Here’s a joke I heard today in the Teacher’s Office: An African, a European, and an Indian go visit God. The Indian says “I want to be a wealthy man” and God says “Go out and do business and you will become rich”. And it was so. The European says “I want to be an intelligent man” and God says, “Go explore the world and you will become wise”. And it was so. Then God turns to the African and asks him what he wants. The African replies, “Oh, I was just escorting these two”. And the office goes NUTS! It’s the funniest thing they’ve ever heard! “Oh, Madam! Do you understand? It’s the truth! Ha ha ha! We only escort! And then, nothing! All we can do is beg later!” And they laugh and laugh. And I laugh and laugh because they think it’s so funny.
But really, I think the whole situation is sad and pathetic, which I suppose, is the nature of such jokes. The joke is chock full of information about Malawians. Let’s break it down: They are envious of the Indians here in Malawi because they own all the businesses in Town. They view the Indians as very rich and believe they are rich everywhere because they have businesses everywhere, all over Africa. Indians employ the Malawians to run their shops (hence, escorting them) yet Malawians are still the poorest. They completely overlook the fact that India is, also, a third world with more intense, concentrated poverty than Malawi will ever know. Malawian attitude towards Europeans is complex. They love them, they hate them, they’re mostly envious of them, they view them as dollar signs. But Europeans/most all white people have come in here as development workers, trying to educate and modernize. Malawians, as a gross generalization, view them as the smartest, the most advanced. I often, more often than I care to, get people coming up to me asking to be my friend because I’m white (they’re exact words, they will literally say “I want a white friend”). They want the bragging rights of being seen with a white person. It’s one of the things I hate most about Malawi. I mean, I truly hate it. Then there’s the Malawian in the joke, how they see themselves. When you ask Malawians about what the Malawian people are like, they’ll tell you they are lazy. Of course, they’re not lazy, you should see how diligently they work their land. But they are pretty slow to take their country into their own hands and tend to sit by while their government screws everyone over. They have no problem living off the charity of donor countries, asking unabashedly as random white people walk by for their money. It seems that they’d rather not help themselves but let NGOs, missionaries, and foreigners come in and hand them things. Of course there are the notable exceptions, like most of the groups I work with in my village, but the general personality of Malawians is as such and is so well known that the joke is hilariously funny to my Malawian counterparts at school for its apparent truthfulness.
But really, I think the whole situation is sad and pathetic, which I suppose, is the nature of such jokes. The joke is chock full of information about Malawians. Let’s break it down: They are envious of the Indians here in Malawi because they own all the businesses in Town. They view the Indians as very rich and believe they are rich everywhere because they have businesses everywhere, all over Africa. Indians employ the Malawians to run their shops (hence, escorting them) yet Malawians are still the poorest. They completely overlook the fact that India is, also, a third world with more intense, concentrated poverty than Malawi will ever know. Malawian attitude towards Europeans is complex. They love them, they hate them, they’re mostly envious of them, they view them as dollar signs. But Europeans/most all white people have come in here as development workers, trying to educate and modernize. Malawians, as a gross generalization, view them as the smartest, the most advanced. I often, more often than I care to, get people coming up to me asking to be my friend because I’m white (they’re exact words, they will literally say “I want a white friend”). They want the bragging rights of being seen with a white person. It’s one of the things I hate most about Malawi. I mean, I truly hate it. Then there’s the Malawian in the joke, how they see themselves. When you ask Malawians about what the Malawian people are like, they’ll tell you they are lazy. Of course, they’re not lazy, you should see how diligently they work their land. But they are pretty slow to take their country into their own hands and tend to sit by while their government screws everyone over. They have no problem living off the charity of donor countries, asking unabashedly as random white people walk by for their money. It seems that they’d rather not help themselves but let NGOs, missionaries, and foreigners come in and hand them things. Of course there are the notable exceptions, like most of the groups I work with in my village, but the general personality of Malawians is as such and is so well known that the joke is hilariously funny to my Malawian counterparts at school for its apparent truthfulness.
I can't believe that joke! It's something you would laugh out if you were feeling terrible about your work here and you'd drank a few beers, and you were in Lilongwe. So sad!
ReplyDeletei think you miss the point. Malawians are cynical. We just have no faith in our govt, no faith in our society, and we are ethnically differentiated with hinders a national identity that would enable a collectivism. We are a country of individuals who are each trying to do whatever we can to better ourselves with a keen awareness of how everyone else is hell-bent on screwing us over. And the european thing about wanting a white friend, nah. Listen again, its cynical and derogatory. They are saying, i'll be your friend since you probably look down on us anyway... We are just a country of disaggregates. Its a national identity crisis.
ReplyDeleteyour entry is interesting though. It gives me an insight into how we are viewed by people who come perhaps from better organized and more affluent societies. But make no mistake about it, as rudimentary and generalizable as our daily activities might seem, the malawian is confronted with an enormous obstacle of a falled state while needing to tend to issues of food, water, health and education.
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