GZ Expat, Part II

Economics and Faith

For the longest time, I have sensed a major problem with Chiner society and its drive for market success has been its lack of 'faith.'  That is, its lack of some sort of religious faith.  I have often commented to Tai-Tai that the only religion you can spot on the streets is the church of money.

Danwei has republished an essay by a government economist, written in 2002, but it is spot on in its analysis of the difference between American and Chiner's economic rise.  This is required reading...

Then where does the greatest difference between the US and China ultimately lie? My personal opinion: churches. Only in this area is the difference between China and the US not a question of numbers, but rather an essential difference between presence and absence. In the US, the spires of churches are more numerous than China's banks and rice shops. On a street near Harvard Square, I once stood and looked about me, only to find that in three different directions there were three churches. In truth, from the east coast of the US to the west coast, from towns to cities, in any place you look, you will find that this country's most numerous structure is none other than the church. Churches, and only churches, are Americans center; they are the very core that binds Americans together.

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These days Chinese people do not believe in anything. They don't believe in god, they don't believe in the devil, they don't believe in providence, they don't believe in the last judgment, to say nothing about heaven. A person who believes in nothing ultimately can only believe in himself. And self-belief implies that anything is possible - what do lies, cheating, harm, and swindling matter?

Please read the whole thing.

When Tai-Tai and I first moved to GZ, we discovered that Macau was the place to go if you wanted to experience a church.  Although we never attended services, it was nice just to walk into a place of worship that was well maintained and revered.

In HK, we discovered a church that was very similar to what we attended in the USA...so if we are staying a weekend, we would try and get over there for a worship.  It was no coincidence that the first sermon we heard in that church was all about money and charity.  Hong Kong is the seat of greed in the world. 

As I live and work here today, I still see this lack of faith that concerns me here.  Most of my colleagues save and save and invest in property.  I have asked a couple of them if they give anything to charity and they just sort of looked at me as if I were nuts.  It will be the undoing of this country when you have a minority of people making all the cash, and they have completely forgotten about those that are not making the cash.  Despite all the 'unity' the government wants to espouse, this country is far from it when it comes to money.

Tai-Tai and I do like visiting temples and other places of worship.  Being respectful (I never actually enter a temple, only tour the grounds), it is good to see people of faith going about their business.  But, I do wonder how far that faith takes them when they are conducting their daily lives.  They do seem to use the faith for their own family...but for complete strangers, it is a different story. 

From the groans of present-day China's market economy, we can see that danger draws near: we have already bid farewell to humanity's most costly planned system, but because we lack a reasonable set of market ethics, we may be trapped in humanity's most costly market system.

Reality unquestionably requires us to move forward another few steps. The first is cultural transformation. We must find a cultural framework compatible with the modern free market economy. To achieve this, we may unearth from our own long-standing traditional culture a set of ethics that are compatible with modern economics, or we may use absorption and introductions from elsewhere to recreate our cultural DNA.

A bold statement and one that I just don't see happening.

Africa Update

As promised, another installment from Pastor Ron...

In Isaiah the prophet writes: "When the poor and needy seek water, and thereis none, and their tongues are parched with thirst, the Lord will answer them.  I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.  I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make in the wilderness (desert) a pool of water, and the dry lands springs of water." Isaiah 41: 17 - 18

The last significant rainfall in Ouagadougou occurred some time in October, 2005.  A couple of weeks ago we had a bit of rain, something the locals call "pluie de mangue," mango rain.  After the mango rain, it is permissible to harvest and sell and eat mangos.  But that's not the start of the rainy season.  Temperatures nearing 120 degrees fahrenheit  announce the beginning of the rainy season.  And everyone herewonders out loud when it will arrive.

It arrived last night.  Around 8 pm the rain started.  It rained for a good half hour, steady, downpour type of rain, incredibly noisy on our tin roof.  Then again this morning, it rained for over an hour.  It was steady, straight down, and there was lot's of water.  It is the beginning of the rainy season which will last now, on and off, until October.  Oh, it won't be everyday like the winters in Oregon, but it will be more often than it has been in the past 7 months.  And the heat will not be as intense as the skies fill with clouds and the thunder and lightning present a glorious show or lights and sound overhead.  Today, in fact, it is a very mild 29 degrees celsius. 

So what does it mean?  It means that the farmers will be busy over the next few weeks planting cotton, millet, sorghum, corn, and other crops that they use for food every day, and to sell on the open market.  It means that wells will be replenished with fresh, clean water.  It means that cattle and other farm animals will have water to drink, and greens to eat.  It means that gardens will grow, that fruit will come into season, and that the economy of Burkina Faso will not suffer this year because of drought and there will not be a famine.  Rain, in the desert, is very important.  The sight, sound, smell and feel of it brings smiles to everyone's faces, even ours.  We stand in it and rejoice with the people of Burkina Faso because they know that Godhas once more blessed their land, and their farms and their people.  There are, indeed, today, fountains in the midst of the valleys, pools of water in the desert, and springs of water in the dry lands.

