During First Lady Laura Bush's trip to Africa in late June, she visited a school in Mali. The Washington Post's article on her visit can be found here. While the Post notes her praise of the U.S. education efforts there, an NPR correspondent gave a different perspective on the First Lady's visit. As reported in NPR's "Foreign Dispatch" podcast on 7/6/07 (at roughly 14:15 into the report), the school went through "weeks of work" in preparation for the First Lady's arrival. This included the installation of electrical outlets and fans in one of the classrooms (all run by a mobile generator, as the school does not have electricity). It also included the purchase and laying down of gravel over the usual mud courtyard (only over the parts the First Lady would see), the transportation of water to the site over a period of weeks to make the trees and bushes green, the tearing out of some of the water spouts used by the children so that they would not block Mrs. Bush's path from her limo to the school, and the painting of the entrance door (and only the entrance door). Additionally, the students whose classroom the First Lady would visit spent the four days leading up-to the visit learning a 6-line song they would sing for Mrs. Bush. It took 4 days to learn because the song is in French, the official language of the country (and not one the children speak). The First Lady's visit was over in a few hours. The electric outlets, fans, generator, and furniture were torn out of the refurbished classroom the same afternoon of the visit. Said a teacher at the school, "Mali is a poor country . . . but despite the poverty level, we still want to impress the West, which, to me, is pointless. If I am poor and sleeping on the dirt and you are coming to visit me, let's hang out on the dirt. And maybe I'll have a better chance to get some help from you." I couldn't have said it better.
2 comments:
Sad. I'm not sure if this is the First Lady's fault (not that you're saying it is), but I hope she's aware that she's not getting the full picture. I would be interested to know what the impetus is to "impress" the West - is it a pride issue, or is there some sort of benefit? I would think (and hope) that the reality would lead to a greater possibility of aid.
Regardless, I'm glad that some news outlets are willing to report on the reality of the situation, rather than just the false exterior prepared for the event. And I certainly hope that no one associated with the First Lady's visit had anything to do with "sprucing up the place" - that would be highly disturbing.
According to the report, the U.S. Embassy in Mali was responsible for much of the work.
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