Dagma
This week I have been hanging out with Dagma, a community youth leader who lives in my neighboring village. Dagma is a breath of fresh air for me; someone I can talk freely and openly to about village issues. In his white pick up truck and black bag he is a picture of something positive for village development. As I ride in his car with him, I notice how everyone seems to like and respect him. We can barely drive a few feet down the road without him pausing to wave and honk at a community member all the while his cell phone is constantly ringing.
For me, perhaps the most inspirational thing about Dagma is that he is an integral part of this village and is working for them. He grew up here, went to Matshwi Primary School, and still lives here now. Unlike me and so many other development workers, he is the one who will really make the ultimate difference because he is the one who really understands the issues of his country. He knows how to communicate effectively with the local inhabitants. He knows and understands why things work and don’t work in terms of development in a rural area. He is a permanent resident.
Talking to him is enlightening. He speaks of so many frustrations that he and the rest of the villagers encounter. For example, he knows there is money out there for development and is upset that so little of it is available for direct access by rural communities. In order to obtain grants and the like, he explains, a person needs access to computers and fax machines as well as an understanding of how to fill out the complicated documents. Yet, this isn’t a reality for anyone from a rural community who is trying to make a difference to their area. There are no land lines, computers are often prohibitive in terms of cost for residents, and most villagers have not had the training that allows them the ability to understand government and other documents.
Dagma has identified, for himself, problems that I often easily recognize due to the fact that I’m an outsider. He speaks of the fact that after the apartheid government all the Black people of the country thought everything would be fine. There was the assumption that they had been oppressed for so long and now that they had a new government, these new political figure heads would “bail them out.”
Dagma goes on to speak about how poverty has created so much ignorance in life for the people. He speaks of one thing that is different for Africans in general as compared to much of the developed world is a lack of visions. Once again he pinpoints this idea down to the fact that Africans have gotten used to being oppressed and looking to the outside for help. They don’t know how to help themselves. There is constantly this idea of blame: blame apartheid for our problems, blame the government, etc, but there is never any work towards a solution. The same people who blame do not also sit down in order to discover possible ideas to help correct these errors.
Dagma thinks the solution is a focus on education and transformation. There needs to be more leadership, more people who have the training to help themselves. In a nutshell, opportunities need to be created. For example, if a student from the village wants to go to university they should be given the knowledge of how to obtain bursaries as well as how to go about applying to universities, etc. We need to give people tools and see them through. We can’t just give things; when we do this we set them up for failure.
For example, in the village there was a dairy project that the government funded. They built the project, gave basic training to the employees, and then left. In the end, there was corruption and money was stolen. The government had stepped back. They had not performed continuous assessment. They had no system of accountability. Thus, there was failure.
Solutions to rural problems need to come from the inside. I, with my Western mentality, am only so effective in my understanding and solutions for South African problems. In addition, I’m leaving; I won’t be here in a year to continue to push certain ideas and projects. Instead, community leaders need to be identified: people who can work to help themselves and to help their people. People like Dagma.
For me, perhaps the most inspirational thing about Dagma is that he is an integral part of this village and is working for them. He grew up here, went to Matshwi Primary School, and still lives here now. Unlike me and so many other development workers, he is the one who will really make the ultimate difference because he is the one who really understands the issues of his country. He knows how to communicate effectively with the local inhabitants. He knows and understands why things work and don’t work in terms of development in a rural area. He is a permanent resident.
Talking to him is enlightening. He speaks of so many frustrations that he and the rest of the villagers encounter. For example, he knows there is money out there for development and is upset that so little of it is available for direct access by rural communities. In order to obtain grants and the like, he explains, a person needs access to computers and fax machines as well as an understanding of how to fill out the complicated documents. Yet, this isn’t a reality for anyone from a rural community who is trying to make a difference to their area. There are no land lines, computers are often prohibitive in terms of cost for residents, and most villagers have not had the training that allows them the ability to understand government and other documents.
Dagma has identified, for himself, problems that I often easily recognize due to the fact that I’m an outsider. He speaks of the fact that after the apartheid government all the Black people of the country thought everything would be fine. There was the assumption that they had been oppressed for so long and now that they had a new government, these new political figure heads would “bail them out.”
Dagma goes on to speak about how poverty has created so much ignorance in life for the people. He speaks of one thing that is different for Africans in general as compared to much of the developed world is a lack of visions. Once again he pinpoints this idea down to the fact that Africans have gotten used to being oppressed and looking to the outside for help. They don’t know how to help themselves. There is constantly this idea of blame: blame apartheid for our problems, blame the government, etc, but there is never any work towards a solution. The same people who blame do not also sit down in order to discover possible ideas to help correct these errors.
Dagma thinks the solution is a focus on education and transformation. There needs to be more leadership, more people who have the training to help themselves. In a nutshell, opportunities need to be created. For example, if a student from the village wants to go to university they should be given the knowledge of how to obtain bursaries as well as how to go about applying to universities, etc. We need to give people tools and see them through. We can’t just give things; when we do this we set them up for failure.
For example, in the village there was a dairy project that the government funded. They built the project, gave basic training to the employees, and then left. In the end, there was corruption and money was stolen. The government had stepped back. They had not performed continuous assessment. They had no system of accountability. Thus, there was failure.
Solutions to rural problems need to come from the inside. I, with my Western mentality, am only so effective in my understanding and solutions for South African problems. In addition, I’m leaving; I won’t be here in a year to continue to push certain ideas and projects. Instead, community leaders need to be identified: people who can work to help themselves and to help their people. People like Dagma.
posted by Cait at 10:52 AM
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