It also means that our language study here is almost complete.  We have gone from rainy season through the dry and hot season, now full circle back to the rainy season. Our time here is getting short.  As we anticipate the move to Senegal, we know that there is much yet to learn.  With yet two more languages to acquire, we know the challenges are not going to let up.  With a very different culture to comprehend, we know there is much more to learn.  But it feels like it's time to get on with it, for us.

And so, with the return of the rains comes new hope. It is new hope for people living daily in a desert.  It is new hope for farmers starting a new growing season.  It is new hope for cattle ranchers and animal herders who know their animals will flourish.  It is hope for us, as well, for new learning, new opportunities, and new people to meet along the way.  Just when we're the thirstiest, God places cool, clean, refreshing water in front of us and says, "Drink! I will not forsake you."

May you know the hope of new rains, or new opportunities, of new challenges ahead.

Now, where did I leave that raincoat and umbrella?

Report from Africa

When living in the USA, we attended a small Lutheran church close to our home.  Our pastor at the time has since moved on to work as a missionary in Africa.  Weekly, he sends updates on how things are going.  Sometimes they are screed's about life in Burkina Faso, their current post...other times they contemplate some of the issues that surround the people he is living around.  Everytime, they are insightful and informative.  Below is one such entry...

Africa is a continent of stark contrasts.  In some places the drought has caused severe famine.  In other places people are fleeing because of horrendous rains floods.  Some of the countries in Africa are peaceful, calm, and content.  Others struggle with continuous rebel uprisings, fractious groups trying to overthrow those in power, and corrupt politicians running the government.  There are richly decorates cathedrals, mosques, homes, office structures, and markets.  But around the corner hungry children beg for money or food for their one meal that day.

Yes, Africa is a continent of stark contrasts.  In Darfur, the Sudan, last week an agreement of sorts was reached between rebel groups and the government.  Fighting will cease, but millions are still displaced, living in refugee camps, on the verge of starvation. A little ways from the Sudan is the costal country of Somalia.  Rebels are, this very day, fighting for control of the capital city.  Over 200 innocent citizens were caught in the crossfire yesterday and lost their lives.  In the Central African Republic, where friends of ours are missionaries, the president of the national church told them to have their bags packed in case things “heated up.”  They are living with the possibility of evacuation at any moment. In Kenya, lack of rain has caused a severe drought…so severe that even camels (with a capacity to carry water for months) are dying.   In Nigeria yesterday over 150 people died when an oil pipeline exploded.  Nigeria is an oil rich country, but very little of the profits filter back to the people.  Because of the extreme poverty, people try to tap into the pipelines to get oil or gasoline to sell or use.  That’s what happened yesterday…someone tried to tap in and died in the process.

All of those places are quite a ways from where we live in Burkina Faso.  Yet, in many ways the African people are tied together in poverty, in tragedy, and often in hope.  The average citizen of Ouagadougou knows what is going on in the other parts of Africa.  Famine could happen here any year that there is not enough rain.  Rebels could incite a riot and overthrow even this stable government.  Older people here remember a time when they were displaced and sent off to Cote d’Ivoire or Mali.  It could all happen again, and every peaceful day is a day when the Africans say “grâce à Dieu” for another day of relative calm.

We had a discussion on Friday about begging in Africa.  It is very common.  Children carry large empty red tomato cans to collect money for food and other needs.  Sometimes they are accompanied by an older person who is blind.  “River blindness” affected thousands of people over 50, and while it is nearly eradicated today, the effects on those who had it were devastating.  In addition, many Muslim children who go to “école koranique” (Muslim equivalent of Sunday School) are encouraged to go out and beg.  It is necessary for Muslim people to practice charity, and this gives them a way to do it.  Many of the children are indeed poor and probably do not have enough to eat. (In Burkina Faso, 1 meal a day is the norm for many, many people).

The discussion at the school was interesting in that there were some people who thought no one should give anything to beggars and then they would simply stop. But the solution is not that simple.  Others thought that if we solved the problem of poverty, we’d solve the begging problem.  Still others said that maybe just keeping enough loose change handy and giving a little to each person was the best way to handle it.

The teacher were also surprised to hear that in a country as rich as the US, there were beggars.  To them it seems absurd that people in the US would need to beg.  They have a picture of the United States as wealthy…everyone working a good job with adequate salary and benefits, in a nice house, with no financial needs ever.  I guess the “disconnect” goes both ways, doesn’t it!  We told them that many times people lose jobs, home, cars, other things and are forced onto the streets.  But, like here, there are those who beg because they like it, because it is profitable, and because they’d rather do that than work.  I remember an exposé in the Oregonian last year about beggars who made more doing that than working a minimum wage job.  It also told of groups who pooled their resources and made a pretty good living doing the begging.

The same thing happens here.  Each time a beggar approaches I wonder if he really needs the money, the food, the prescription, or if it’s just all fake and he’s making money as if it were a job.  And how does one handle the daily encounter with the beggar?  It is an unanswered question…for us, and for you.

Pastor Ron

I hope to post more of these tales as they roll in...