"developing"

So all is well here in Paraguay. The trip was something of an adventure – a missed flight connection led to a 16-hour layover in Sao Paolo, during which I witnessed a group of Buenos Aires-bound passengers protesting a cancelled flight, chanting and clapping in unison until the airline granted them all temporary Brazilian visas and complimentary hotel rooms for the night. Sometimes it pays to give the ticket agents hell, I suppose. My fellow Paraguay passengers and I were not as fortunate. Our re-scheduled flight was 4 hours delayed and we arrived in Asuncion at 3:30 in the morning. There was another supervisor on the flight with me named Andrew. We grabbed a cab from the airport – a suspicious large black Mercedes with tinted windows and no running taxi meter... but the driver was ‘muy amable’ and brought us directly to our house after a few high-pitched cell phone conversations with our project director.

Since settling in, we’ve been alternately in orientation meetings or eating meals at interesting restaurants. Last night, a swanky Chinese restaurant; tonight an ice-cream and hamburger shop (incidentally this place was called 4d... v. odd).

This morning we met the coordinators of the government sanitation program and received our community assignments. I will be traveling to four communities northwest of Asuncion, about a 2-3 hour trip out into the campo, working with three of the engineers: Porfirio, Amalio, and Brigido. This was all very exciting news, and my angry morning mood (brought on by a third nearly-sleepless night in a row) melted away. The meeting was capped of with a feast of tasty grilled steak, sausages, and mandioca, and I decided I might like Paraguay lots.

After a satisfying morning meeting, we had an equally interesting discussion in the late afternoon back at our staff house. Our project directors compiled a few readings that highlighted several challenging views of international development, the role of NGOs, the role of international governments, and the negative aspects of ‘charity’-based work. This is something I struggled with a lot when I first took part in Amigos as a volunteer and when I was considering returning to the program as a supervisor – I didn’t want to ‘help’ in a way that was unwanted or un-solicited, I didn’t want to be imposing an outsider’s value system on a culture that had functioned just fine for thousands of years, and the idea that we were “changing the world” actually made me uncomfortable. But I believe I have arrived at a place where I understand my role among the people in the Amigos communities, and I know the organization has every intent to assure that the volunteers are not just “helping”, but are, in fact, engaging in a true cross-cultural experience that is both an effort for both parties and extremely beneficial to all involved. Our conversation this evening gave us all a chance to objectively discuss the arguments for and against the work of NGOs in ‘developing areas’ and to verbalize our own inner dialogues on the issue. A couple of key things emerged in my mind by the end:

1. Working under the coordination of the Paraguayan government means the project we are doing truly is “community based” – that is, it is run by Paraguayans, for Paraguayans

2. The volunteers are placed in communities to help these projects come to fruition, and are encouraged to involve their peers in the labor and education around the sanitation efforts. This is cross-cultural immersion not only in the sense of forming relationships with host families and friends, but also in working professionally in a foreign country, which has its own way of doing things. The volunteers are not considered ‘experts’ by any means, but rather serve as catalysts

3. The term ‘catalyst’ always seemed a bit too empowered to me, but I started to see it another way during our discussion – often, an organization or community needs a breath of new life to highlight the positive things and encourage the development of new initiatives. This happens every year at Amigos, as the new staff and volunteers come up with new ideas, have great discussions, and encourage and support each other in positive ways. In the same manner, young Amigos volunteers can bring life to the community where they are staying simply through their fascination and delight with the people and customs to which they are exposed

4. A large part of the discussion was about dependence. A few of my fellow supervisors questioned the role of NGOs in places where governments should be taking more responsibility. The issue of dependence, however, is a global one, and any country-level disparity between the amount of support provided by NGOs vs. the amount provided by a national body should be viewed at a global level. Some countries simply do not have the funds to provide for all the services their people need, and while other governments may have these funds, often NGOs have already taken up the cause. With a large part of NGO financing coming from government bodies anyway, the issue simply comes down to a global disparity of wealth and the question remains: who should take up the cause?

I have found that the model of cross-cultural exchange and community-based development is the most respectful and sustainable of the programs I have researched. I am already proud of the kids who will be participating, I am excited to meet the youth and adults who will be our community counterparts, and I am looking forward to the summer (winter here, don’t forget!) Development theory can be a bit, well, theoretical sometimes; when these projects are realized, however, I think the kids will know their experience was unique and will walk away as respectful global citizens.