The Colonel didn't die...He went to Afghanistan!

In a parallel universe known as, "Afghanistan", Colonel Sanders has installed himself as the reigning Fried Chicken Master, thus spreading his secret recipe, and the peace-loving feeling that comes with it, to other strife-stricken regions of the world.

If you can read the Dari script, they just phonetically spelled out "Kabul Fried Chicken" under the KFC brand. Those wily Afghans! What will they think of next?

Dripchak on "Developmentality: What, if anything, were they thinking?"

“Development” per se, is not a product but a process. It never ends. For example, say you’ve mastered creating formulas in an Excel spreadsheet, and now you want to automate the process with macros. Once that’s done, you want to move onto programming in Visual Basic so you can go beyond one spreadsheet, and on and on. I have never “targeted” development, but rather applied it toward a prioritized list of needs at a community level. The objective is to work oneself out of a job, and that the works left behind are important enough to the villagers, who have been trained, that they alone ensure maintenance and improvements.

That said, the process of development is often controlled through “facipulation” or facilitating the process toward some prescribed goals and objectives, thus manipulating the outcome. Faci + pulation. Might as well be open about it. There are so many agendas to deal with in a project that the “facipulator” has to know how to work his/her way through the morass of conflicting desires.

As for the idea of turning everyone into “little consumers like those of us in the US,” NO! Self-sufficiency is the goal. In fact, I’m often embarrassed by the opinions of Americans that I’ve come across in my work, many of which have been right on the mark, or others so far off that they inspire outrageous laughter, until you investigate where the opinion came from.

I originally joined the Peace Corps because I did not find working in the US of A potentially rewarding for me. There are so many social safeguards that my work would only bring satisfaction to me, if that were possible, but my satisfaction comes from knowing I might have helped someone do something better than s/he used to do it, and that I might have inspired the curiosity of that person to further test and improve the method. It’s kind of like watching and helping kids grow up. They beam with every new discovery, and when so inspired, go on to test other aberrations of your theory.

I completely agree with my colleague about learning overseas. I knew early on that I was only one person with a limited set of skills to share with others, while they were hundreds, each with something new for me. I definitely made out on that score! Never thought I could save the world, but I wanted to inspire the “Think Globally, Act Locally” approach to changing things. Another ‘ism that became prevalent during my work has been, “If you’re not part of the solution, then you’re part of the problem.” Too many times people who are excluded from processes sit on the sidelines and bitch about how things should be. I have seen many cases where getting them off their asses have been both positive and negative, but it was definitely better than listening to them bitch! And understanding WHY they are like that is tantamount to making any progress whatsoever.

This gets back to something we (?) used in the PC which was participatory appraisals. So many “experts” talk about how easy it is to do a PRA, but they obviously don’t have a clue. In the Congo recently, a researcher who was an ex-PCV in west Africa said something to the effect that after her two years in the PC, she thought a PRA was quick and easy. I did all I could to resist writing back to her to say that because I went to the zoo as a child, that I was an expert on elephants. When I was in Guatemala, we brought a woman from Virginia Tech to help train staff in PRA. The phrase that rings true to this day in my head is, “It’s the process and NOT the product.” She was SOOOOO right!

Some further thoughts:
I was once the point person for the organization in Guatemala for a “research” project under the USG SANREM project. The gurus from Virginia Tech thought I was dragging my feet on the process, but this was because they had not a clue what participation entailed, and I was in charge of the participatory appraisal component.

While in the Republic of Congo, I investigated why the economic alternative component had not been successful in the past. A former employee who had been responsible for it immediately confirmed my initial analysis that “the numbers” were far more important than the quality of the project. He said they were under pressure to reach and register as “participants” as many beneficiaries in the project area as soon as possible.

Again, a grave misunderstanding as to what “participatory” might imply.

When faced with a contrary opinion from the farmer’s side as to a recommendation from the extensionist, one needs to invest the time to understand why this is the case. What might be the reason(s) behind the non-acceptance of the extensionist’s sage advice.

Anyhow, hope this little message inspires some thought on the part of those of us who still have an impact on other peoples’ lives.

Dripchak returns to Madagascar and, wouldn’cha know it, it really hasn’t changed.

Maybe I waxed romantic about Madagascar and Maroantsetra while I was in Central Africa, but reality is coming back, “finally” in some ways, after being here for three and a half months.

After so many little problems here, I took it upon myself to nickname the town, changing Maroantsetra to “Maroa-tsarotra,” which, loosely translated, means “a lot of difficulties.” That’s life here. But things have undergone an interesting series of events. At the outset of our time back, at the end of October, things were like they were long before: electricity was on-again-off-again (though on a more “regular” schedule); the house was not yet completed, so there was still a lot chasing after contractors and fixing things they did; and, it was HOT!

The interesting aspect here is that it was not raining as much as I recalled, and that was not so unusual because there is usually a relatively dry period in September-October. But here we were into November – December, and the days were still sunny and dry, with occasional overnight downpours. I could deal with that, in spite of the prickly heat that was driving me nuts.

Then, in late December, the electric company (Jirama) got their new generator and/or repair parts, and we have had electricity in the house almost constantly since then. We were able to pretty much finish the electrical installation in the house (except for the terrible job the construction crew did in the first phase – no ground for the plugs, for what reason I have no idea). And with a lot of dogging, the plumber finished the gravity-fed water system, without the water heater, which has been deemed not a priority in these financially-strapped times. I helped him install the electric pump to get the water up to the reservoir, and voila!

An aside: “Jirama” stands for Jiro et Rano Malagasy, or Malagasy electricity and water. Here in Maroa-tsarotra, they are known as “Jima” because they don’t have a water service.

So, water and electricity. What else could one need? Oh yeah, the “tenants” (as I affectionately refer to my wife’s family members who occupy the wooden house we originally built and I am eager to get rid of because it draws flies and family members) brought a puppy into the household. For lack of imagination and the old habit of the name the only other dog the house has had, she was named Bobbie. While quite the handful, she brings all those good and bad attributes of a puppy, and I love having her around.

Another positive discovery was that the cell phone provider was dealing the Internet over the connection, albeit quite expensive for such a feeble connection. At least I can look for work and send my CV out. Can’t get any software or updates, unfortunately, and I’m having a major problem with the firmware for my DVD drive.

So, I’m close to living in a dream world. Things work. But just in the past week or so, the rainy season, if one can call it that in one of the wettest places in the world, has kicked in. It rains so hard at night that even the dog is scared, and I rarely get a good night’s sleep now.

Bottom line: I’m going crazy sitting in Maroantsetra, not doing anything fulfilling.