A Culture of Dependency

I couldn't thank Peace Corps more for giving me the opportunity to live in Niger over the past two years- it's given me the chance to live at the village level with the people and truly integrate into the culture and speak the local language. Speaking the language has let me really get to the level of the local people and get a feel for what's going on, but unfortunately I'm ending my two years here with a negative view of foreign aid -- it just doesn't work.

I don't know about other third world countries receiving foreign aid, the rest of Africa, or even the rest of Niger. I can only speak for the people I've lived and worked with over the past 2 years.

Nigeriens are so used to receiving gifts from westerners that they assume that's what westerners do - provide gifts. After so many years of receiving foreign aid in the form of pumps, machines, fences and food, among other things, they now expect it, and sadly, they depend on it.


There is a prominent man in my village, Tino, who is more educated than other men. When my parents came for a visit, he was upset with them for not bringing sacks of food and liters of oil for each villager. This is what the village expects; they are incredibly isolated, and their very limited experience with westerners is completely with aid workers. When I tried to explain to Tino that my parents don't have enough money to do buy it, he argued back saying America has money and if they had enough money to buy a plane ticket then they certainly had enough money to buy everyone sacks of food.


When the water pump of my village broke down shortly after I finished bringing the machine for the village, they asked me to fix it. I told them that I think they should fix it themselves. So, my best friends in the village laughed and said they would just wait for the next volunteer to come and they would ask the new volunteer. But why can't they just do it themselves instead of waiting?

When I try to motivate the men to do work that is income-generating, they refuse; they tell me to pay them first, and then they will work. This is unfortunately how NGO's operate - they pay villagers to do work that will eventually help themselves. These are the same men that after the bad harvest this year told me to call my American people to send them food. What is it about this culture that people are just not willing to work for themselves? Somehow, the relatively constant stream of money, food, and other types of aid have given the culture a very dangerous sense of entitlement, which has replaced their ability to be productive for themselves.


I now can only question the future of Niger- will it get worse here or will people, somehow, figure out how to pull themselves up by their bootstraps? On one hand, it seems that Nigeriens are not ready to help themselves; on the other hand, frighteningly, it seems like the relatively generous amount of foreign aid is responsible for this cultural problem. never thought I'd say this - I came here to help people, as I felt like it is our duty, as humans, to help others who may be suffering. Unfortunately, sometimes it feels like the help we offer, even though it abates the short-term pain, has been somewhat disabling in the long-term. The generosity of others has disenfranchised Nigeriens of their ability to help themselves. Perhaps it's time for other NGO's or other foreign aid organizations to pull out of Niger and let them figure out how to work for themselves.