Smiling...

This week has been a bit crazy with telling my old site I'm gonna leave and whatnot, but it's also been very gratifying and a great release. It's been nice to just get everything out there and let it all go. To take the weight off of my shoulders and say, "Hey, I appreciate all you've done for me and I care for you a lot, but it's just not working out." But don't worry, I told my old site, "I still wanna be friends!"
Then later this week, I responded to a call for volunteers to work with Operation Smile. For those who aren't int'l. dev. geeks, it's an organization operating in countries around the world to provide free surgeries for people (primarily children) with cleft lips and cleft palates. While many people may consider the surgery more cosmetic is amazing to see in a place like Rwanda how much the people afflicted with these sorts of maladies can be ostracized. There can also be various health problems associated with this affliction: breast feeding problems for infants, malnutrition for all, infectsion, etc. There are even women that have been left by their husbands and blamed for their child being born with a cleft lip or palate. The thing is, they don't even really know WHY the condition exists. In some areas it's more based on environmental factors. In certain regions in India, where they also send missions, tobacco use results in much higher rates, but in S. America, they've found it to be highly correlated with genetics than environmental factors. It's all very curious. BUT what is sure is the social effects of conditions like this are upsetting and easily remedied when people get the chance. The surgery for a cleft lip takes on average only about 45 minutes! 45 minutes could literally mean a different life for some children. Some children (though not many, luckily) are abandoned as a result. In short, I think that Operation Smile is doing great work... BUT there are some really huge realizations I've had from this experience.
One of them is not entirely new. My last post was a re-post on one of my friends reflections on the life of PCV and the life of the average Expat Aid Worker (EAW). While most was said in jest, this experience has reinforced a lot of the ideas that we joke about constantly. While volunteering with Op Smile, we had a lot of issues in our dealings with the other muzungus. Many things were just ignorance of the culture here. Things like dress code (there were KNEES and SHOULDERS everywhere!!) and eating/drinking in public were blatantly ignored even after we brought it up. Then there were so many logistical issues linked to working in Rwanda, that they didn't even begin to consider. It was very reassuring though because Peace Corps has proven to be a great start for a career in development because we did think about all those things, ways to avert problems and how to be sensitive to these people in Rwanda. We also saw how much it meant to these people to see us speaking in kinyarwanda and thinking about their needs. Granted, we've had the time to learn the language and the culture, but I do wish a BIT more effort had been made. They also have a lot of others concerns and demands on their time, but at least recognize that and put people in the planning process (like PCVs) to avert those problems. I STILL think they're a great organization that does great work but I think they could benefit from us PCVs a lot. I also think I'll totally be able to get a job after all this... so i got THAT going for me!