In industrializing America, the sometimes so-called “robber barons” Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller both amassed great wealth that they began to give away in the form of great public works and other charities before they died.

Foundations established in their names continue to disperse their wealth in the name of what they consider the greater good to the present day. These men stated that the wealthy like themselves could be more responsible and productive with wealth than governments or poor laborers. These men like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett today were among the most wealthy in the world with more money to their names than they could even hope to spend on private consumption. However, the situation faced by many professionals today is a unique one, far from insecurity as many laborers face, and yet living off of yearly salaries that clearly cover more than basic necessities.

First, can significant charitable donations along the lines advocated by Toby Ord even work in nations such as the United States without substantial social safety nets? Mr. Ord states that with an average salary of 45,000 pounds sterling ($72,700) over 35 years he would expect to pay 5,000 pounds ($8,100) in taxes and retain 10,000 pounds ($16,150) for living expenses (incidentally, his stated figures for year one were a salary of 25,000 pounds ($40,375) and a total tax and living expenditure of 15,000 pounds ($24,225)). Mr. Ord’s wife Bernadette, is a doctor with an undisclosed but higher salary, who has agreed to give away all but 25,000 pounds ($40,375) of her salary after taxes. Toby Ord certainty would benefit from this money as well, although there is no mention of whether children are present or might be expected in the future nor how that might change his calculations. These contribution levels mean that Mr. Ord can contribute over 1M pounds ($1.62M US) to charitable causes during his working career, and quite possibly more than twice that when considering his total family contributions.

But would this level of contributions matter? Well, there are approximately 30 million people in the world with this level of income. If all were donating to charity at these same dollar levels (not percentages) that would be more than $1 trillion of financing available each year to address the world’s most pressing problems. This is nearly 2% of the world’s total economic output, and more than the total yearly economic output of many countries. All charitable giving in the United States is only $300 billion, and much of this is domestically directed, only $10.6 billion goes to developing nations. The US government provides another $25-30 billion in development assistance on our behalf. In European nations, the relative contributions are proportionally less for individuals and greater for the government, but the per capita expenditures are similar. These figures are dwarfed by the $1 trillion possible from concerted private donations. Even if only 10% of people could be convinced to act in this way, development assistance available today could be doubled, so it is a considerable sum.

Clearly, what is being discussed here is unusual and possibly counter-cultural among western-styled economies but not impossible as Toby Ord’s and my calculation shows. While greater amounts of financing are not guaranteed to produce more positive results, it seems likely that large numbers of significant donations could produce the same benefits of competitive efficiency towards meeting the goals of their supports as the competitive economy has done to producers of consumer goods and services. When the relatively small quantity of resources devoted to development by the worldwide group of relatively well-off and savvy investment-minded professionals it should be evident that there are substantial benefits yet to be realized in this arena rather than only being able to hope for little more than the typical status quo preserving disaster triage we normally experience.

Part 1: Deciding to join

Part 2: Training in Senegal

Part 3: Beginning of my service

Part 4: Teaching experiences

Part 5: Life in Guinea

Part 6: Connecting with home

Part 7: Adventure and tragedy

In addition to my official post of Kankalabe in Guinea, where I spent most of my service, I had the opportunity to visit about half of the country of Guinea. While the country was small, travel was difficult, and so there can be quite a bit of satisfaction in getting to a place that not many other Americans have seen or will ever see. Catching glimpses of tropical gardens and orchards; steep, rocky cliff faces; dramatic waterfalls; river crossings; seeing and hearing multiple language and ethnic changes in short distances were all possible within a few hundred kilometers from my post. Combining that travel with the visits to a half dozen other volunteers nearby seeing their homes and local friends in different towns and villages is the basis for many of my good memories about my time in Guinea.

While other of my fellow volunteers took advantage of the travel opportunities more than I did, I was able to visit Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana with 3 of my volunteer math teacher colleagues around the time of the millennium celebration. The adjustment to the conditions of life as a Peace Corps volunteer does make travel much more affordable, I can say, so having a big bank balance was not required for our two-week trip.

From having the opportunity to see new places, and hear “white man” in a dozen new languages, my time from that trip is filled with stories that I continue to remember and recount to others. In addition to narrowly avoiding a coup d’etat in Cote d’Ivoire just as we passed through the capital, to spending time relaxing on the beach in Ghana and enjoying (tiny) lobster pulled out of the Gulf of Guinea, we got to participate in the memorable turn of the millennium celebration in Accra. Numerous other little excitements and parties and new acquaintances filled our time there, and we learned a great deal about each other and our own host country with the opportunity to contrast a former British colony in West Africa to our experience of a former French colony. Even away from our posting site, being Peace Corps volunteers opened doors for us into people’s lives that we met, and garnered the occasional good deed at times when they were most welcome.

