Guilt and the White Man's Burden

         My time in Kenya has gone by in a whirlwind and I have grown used to the fact that Caucasian people are often looked at as walking moneybags, members of a more privileged world. Although the divide between the developed and developing worlds is well known, the distinction between the rich and the middle class in Canada is not understood here. The amount of people asking for help can be overwhelming and even friends that I have made here ask for help, whether a request for a water bottle that they think I can do without or blatant requests for money. Unfortunately, these expectations cannot all be met and this forms part of the mythical ``white man`s burden`` that is felt in the developing world.

          The white man`s burden concerns the colonial past of the countries like Kenya and the horrible treatment their people suffered under the colonial powers of Europe. This colonial past has largely constructed how the world is built today and the types of programs that send privileged, largely white young volunteers to the ``developing`` world to help out, volunteers like me. The white man`s burden is about the guilt that we feel when we see the position that our ancestors put on other people in the world and the feeling that you are somehow responsible for this, along with the image this conveys to others that the white man is powerful and rich. I have been frustrated with this idea since the time I arrived because the guilt has weighed on me. I have been questioning the decisions I make in my everyday life back home and what effect they have on the human faces I see every day here and the millions like them across the world. How do I transform this guilt into something positive?

          My answer to this question that I have been asking for three months is to use the guilt to inspire yourself and others into doing something good for the world. It is like one of the lessons of the book Tuesdays with Morrie: if you don`t believe in the culture, don`t buy into it. Instead, live a life for causes you believe in, family and friends you love and a community you can be a part of. Instead of ideas like this, people often just feel shame for the problems of the world instead of finding ways to solve those problems. The emphasis should be on transforming shame and guilt into helping out in the small ways that make a difference in the world, from volunteering at local soup kitchens to larger issues such as taking part in global movements or purchasing fair trade items. If more people see the importance of these issues and revert from living the culture of consumerism that economically keeps other countries in the world suppressed, positive global changes can occur to lift humans out of poverty.

          Despite this hope, I recognize that fixing global issues such as poverty is much more complex than purchasing fair trade coffee. That is why hope is so important to me, the need to believe that others will understand the message, at all levels of class, influence and power. Personally I am taking responsibility to change how I live when I get back home. I can live more simply and give back more to communities I think will make a local and global difference. This is a minor price to pay when I have seen the circumstances in which people live here, an example being four people sleeping on one mattress.

          A quote I have always liked is courageous people never surrender hope. If I encounter apathy when I get back home, I will hopefully remember the courage of many of the people I have met here in Nairobi and their steadfast dedication to struggle in their lives to give a better life for their kids. I hope to help them.