The life of an expat in developing worlds is a constant check on one’s privilege. I come from meagre means, both my parents worked full time to provide us with a comfortable middle class lifestyle. When I was 10 I got a pony, 16 I got a car, and at 18 the chance to go to college. I do not deny that I have been given a life with every opportunity a young American woman could ask for. However, being middle class meant no government support for college and a growing debt which many my age carry. I am coming out of my 20’s having spent six years accruing thousands in college debt, another three years working on a volunteer stipend, and now here I am again.. making very little money, with a massive debt waiting for me back home... and yet everyone I pass here sees me instantly as rich. This is something I have not been able to navigate. No matter how much I try I am still frugal with money. Because at one time I literally did not have enough to buy matches (just after returning from Peace Corps and using my resettlement allowance on help pay for the expenses acquired with the loss of my father). So, even here, where the Malawi Kwacha buys so much- I cannot make myself buy the extra soda with lunch. I will never be homeless, I will never go hungry, I will never really know poverty. I have a massive family and circle of friends who love me. I have a partner who knows how to budget and put money away in savings accounts which make more money than I do in a month. So, how do I navigate the pressure I feel in my chest when I spend 8,800 kwacha on a meal (only 12 USD)? I have known the worry of not having money...but that worry does not compare to the watchman who asked for 3,000 MK to help him until the next pay check, or the house staff who ask for 15,000 MK to pay for their child to go to school. So, how does one come to terms with all of this? How can we navigate the privilege given to us, where the country we are born in determines how high the glass ceiling is placed? And how do we weigh our own insecurities with money against those who use a completely different scale? Of course here is where any good anthropologist would site Boas's cultural relativism - an individuals beliefs and actions should be understood from within their own culture. A Malawian may never truly grasp the weight of poverty in America - obesity, debt, homelessness... just as I will never be able to feel the weight of perpetual- life long- hunger. However, I can attempt to step inside their shoes- to stay here long enough and tell their stories with as much objectivity as possible, while helping where I can. – pay the school fees, loan the money, buy the curio from the artist not the gift shop, share tea and sugar with the watchmen who only have hot water to get them through the night. Don’t spend beyond your means and help others when their means is less than your own.
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Bonnie HarveyCurrently working in northern Malawi as Programs and Evaluations Coordinator for Temwa Archives
June 2019
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