Tragically, while returning to our posts following that trip, two of my friends and fellow volunteers, Justin Bhansali and Jesse Thyne were killed in a car accident. We who knew them continue to remember and serve others in honor of their sacrifice.

This brings up a final point for this article about life in the Peace Corps. There are risks involved. Not the same ones that most Americans might stereotypically assume (like disease, crime, and civil unrest that are usually very low risks, sometimes even lower than certain American communities), as my story above outlines a risk we all face day to day in the United States, but nevertheless they exist. At the time of writing this article, 273 Peace Corps volunteers have died in service to their country out of a total of about 180,000 volunteers since 1961, most of whom served for two years. In all, the risks are about 2-3 times greater than living a mundane life in the United States. The risks are, I think, understood by the volunteers themselves, and of course, are faced daily by the people who continue to live in the host countries. And, those risks are small compared to the benefit and necessity of the work of the Peace Corps around the world, and should be supported by Americans for furtherance of that work.

There is a documentary movie focused on the lives of Jesse Thyne and Amadou Diallo.

This article is part of a series depicting some of my experiences from service in the U.S. Peace Corps.

First, I should state that the world has changed drastically even since my service in Guinea from 1998-2000. Mobile phones and internet access are much, much more common almost everywhere than they were in Guinea in those years. So, in many ways, this account is more of a explanation of the way things used to be regarding communications, but from my meeting with other volunteers around the world since then, the cross-cultural issues remain the same. In the same way, ever post is different, and many even if posted to the same country will have a different experience. That said, one viewpoint is better than none.

The crux of the situation is this: a person (the Peace Corps volunteer) is taken from one familiar environment (food, weather, culture, language) and is immersed in an unfamiliar environment. The number of differences is too many to really describe to someone who hasn’t experienced them without the aid of volumes of books and video. So, the many layers of shared cultural understanding that exist between you and the people you know starts to be disconnected by new layers you are building in the new environment.

Some common perceptions among Americans who stay behind about what you as a volunteer are doing (most of these being from people who do not know you well) vary between trying to save the world with your bare hands, tackling a great adventure, or recklessly leaving behind the only secure place in the world for some dangerous and unhealthy environment. But for the volunteer, the normality that one quickly adjusts to in the new environment makes understanding those other perspectives almost impossible after a few quick months.

Friends and family should remember to continually ask questions about whatever they are curious about, as for the volunteer, many things quickly seem so normal they might not be worth mentioning. Consequently, the communication on points people really want to hear about on both sides, can be reduced.

Another aspect appears as well, which can hamper communication. Many general cultural attitudes among Americans towards the undeveloped are unflattering to say the least. While friends and family may not have personally expressed those ideas to the volunteer, it may be in the back of the mind. So, details about the lives of their new host-country friends may be left out if the volunteer thinks they may be interpreted in the wrong way, conforming to some American stereotype about them.

How does a volunteer avoid this being a problem and make it a success?

First, have family and friends visit the volunteer at his/her post. There is nothing better than being able to share in person some of the indescribable things that might not otherwise get communicated. Two weeks is a far cry from two years in terms of really understanding a place and it’s people, but it at least establishes a foundation with which to share and explain other experiences and events during one’s service. The bond between people who have experienced some of these out-of-the-way places for any length of time is substantial and should not be underestimated in its significance.

Second, write lots of letters and take lots of pictures (and even video if it is feasible). While my best regular communication with home was through actual letters, a volunteer today might have ready access to the internet, a mobile phone, and other means available to them.

Third, learn the language, learn the cuisine, learn the culture. Then, share parts of that with people back home. One of my best experiences in this vein was when I was helping a group of undergraduate students in Engineers Without Borders with a project taking place in Mali. One night I made a Guinean dinner for them, shared my pictures, and talked about my service answering their questions about the West African culture, environment, and other things. To spend that length of time in a place and not emerge intimate with the people you live with will be a sincere regret in the future, as it will leave you with an psychological experience without the concrete details that enable you to share with someone else in the future.

Fourth, when you return whether for a visit or at the end of service, talk to people, lots of people about your service. Speak to classrooms of children and adults, speak to assemblies of students, speak to non-profit organizations and others who might have any reason to be interested in your experiences or what you learned during your service. this not only fulfills one of the major goals of the Peace Corps, but it makes real for others what mostly exists only in your head when you walk around in America.

