Realist or Pessimist?

An old fellow student sent me a quote the other day from an opening phrase of a book that she is reading. This was her reply to my complaining about the state of Africa:

"I have experienced the coming of an African rain. It comes with force, the rivers get full, water covers the fields. When the flooding is over, there is just a dry bank of a river. This is how I see our work. We have worked, hoping to leave something behind, but all that there is left is dry sand, where footsteps cannot be seen."

-Swantz (now over 80 years old, spent most of her life as a development worker in Africa).

This lady has ennough experience in Africa for anyone to give her statement some thought and consideration. Unfortunately, the development work that I have experienced so far does not seem to come even close to the positive utterances such as 'it (dev. work) comes with force'?? Ha ha thats really funny - what force? Force of etnocentrism/westernisation perhaps, rather than force of positive change for the poor. 'The rivers get full, water covers the fields'....hmmm sounds great, even if just for a while......

In Burkina Faso we have plenty of dry rivers. Of course there is now the rainy season, which leaves the rivers full of water. Burkina is also a NGO heaven filled with development workers at all levels. Do we manage to fill up the rivers slightly or is mother nature 2 steeps ahead?

Although life is an eternal struggle for the Bukinabe, there is still this attitude of 'Ya pas de problem', 'Ca va aller' or 'Hakuna Matata' if you prefer. The Bukinabe are experts in their own survival strategies. No room for pessimists!!