Being White in Ghana

As a typical stereotype here, one may deem that the absence of melanin from our skin (and resulting whiteness) due to our temperate climate in Europe/N. America is generally correlated with the notion that we are weighed down with banknotes and potentially invaluable assets. There is nothing too out of the ordinary with this concept really. How else did you, the white person, afford your plane ticket, mobile phone, digital camera, laptop? How can you manage to keep yourself fed and clothed when you are volunteering? How come you can travel so extensively without any standard work-related income? Somebody must be paying! Indeed, somebody or some institution is.

Namely, governments who have a long past history and current practice of plundering the resources of Africa (yes, the whole continent of 922 mn. people and 54 Euro-constructed states). Or, in my own case, my own savings from work and generous family/friend donations. So despite the fact that we, Obronis, get annoyed with the fact the majority treat us like we have more than them and could potentially be a route to assist their education and so forth, lets put our hands up and admit that this may well be the case, whether we like to admit it or not.

A quick class analysis of volunteers in the Global South will not turn up legions of the West's underclass, nor the children of the traditional working class. We, white volunteers all, when all is said and done, are extremely secure in relative terms. Of course, there is nothing revelationary about this information. But it seems to me more and more that the recipients of our 'charitable' time and efforts are innately more aware of the almost inescapable differences between our circumstances. Out of this guilt we feel, maybe a feeling of charity arises - problem is, are we really affecting any change that is sustainable or are we just mopping up, providing a smokescreen for nasty folks in suits who are working hard to undo small steps we may be making in the 'right' direction. Yes, the dreaded 'M' word - the multinational!
Think Shell, Anglo Gold Ashanti, Firestone - the list is almost perpetual.

We, the pale folk, seek potential sponsors so that we can carry out good deeds for the needy other. Our governments, or a host of NGO's may grant us the possibility of a career break, a post-high school transition, an escape from the boredom of our lives at home. Our job, as volunteers and workers for these institutions, is to make ourselves jobless – that is, we have to try and facilitate the reintegration of refugees, help ensure HIV/AIDS education is effective, teach numeracy and literacy to those excluded from the mainstream school system.

Making oneself jobless is not a great motivation to achieve one's goals, especially if you are a paid development worker with dependents. But then again, are these goals (for example the UN Millenium Development Goals really achievable by 2015) desirable or even achievable. At the current rate, the answer is a plain and simple 'No'. This has already been widely accepted by the UN and mainstream NGOs.

Dropping one's expectations may reduce the disappointment we will all feel when the Western government's promises of 0.7% of GDP is allocated to Overseas Development Aid budget. Of course, it's not justified that we have to do so. But it has always been this way, and always will until radical changes occur on our own home turf. There is no political will. There is no social demand from the masses for things to change. In other words, do we really give a shit whether things change or not. It's a question I ask myself daily here. For fear of coming across as a cynic, I beg to differ.

But hand on heart, when one sees the neglect of many children both from Dublin to Hebron, Warsaw to Kumasi - the prospect of ever reaching these UN MDG's, which I think are quite moderate anyway, seem a million years away, and not the 6 years which is the desired deadline for poverty and hunger to be abolished, primary education to be universal, gender equity achieved, etc.

It just ain't happening. Some solutions and less complaining will follow next time.