Not thought of by most is the fact that until about 1200-1300 AD, all societies on Earth were equally poor. While the beginning of the iron age around 1200 BC improved the standard of living for most on the planet (at least in the Europe-Asia-Africa group of continents) bringing people a step or two beyond worrying about starvation, only isolated pockets provided greater wealth for a minority for a short period of time. The Roman Empire was almost an exception, but then it too suffered the same fate. So, most all of the differences between Sub-Saharan Africa and the rest of the world arose after that time, in some cases due to advantages in places like Europe, and in others due to disadvantages in Africa.

[1] Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

Diamond explains how geography, specifically the plants and animals available for domestication in any environment affect the success of a population. Tracing the migrations of people with agriculture, he also shows how difficult it is to move North or South with a given set of agricultural know-how as climate changes drive a need to readapt each crop and sometimes animals to the new conditions. Many do not realize that agricultural peoples migrating southward in Africa had not arrived at the cape by the time the Dutch and English had sailed there. So, although humans first appeared in Africa, much of the continent was only relatively recently settled as compared to the sites of other major civilizations.

[2] The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

In an old economics classic, Adam Smith describes the characteristics that can bring a nation wealth. Among those are access to navigable rivers and protected harbors along the ocean, which in Africa are nearly non-existent. A predictable climate and productive agriculture, which are also generally missing except for isolated pockets. All in all, Adam Smith’s “invisible hand”, his name for the free market mechanism, would leave Africa less prosperous than other areas all things being equal. However, a richness in natural resources from rubber to gems to uranium to oil and gas has provided a historical drive to involve Africa by one way or another in the modern economy.

[3] King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild

While colonialism was not always directly harmful to the native inhabitants of a region, this example shows how disastrous an impact could be achieved in a region. Explaining how the Belgian Congo was conceived and took root as an imperial colony on the continent of Africa with the purpose of enriching a monarch no matter the means necessary, this book shows the worst effect of colonialism on the African population. The long term effects of this brutal exploitation have lasted into modern times with the horribly destructive dictatorship of Mobutu Sese Seko.

[4] Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

This novel is built from images Joseph Conrad encountered directly or heard of while living and working in the Belgian Congo. As opposed to a history, this is a fictionalized, but realistic narrative account of a vision of life in the colony at that time. Conceived as a story into the extremes of human nature, this offers a glimpse of how bad things went in a certain place at a certain point in history. Again, while the Congo is the exception, these kind of events took place at a smaller scale in other parts of the continent and explain part of why things currently look the way they do.

[5] The Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham

Sometime after the establishment of European trading forts for rubber, gold, and slaves, there arose a sudden and unquenchable thirst by Europeans for African “colonies”. Every European power staked out claims and drew maps dividing up the continent according to their wishes. Men sitting in European capitals decided on boundaries that exist until this day not based on ethnic makeup or natural boundaries as European boundaries were drawn, but based on extractable resources and other deals between the global powers. The goal was not nation building, but satiating greed. Then, as suddenly as it began, African colonialism became unfashionable and the Europeans cut their ties and left.

[6] The Washing of the Spears by Donald Morris

At the southern tip of the continent, colonialism proceeded at a different pace and in a different manner. This story of the rise and fall of the Zulu empire gives a glimpse of the interaction between white settlers and a native power and the conflicting pride that often led to wars disastrous to both sides during the initial stages of colonialism. While South Africa is a unique case on the continent, the large economy and mixed racial population offer tales both positive and cautionary regarding worldwide dealings with the continent as a whole.

[7] The Elusive Quest for Growth by William Easterly

In modern times, since the end of World War II, the rich West has generally paid lip service and sometimes more to the goal of improving the state of development in Africa. Why should we continually work at this problem if the task turns out to be impossible? This book addresses that part of the question. Mr. Easterly explains why those initiatives did not take into account the economics of what people said they wanted to accomplish setting up the wrong incentives for development, or not putting sufficient capital behind something that did exactly what it was supposed to. While somewhat pessimistic, the problems Mr. Easterly uncovers are correctable as he explains, if we choose to structure our aid and other economic programs with the goal of actually realizing greater development in Africa.

[8] The End of Poverty by Jeffery Sachs

Taking the optimists perspective, Jeffery Sachs explains how targeted programs can substantially and sustainably change the economy in places like Africa. Showing how these same problems that face Africa today have been successfully dealt with, he demonstrates that this is not an intractable situation, but one that has real solutions only requiring some courage and determination on the part of policy makers. Some disagree with his placing of responsibility on the West, but regardless of the causes of past problems, we would be more prosperous and secure with a more developed Africa. While reasons for the current state of affairs in the past are important, the causes of the problem that continue to exist in the future are entirely our choice.

