Who Moved my Ugali?

“Change comes with sacrifice... When you want to make a change you must be prepared to make a sacrifice of escaping the comfort zone!”
                                                                           Israelmore Ayivor (Ghanian author)

I am an impatient person – ask my wife! Although, some of you reading this will know me so well that you do not need to seek her opinion.

At times I try to reason that impatience is a good virtue, but I know it is not.

I will say, however, (be kind to me here) that impatient people at least have the desire for change. They may not go about it the best way, and they may annoy others in the process, but at least they want to make a difference.

The volunteer fieldworker’s guide tells us that Africa is a place where change happens very slowly. We have been prepared for this, but it still is a cause of frustration, and not just for those of us who are impatient.

There are many diverse reasons for this resistance to change. I would humbly submit the following as possible culprits:

-         -  A low level of education for the general populace limits their ability to address change. I will say again, a decent 12 year education is the best preparation that Kenya can provide its children – and this is becoming increasingly possible. A majority of children may not complete high school but the 8-4-4 structure is in place. This is eight years of primary school, four years of high school (mostly for the academically inclined) and four years of university.

-         -  Poverty produces a lack of access to world news and twenty-first century technology. Many Kenyans know little of other cultures and lifestyles. This is not their fault but it limits their scope of thinking.

-         -  The comfort zone theory. When new ideas are suggested a familiar reply is “that’s not how we do it in Kenya”. Again, I attribute this attitude, in part, to an education system that does not value ‘questioning’ or ‘critical thinking’. Students are taught fact after fact. They are tested on this fact all the way through school and get higher marks if the answer is verbatim from the text book. Individual thought is not highly prized with the markers! There is very little questioning, extrapolating or evaluation of the facts presented. For those of you who are educators, Benjamin Bloom would roll over in his grave if he saw the low order of cognitive abilities required to succeed in the Kenyan education system.

You might say though, that is not my place to dictate how or when a culture should “adapt to my Western ideals”. This is very true, but the reality is that change is happening in Kenya – we live in a global community (sorry for the cliché). My goal is not to dictate the change, my goal is to have locals consider and be capable of implementing change if they so desire.

Another argument is that the culture is rich and diverse and we should not be changing it. Most Kenyans are subsistence farmers … there is death when famine strikes. Many Kenyans have a worrying lack of knowledge about aids, health care, sexually transmitted diseases and peaceful conflict resolution. It is a myth that traditional societies have everything they need.

Two examples of change to consider:

1. Kenyan society has long had a habit of disposing of rubbish by tossing it aside immediately after use. This was fine in the days when all waste was biodegradable. It decayed back into the soil or was quickly eaten by a passing sheep or cow. Today Kenya has a new-found love affair with plastic bags. Everything is sold in a plastic bag. Even street sellers will put their bucket of fruit in a plastic bag before handing it over. Even if you ask them not to, they will still insist … it’s all part of the service you know.

As a result, most Kenyan villages and towns are littered with plastic. It blows up the street, becomes embedded in the ground and looks extremely unsightly. There are few rubbish bins or rubbish collections. Sometimes, people will burn the plastic as a cooking fuel. The toxic fumes from this practise are a real worry.

The point is that sometimes the adoption of one technology necessitates other changes as well. It is no longer good enough to say “we have always done it this way”.

2. Kenya is spending billions on road improvement, not only because of the increase in vehicles, but also because of the rapid increase in the numbers of cheap motor bikes from China. Where thoroughfares were once restricted to pedestrians, cyclists, donkey carts and cows, there are now Toyota Land Cruisers rushing past at great speed. The average pedestrian and cyclist has not developed a sense of awareness on the road. They step out in front of cars and weave around pot holes, putting their lives in danger. A modern transport system necessitates a change in attitudes towards safety on roads. This change is not happening quickly enough, and the road toll is reflecting this fact.

However, there are positives, and this blog is not meant as a criticism of Kenya. It reflects a problem in many of us, myself included. Consider these cases:

Our friend Michael (who was our driver when we arrived) works his job, runs his own farming business and also studies aviation logistics at night. He wants to increase his ability to look after his young family.

Within the school there are teachers like wonderful Musimbe who, in the latter years of his teaching career, is attempting to master Microsoft Word and Excel. I admire him greatly and will miss his friendship and support next year.

At the Agape Academy, innovation is occurring. The transformation of the land into a functioning high school has been amazing, and the impetus has been the sponsors, board members and directors who are willing to step outside that comfort zone. It is surely a blueprint for a successful future.

For some then, the desire for change is obvious. The more this attitude permeates Kenya, the better off everyone will be.

Our lives are like a tree. We consist of leaves and branches and roots, but these things are just the means of obtaining our needs – the fruit. If the fruit stops coming, you need to prune the tree, or add fertilizer. We must change our procedures if they are no longer effective. Like a sunflower, if the sun moves, we must move too.

John 15 – “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful”.

Jesus understood the need to change and adapt.

The big message though must be a personal one. In advocating change, one must also be able to change to suit the situation. Dare I say, one needs to be less impatient. This has been a hard lesson for me, but a very valuable one. I am hopeful that this will be evident upon my return to Australia (please remind me of this friends).

We may boast that we readily adopt change. That is probably true, but often we wait and see if others are adopting it first. Few of us are ‘trail-blazers’. All countries need more of them.

If you have a lousy job, do you stick with it or jump out into the unknown and try something new. If you can’t find a job, do you keep complaining or do you go out and improve your qualifications – you can do this at any age these days.

If you are wasting time in front of the TV or the computer, make the decision to seek fulfilment in areas of life that are real and help others. Have you seen this Leunig cartoon?

Too often we can be like that man.

So, in trying to summarise this blog, I think we all need to realise that change is necessary, even if it makes us temporarily uncomfortable. I believe that the inertia for change in Africa is a microcosm of people in general. Very few of us want to “sacrifice the comfort zone” of daily rituals. We take comfort in those things that are continuities in our life. They provide us with stability and a sense of place. To a large degree there is nothing wrong with this. However we must not over-look the change that will lead to lasting improvement.

A really good book was written about change about 15 years ago. It is called “Who Moved My Cheese” by Dr Spencer Johnson. It is only about 50 pages long, but if that is too much, there is a very good summary on Wikipedia.

My final thought is from Haw, a character in the book:      
                                                   “Change! Move with the cheese”.