I have found that it is hard to notice the level of latent knowledge available in western, developed countries. It was not until I started working in Tanzania that I started to think about how you propagate public announcements without T.V., radio or the internet. (You can check out the billboard advertisement that I saw next to the Burundi/ Tanzania boarder for one answer to this question.) It is amazing what can be learned through these mediums of communication. For instance, although we may not need mosquito nets in Canada, I would imagine that nine out of ten Canadians would be able to tell me that a mosquito net is supposed to be hung above a bed and tucked in around the mattress. In Tanzania they have been handing out mosquito nets and trying to explain how to use them but when they go to the homes of these villagers, the mosquito net is hung up but it might be in a corner, draping against a wall rather than over the bed, or hanging over the bed but six inches off of the ground.
The same has been seen with AIDS campaigns where men are told about how to use a condom. Often times they receive demonstrations on some sort of object as a figurative illustration. However when you go to see the man and you see the condom on top of a spear in his front yard it becomes obvious that he did not understand that the illustration was figurative. The basic understanding that is derived from mass communication and media is not present in small rural villages. I have also heard of some locals who took the time out to write detailed descriptions in the local language about how to use a condom but had to attach these instructions to the individual condoms and so they stapled a set of instructions to each condom. This really illustrates that what one person thinks is common sense is really not common when in a different cultural, social and communication realm.
This is the case for me when it comes to local food. I have no idea about how to kill, skin and butcher a goat or pluck and clean a chicken. My Tanzanian companions have grown up doing this and laugh at me when I don’t want to join them in meeting the food before I eat it. But my experience in the grocery stores of North America has placed this information outside of my realm.
I really realized the depth of the capacity building problem when I was at the office yesterday. Edson had to print out copies of our architecture plans for the production sites we are building. He could not figure out how to use the photocopier so he took a picture of the plans and wanted my help in printing them out. I looked at the picture and said that it was illegible so we should use the photo copier. As I was working away to figure out this new copier, Edron our office assistant came up and said “excuse me I do not know how to use this.” She is eager to learn everything she can but the lack of exposure to any form of electronics, let alone computers, makes what I would consider general common knowledge to be an expertise in Ngara. We proceeded with an hour lesson of copying, resizing, double sided printouts and all the other necessary stuff. Each new thing was greeted with excitement and amazement. I imagine the response is similar to what mine might have been the first time I searched the Internet. It was to the point where I had to explain that you hit the green button to start a copy and illustrate the on/off switch. However, it was a great success and Edron is now writing up a Kiswahili step by step guide on the basic functions for her own memory and to help the rest of the staff. She is now considered the office expert on the copier. It is amazing how much can be taken for granted when there is so much information floating around a person. In a place where it cost me three dollars to send an email this information is just not available, but is likely more needed than anywhere else I have ever been.
So next time you use your copy machine I hope that you can appreciate it with the same intensity as Edron did yesterday, realizing that not only do you have a machine that can copy, resize, fax, email, scan and everything else under the sun, but you know how to use it, right down to the big green button.
