommodating to traditional African ways of life. Any thoughts? Any thoughts on the millenium goals? http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/ Check em out.
posted by Nathan Esala at 1:39 PM
5 Comments:
I think your right, surprise, surprise. This actually connects with your current post. Why do we give? To be of genuine help, or to make ourselves feel better that the poor Africans don't have to live in those awful mud homes anymore? I don't know that I've shared this with you, but I had a thought last month that I think is true. What we need in missions is not faith but wisdom. We think we need faith (insert: do crazy things for God thinking your honoring him when in fact you are ignoring generations of wisdom and failure that have gone before you).
We need wisdom in missions, and wisdom is understanding how to apply God's revealed will to a given situation, which is not easy to do.
I like your thesis: We need "wisdom" more than "faith". But to add to your definition of wisdom I would say that in addition to God's revealed will, it is something more. Perhaps partly it is being an observer. It also includes being realistic and an attempt to find out what is really going on here from the different perspectives of people involved. Realistic. Very honest.
Nathan,
I too have seen the waste of development money in Africa, but Government money. I helped build a 75 ft. water tower in Liberia in Bong County. We were building American style apartments. The women went from getting water from the creek in buckets to hot and cold running water and flush toilets.
It seemed to me that money would have been better spent digging multiple wells in many villages and installing communal spigots. But no one asked me. And, perhaps I wasn't seeing the big picture.
How can we get the "wisdom" from the field back to the givers while also incorporating input and guidance from nationals?
Kevin Jud
Kevin, You've hit on the challenge. We are trying to communicate this vision, but it takes a lot of work and time and I think at least at first, cannot be done as quickly as we westerners like. Its messy and time consuming (kind of like marriage...not mine of course...).
Is the answer possibly that we are powerless? WAWA
Post a Comment
<< Home