Many often wonder what it is really like to live as a Peace Corps Volunteer. The fact is it can be a very different experience depending on which country and what position you are posted to. It has also changed significantly from the days in the early 1960s to the present, partly due to worldwide development, and partly due to changes in the Peace Corps methods and objectives. So, while every experience will be different from what I describe, this article will offer one perspective on what it was like for me serving in one place in the nation of Guinea from 1998 to 2000.

So, What Was It Like … ?

Upon my return to the United States from my Peace Corps service, I was acosted with this vague generality of a question on many occaisions. At the time, having been fully immersed in another culture for two entire years, I was left as dumbfounded as if an alien had appeared at my front door and asked me why I lived on Earth. Over time, I saw that it was just the question from ignorance, someone not knowing anything about what my life had actually been like those two years and wanting to appear interested.

So, this article will cover the details about what my life was like day to day. Not about the purposes of my service or the outcomes, but where I got my food and water and dealt with other necessities.

Shelter and Amenities

I lived in a fairly large house (3 bedrooms, living room, 2 storerooms, covered porch) built out of concrete blocks and a corrugated steel roof. I lived there alone. There was no running water or electricity or telecommunications. The “bathroom” was a latrine, the same concrete construction over a very deep hole in the ground. For showers, I had a bucket full of water (sometimes warmed with a kettle of hot water from the gas stove) and a large cup with a handle. Over time I learned to bathe with no more than 10 liters of water. Conservation was important due to the amount of effort to get water to my house. While I sometimes paid a neighbor boy to bring water, I often did the job myself carrying 20 liters at a time [20 kg or 44 lbs] the roughly 150 meters between the nearest hand pump and my house. I averaged a usage rate of about 20 liters a day for cleaning, drinking, cooking, and bathing.

I cooked dinner for myself (and sometimes breakfast) fairly often using a propane stove in a “kitchen” made out of a corner of my living room. Other than the propane stove, my home was similar to those of other families who had a government-employed salaried worker. My furniture consisted of some bamboo chairs, queen-sized beds with straw or foam mattresses, wood tables, and chairs, and bookshelves.

Candles and kerosene lamps provided light in the evenings while I was cooking and eating, listening to the radio, reading, or working on lesson plans or grading papers.

Food

The traditional food in Guinea is rice and sauce. The sauce varied between maffe tiga , peanut sauce, usually beef and onions and tomatoes in a sauce made from ground peanuts; maffe hakko, leaf sauce, usually made from cassava or sweet potato leaves and dried or smoked fish; maffe takko, okra sauce, similar to leaf sauce but using pounded okra in place of leaves; and maffe soupo, a tomato based sauce including potatoes and beef and eggplant. If interested, you can find some recipes here. Most days, I would buy a lunch of rice and sauce at a small “restaurant” (nothing more than a woman with a few pots of hot food, a bench, and a table) in the center of my little town for about 35 cents. Ground red pepper would be dusted liberally on the meal by those wanting some kick.

For other meals, I would cook soups, stews, and pasta at home piecing together groups of different vegetables I would find in the market. Canned tuna and fresh eggs either boiled or fried would make up some wonderful sandwiches when paired with the hot, fresh, french baguettes baked in wood fired ovens I could buy in the market almost every day. My breakfasts were usually hot tea or instant coffee along with some fruit preserves on a few pieces of baguette saved from the prior evening.

Weather

Living in the tropics for two years means rewriting your ideas of seasons. Instead of the temperate pattern of cold then mild and wet then hot then mild and dry then cold again, one faces warm and humid with near daily rain showers, then cool and dry, then very hot and dry, then back to the rainy season again. Having grown up in southeast Texas, the weather was no more extreme than I was used to, but living without air conditioning or even glass on the windows makes the weather a much more real participant in your life with whom you have to negotiate. Waking and sleeping, bathing, washing, reading, visiting friends, cooking, working, and studying are all affected by what the weather chooses to do. Rather than fight it, you find yourself learning to pace yourself by what the sun and clouds do. The pictures below show the view from my house during the rainy and dry seasons.

Travel

I was not at my post 100% of the time. Several business reasons forced me to be away generally 3-4 days out of every 4-6 week period. One of those was going to collect my Peace Corps living allowance at the bank. Other meetings with the Peace Corps administration, other volunteers, training activities, and shopping for needed items in larger cities provided the other reasons. Sometimes by bicycle, but usually by bush taxi (overcrowded station wagon) I would travel from my post to the regional capital or national capital for business. These “breaks from village life” provided needed social time, communications with family back in the states, and more interesting food.

So, while not comprehensive, for me, these things made up a little slice of what it was like to physically live in Kankalabe, Guinea.