White Man's Burden

In high school history, I learned about the concept of the “White Man’s Burden,” the belief that it is one’s responsibility to bring their idea of civilization and progress to “less developed” people. Subconsciously, I feel like my mindset going into this trip was rooted in this idea. This is not to say that I didn’t put in the effort to understand, respect, and learn about Malawian culture, I just feel that many of my thoughts were paternalistic at the beginning of this trip. Throughout the trip, I have had many thoughts that started with ‘Why don’t they just...” and I didn’t realize how problematic these thoughts were. In my mind, it seemed like I had all the answers, and if they changed this, their economy could be doing so much better.

Specifically, I remember how many of their construction projects had nothing on site when you passed them. Many of them were just a foundation and a frame, no tools lying around, no heavy machinery, and nothing that suggested the project was ongoing other than the fact that the building wasn’t finished. My immediate though was “why is no one working?” It’s 3 o’clock, 75 degrees outside, and nothing is getting done. Maybe my thought wasn’t that harsh, but it was something to the effect of that. I was dumbfounded, I thought to myself “why is no one working?” and came to the conclusion that it must be because they don’t have the capital to finish the project. Now, I realize how problematic that mindset is.

I remember our guide Eddie standing up in the bus and explaining that Malawians don’t get upset when a construction project isn’t finished by the due date. They believe that what is to be done will be done and don’t get bothered or upset when things don’t go to plan. This helped me learn one of the most important things on this trip: to live and let be. I was so consumed by what I’m accustomed to in the US that I didn’t stop to think that maybe they operate differently. What really completed my transformation on this issue was when we sat down with representatives from the U.S. Embassy. One of them said that it is our responsibility to give people the opportunity to get an education and pursue their goals, but not our responsibility to force it upon the less fortunate. This helped me realize that I was mentally forcing our culture onto the Malawians, instead of respecting their own cultural values and practices. From now on, I intend to approach life with a greater sense of humility and mindfulness when it comes to learning about communities different from my own.