“Doctor, my face hurts from smiling too much. There is a pressure in my head from overwhelming
myself to wrap my mind around why this place works the way it does and why the
people behave the way they do.”—says the foreign patient.
“Well, dear
patient. Your symptoms sound very
familiar. Many people from your corner
of the world experience this at times when they come here but don’t you
worry. I have the cure for you!”—says
the doctor
“What
exactly do I have, doctor?”
“Third
World Fatigue. The cure is simple. If you can’t stand it here, go home. If you are tired of the heat, longing for
variety in your food options, annoyed by overly nice or too rude people, pack
your things, give your last kisses, and get on the plane back home. After all, you can afford it.”
On May 25th, less than a month from now, I will
be boarding a plane to Miami, Florida.
And from Miami, I will fly home sweet home to New Jersey where the first
thing I will do is jump into my parents’ arms.
Honestly, I’ve been counting down the days. Staying here for one more month will be just
enough for me. Although I adore Cuba, I
have learned so much about myself here, and I have made darling friends here
who I will miss dearly, I’ll be glad to go.
 |
| Lol! My home town isn't even on this map. Whatevs! |
I realize being here and I discovered while I was in Ghana
as well that the United States, although not the best country on this planet
(How can one even make such a subjective statement and attempt to back it up?)
is my home and I love it dearly for this reason alone.
 |
| Ghana: Where I took my first breath and learned my first words(in Twi). I moved from the Garden City (Kumasi) to the Garden State (NJ)! |
Sellout!
Yup, call me a sellout if you want. I’m one of those people who fantasize about
leaving her comfort zone to explore the world not as a tourist but to really
interact with people, to understand what it is like to live in their shoes and
to explore the human condition in all its manifestations. Throughout my three months or so being here,
I have done this as best as I could.
From day one, I went out of my way to befriend the Cubans I met in my
residence and in my Lit class. I
stumbled with my Spanish to ask about ongoing social events, went to concerts
and bars, consistently asked for directions while lost, walked around and
observed people—anything to meet Cubans and to understand what it’s really like
to live here. After months of trying and
trying, I can say that I was very successful in immersing myself in my new
country, my new environment, my new neighborhood.
I’ve had lunch at the houses of numerous friends, danced
salsa in living rooms of small apartments, sat along the Malecón and swapped
stories, chugged rum, hung around the gathering place on Calle G, gone to movie
theaters, window shopped in a mall, and done so much other things!
My Spanish has significantly improved to the point where I
can have intellectual conversations about foreign policy and can read novels
and academic papers comprehending all that I’ve read in a reasonable amount of
time. Finally, I can communicate! And although sometimes, I have to flail my
arms and always, I make grammatical errors, words are coming out of my mouth
and actual human beings who live outside of my brain can comprehend what I’m
saying. Woohoo for communication! Even
the Cuban accent, such a weird, fun accent is no longer difficult to
comprehend. I’ve worked so hard to be
Cubana and now, I get lost less often and I mix into the background so
well.
“But ok, if you’re finally getting used to your environment,
why are you counting down the days until you go back home again? Why are you so eager looking forward
to leaving? What is Cuba missing that the US has? Why couldn’t you live here for an extended
period of time? you ask me…
My darling reader, I will attempt to explain myself but I
warn you, I doubt you will be satisfied with my response and my answers will
only cause more questions to pop up in a wack-a-mole-esqe manner.
Experiences
I’ve had so many conversations like the one we’re having
right now with the other foreigners visiting this country and very broadly,
their experiences boil down to the following:
1.
I love it here!
I could live here FOREVERRRRR!!!!
2.
I hate it here!
I wanna go home NOWWWW!!
3.
I’m not too sure. Yeah, there are good things about being here
but shitty things as well….so…eh?!?
Most reasonable, analytically capable people fall into group
three and I hope you can tell, dear reader, that this is where I fall as
well.
On one hand, I’m really enjoying myself but I realize that
the fact that I came here from a “developed country” (economically better off
and although I am by no means wealthy in the states, as a middle class college
student who depends on her parents’ salaries for the most part, I realize that
I am incredibly privileged). Unlike the
overwhelming majority of Cubans, I can spend $25 moneda nacional (~$1 converted
currency= $1 USD) or more everyday to buy a filling lunch at a
restaurant/paladar. I can pay the $1-5
CUC entrance fee to go to night clubs or easily pay $2-4 CUC for drinks. Cuba is a great place for me because I can
afford it. But for most Cubans, la
vida es dura aquí (Live is tough
here). So many of the people I know have
to work multiple jobs just to get by.
And it can be particularly challenging for professionals who earn about
15-20 CUC a month. Yes, the government
provides people with free health care, free education, and a plethora of other goods
and services such as baby care centers and housing for free or for very low
price but this is by no means enough for a lot of people. Even worst, the introduction of the CUC and
the privatization measurements the government has implemented (It’s obvious
being here that the welfare state has run out of resources and cannot carry out
the Marxist-Leninist dream.) following
the economic crisis (Special Period) of the 1990s has caused inflation levels
to rise. I’ll write a more detailed
summery of Cuba’s current economic status but in short, this country is pretty
poor resource-wise, the US embargo makes things a lot worst, and it has pretty
much no choice but to transition to implementing elements of Capitalism since
the welfare state is out of money and cannot continue to depend on China or
Venezuela for resources and financial aid.
Lolz, sorry about the tangent!
Third World Mentality
My Core Course professor hit the nail on the head when he
said something to the effect of “Como ciudadanos de un país subdesarrollado,Cubanos son muy intelligentes y instruidos.” : “For citizens of an
underdeveloped country, Cubans are very intelligent and highly educated.”
