This is me trying to sound like an expert.... (without spellcheck)

A worker bends down under an open window. She comes up, hits her head, and exclaims, "The window hit me!". A worker pumping gasoline tries to pump to the roundest number. He is afraid to go over the amount handed to him, shrugs, and says, "It has refused". A villager is lacking a health clinic and good road. They say, "The money: it has refused us."

A Westerner would lable this "fatalism". We would put the blame on the person. "I hit my head", "I can't pump it more", "We can't get funding"....

In America we feel we control our fate. We're told we can accomplish whatever we put our mind to, and we believe it. We think the answer to the Africans' problems will begin when they take control.

Maybe I would agree until I remember the feeling of living in Kenya. My mindset was molded by having no control. We'd plan our trip into town for supplies, but we were at the mercy of taxi's. Would they pass, would they have room, would they get a flat tire? We realized that we had changed while in line in Nairobi. All the Westerners were complaining, questioning, and trying to get their documents quicker. We waited. Just a few months had taught us that in Africa, that's all you can do.

So I can understand how one becomes fatalistic. Without any way to get a job one has to rely on "sponsors" from rich countries to send $100 for children's school fees. Without a reliable government one just has to learn to be complacent with no roads or clean water. Without any means of getting a "second opinion" one has to be content with medical treatment that isn't even working. While in wealthy America, if we do everything in our power to be healthy and still get cancer: "it isn't FAIR". We search for blame, for a cure, for anything to feel in power.

Other countries have recognised the poverty of Africa. Many dollars are sent here to the governments. Corrupt governments officials take the money as their own, and the villages still wait because "the money has refused them". The gifts are beautiful sacrifices, but do they feed the feeling of dependency?

So what's the answer? I don't know. I don't think the answer is to make the whole world mzungus (white people). I believe some of the solution will involve empowerment.

I have been privaleged to hear from Dr. Mark Hall here on the medical mission. He worked for six years in Jinja, mostly doing basic health training in the villages. He recognized that building a hospital is sexy and Western, but is more like opening a candy shop in a land suffering from famine. For every life saved in a hospital, 100 people die in the villages from simple diseases. I've heard the stat that every 5 seconds a child dies in third world countries from treatable diseases. Dr. Hall recognized how many lives could be saved if the people could recognize dehydration and make Oral Rehydration Solution, if people could recognize malaria before a child is severely anemic and go for treatment, if people could understand nutrition--and all of this in a culturally appropriate and understandable way--hundreds could be saved. Prevention is about as glamourous. Neither are unknown grass-roots project with no website OR huge numbers to boast. The safari ants over here are not very glamorous either, but they drive entire households from buildings.