Okay so I have kind of gone back and forth on how I want to present this blog. On the one hand I don't want to perpetrate unfair stereotypes because they really do not apply to all the people here, but then again I want to correctly represent the culture here as well as my stay and the major things that happen here which affect my stay. So to preface my posting for this week, most people here are not genuinely corrupted and do mean good and want to help, so for those the corruption generalization does not correctly fit. This however was my intial mind set when coming, which still holds true, since then, though my thoughts have changed. Generalizing about everyone being corrupted here is wrong, but, recently, it seems to me that corruption is culturally engrained here and another faulty part of the culture, as it is in any culture, but this week it struck home.
So on Monday I was informed that my supervisior/counterpart, who is the manager at the clinic, was dismissed because of some faulty finacial activity. I'm going to take a leap and conclude he was siphoning some money off the top for himself, because that's basically what everyone at the clinic told me. And to be honest with you, I wasn't that shocked, this place has calloused me, so now I'm not too surprised when things like that happen. What I was and still am shocked about is that the manager here was a really good manager and he kept things together here really well and kept the place up and running. Which, I'm finding are hard qualities to come by in Basotho sometimes. You would have never suspected it of the guy so everyone is just so schocked about it. And what makes it worse is that I heard he also stole money from the income generating project I am working with, the aloe cream and jelly project. I mean how desperate do you have to be to steal money from people who are trying to make something out of their shit situation in life? On top of it, I saw how much he got paid, which is a good pay check, even if you were living in the states. It is just so frustrating because you think you find some one who is helping with the solution to the problem, someone you can genuinely trust with helping out only to find, that they just fall into the horrible generalization stated above and are, in fact, a part of the problem.
So yes, that is a drastic statement, but you can't let things like that continue to pass by unnoticed and without calling it what it is. Many people are sad and distressed that they went so far as to fire him, but you have to do that here. To make kind of a crude comparison, they need to treat corruption here like they treat drunk driving in the states. No tolerance, because in this culture, people will do WHATEVER they can get away with, especially if it means they get to pocket some more money. Unfortunately for Lesotho, people do not go to jail for such actions. So if people do it and don't get away with it, like my manager, really, worse case scenario, you lose your job, and because he is male and educated, he will probably be able to find another job with out too much of a problem. And lets face it, I'm in Lesotho, if people did go to jail for corruption, half of the work force would be serving time. Anyways, with all this happening, the reality of why things go so wrong here hit home.
We are lucky though at the clinic because there is a well built work structure here and we will be able to keep going without the manager for a while. Hopefully they find a good person to replace him with though. The, well I guess, ex-manager, now had a lot of really good qualities and really did do alot for the center here, and he will be missed. But he kind of got what was coming to him. I really feel little, if any, sympathy for him because he was stealing from those who have very little. But I do feel for his family, and hope they are able to continue getting along okay. In my dismay about the situation I asked a volunteer who has been here for a longer time than me about what it is that makes people do this, if it is indeed a culture specific trait. He said, people feel entitled to it in a way. They justify it just like people back home would, they say they are taking that money that is not theirs so that their children can go to a good school, when at the same time they just bought a new Mercedes Benz. They blind themselves to the fact they used the money for the car and used it for their children, when they really, when all is said and done, just got themselves a new car.
This for me just brings back a sense of hopelessness about this place and wonder if someone like the manager here can fall to temptation, a seemingly really good guy and worker, then that means any one is suspect and here the temptation must be overwhelming if so many cave in to it. They see the way Westerners live and what we have there, see the large gap, and try to get to what they percieve how they should be living, like Westerners live. They give into the temptation if it presents itself so they can have that "luxe lifestyle". What they fail to see is how much Westerners work to achieve the lifestyle they have and they fail to see the ingenuity that is put into that kind of life. The ingenuity is what is not understood, which is where the gap presents itself and has the opprotunity to grow. And in that gap, corruption is fostered and it grows.
So that defines my week. My situation, hopefully should not be greatly altered. However, once we get a new manager at the clinic, I will have to see how things go. Till then I guess I am kind of on my own, which is no problem, because I was kind of on my own before that anyways. So I should probably get back to work and refrain from rambling as I always do when I try to wrap up my blogs. So that being said, I'm off to clean my bathroom then teach some lifeskills! Have a great day and take care!
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