There it is: “subdesarrollado”: “underdeveloped”. At face value, it appears that my Cuban
professor is praising his fellow citizens and takes pride in the high level of
education (a high level of college graduates and a 99% literacy rate) the Cuban
government has been able to create as a result of the Literacy Campaign of 1961
and completely free primary and tertiary schooling. But look closely. Beneath this compliment, lies a stinging
criticism/insult. This mentality, the
“Third World Mentality”—we shall call it—is crippling.
More about the Literacy Campaign form Wiki: ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Literacy_Campaign)
It’s partly
a defeatist attitude which stems from centuries of political oppression and
economic subversion people in the continents of Africa (repeat after me: Africa
is a continent NOT a country), Asia, and Latin America have experienced. Weather we wish to admit it or not, our
“developed world” economies were built on the exploitation and natural resource
extraction of other people living in the so called “undeveloped world”. This economic and political exploitation
could have only been carried out with cultural hegemony. I always laugh when people speak to me in
English after realizing that I’m clearly not Cuban. Why English?
There are so many Europeans here from places like Germany, Poland, and
France as well as people from other parts of the world yet English is always
the lingua franca (mind you many Europeans speak English as well—lolz: its only
Americans who are finicky about learning other languages).
People here love Western (mainly
American) movies, music, fashion (ugh for the most part Cuban
fashion—especially male Cuban fashion—is Guido, Jersey Shorish, super tacky
early 2000s horrible). Women aim for
long flowing hair, manicured nails, and high heels. I’m not necessarily saying that any of this
is bad and I’m not even sure if all of it is to mirror Western culture but it’s
obvious that Cubans view what the so called Western world has as something
worth attaining.
Note: Isn’t it funny when people complain about how the West
has no culture yet rant about how Western culture is ruining the cultures of
other peoples all in one breath.What's up with that?!?
I sensed
this in Ghana as well where SOME people praised me for my English and treated me
with more kindness and friendliness or were a bit meaner after they learned
that I live in the US. Maybe that’s
where all the bullshit about people in poorer parts of the world being so
friendly and hospitable comes from. Are
they genuinely warmer people or is this an act to exploit tourists and
foreigners? This is something that I
continually wonder. Do Cubans and
Ghanaians treat their neighbors the same they would treat an American or a
Brit? Or maybe being hospitable to
travelers/foreigners is a universal thing.
After all, whenever there is a guest visiting our house, everyone puts
on their best behavior and makes the visitor feel as happy as possible. Maybe traveling to a different country as a
tourists/visitor is the same thing?
Regardless of whether or not this is so, many times I find
myself wondering if people genuinely want to be my friend or just want to use
me for something (especially questionable with SOME male Cubans who tell non
Cuban woman how much the love them, and some even propose on first sight). My other foreign friends have had similar
experiences.
Moral of this Story
What I’m trying to get at is that there is major inequality
in this world and as an Economics/Political Science student fascinated by
international relations, I have an academic background upon which I can
deconstruct and unpack the experiences I’m having here. I’ve lived my life straddled between two
worlds (although I haven’t lived in Ghana for most of my life, a part of my
identity belongs to this West African country).
Traveling and living in Cuba—a place so close to the US geographically
but so culturally and economically different—has made me realize the Third
World Mentality is a sickness many people suffer from. In contrast, I sometimes feel Third World
Fatigue and clearly these infirmities stem from the same thing.
A LOT of people here want the same commercial products companies
like Nike, Victoria’s Secret, etc. say we need in the US and elsewhere to live
happy, meaningful lives. They want to
take their families on vacation, own cars, live in multistory homes with
furnished kitchens, and numerous other rooms.
Above all, people want financial security. The sucky thing is that this amazing planet
of ours has in no way the resources for us to all live the typical middle class
American lifestyle. So in a place like Cuba or Ghana, when
relatively poor people come across foreigners from the developed world, SOME of
them may feel the following:
-curiosity
-jealousy
-frustration at the fact that the economic/political system
in their country bars them from attaining the same material wealth these
tourists/foreigners have.
The tourist/foreigner/me/you since you have the technology
and time to read this may feel:
-curiosity
-guilt
-pity: and you tell yourself—“Ok, I’ll leave all the
clothes, shoes, and any other material goods I don’t want or need with so and
so.”
And yeah, I plan on doing just that before I leave but many
times I also ask, “Is so and so spending time with me, being so nice to me,
etc. because they genuinely like me or because they can earn some money out of
me?”
Maybe it’s both.
Maybe the people from the developing world are just as exploitative as
those from the developed world. Maybe this
classification is too simplistic since after all, this amazing, crazy cool
world of ours should be seen through splashes of gray. Maybe I’m over thinking it all and once I go
home, I’ll feel differently about my experiences.
Either way, life is what you make it regardless of the
corner of the world you live in. I’m
going to keep talking to strangers, spending time with people, sharing my
dreams, goals, jokes, and telling my life story. And I know the Cuban strangers,
acquaintances, and friends will be doing the same thing since like Ghanaians, SOME MANY Cubans are loud, annoying, nosy,
blatantly honest, and above all, sooooo kind and willing to go out of their way
to make you feel at home. But this also describes a lot of Americans and I'm sure you know a bunch of people who fit this description where you live as well.
So doctor, I think a better remedy will be for me to stay
here for a bit more!
;) Peace, love,
happiness from here to wherever you’re reading this.
-Besitos <3
