All the big airports have moving sidewalks that
help people cover more distance more quickly. The results of the effort one makes in walking
are multiplied so that, with the same number of steps, one arrives at his or
her destination more efficiently. It
doesn’t matter if you are heading toward the terminal or toward one of the
gates, there is a moving sidewalk to help you get there.
The impression I have after spending time with
people in this part of West Africa is that all their sidewalks are moving in
the wrong direction. The progress they
can make seems to have little rapport with the effort expended. No matter how hard they work, they always
seem to end up in the same place. It is
as though they are on a sidewalk that is moving them backward at the same rate
that they try to move forward. If they
let down their efforts or are sidelined for even a short time, they actually
end up behind the place where they started.
The movement of this sidewalk is carrying them in the wrong direction.
The situation in which our local driver finds
himself illustrates the presence of this sidewalk that is moving in the wrong
direction. He owns an old Mercedes,
which is a solidly built automobile. It
is the tool that permits him to ply his trade and support his family. When we were here two years ago, he said his
goal was to earn enough money to trade this car in and buy a 4x4 vehicle that
would be better adapted to the rough roads and underdeveloped dirt tracks of
the area. It would be more comfortable
and roomy for paying passengers. He
could count on a better income to support his growing family, pay for schooling
for his children, etc. He had a vision
and he was willing to work hard to achieve it.
Two years later we return to the same area and
have the same driver. He is still
driving the same very old Mercedes. But,
now it is two years older. More and more
parts on it have rusted and broken.
Instead of putting money aside for a new vehicle, he has to use
everything he earns just to keep this one running. A major factor is that the road to his
village hasn’t been worked on for a decade.
Over the past two years small potholes have grown in some places to
deep, yard-wide holes that are nearly impassable. Any vehicle on the road is subjected to
constant vibration for a distance of over thirty miles, so breakdowns are
frequent. In our first week here, the
old Mercedes had two torn tires and the rusted tailpipe fell off as we were
going over a bumpy part of the road. In
spite of his vision and hard work, our driver is gradually being carried
backwards by this sidewalk that is moving in the wrong direction.
There appear to be multiple forces conspiring
to control the direction and speed of the backward-moving sidewalk: governmental neglect that refuses to provide
a better road, family pressures to use money for immediate expenses rather than
save it, the lack of access to education or training that would make it
possible for him to have another job or move to somewhere better adapted to what
he can do… and I’m sure there are other factors of which I am not aware. In any case, there seems to be no way for him
to get off this continual movement that carries him in the wrong
direction. He runs against it as hard as
he can but makes no visible progress.
One of the unjust characteristics of our fallen
world seems to be that for those who are already privileged by favorable
circumstances, the sidewalks are all going forward, helping them advance more
quickly, while the sidewalks surrounding the underprivileged are rigged to keep
them locked in their situation, or even to carry them backwards. If this group of people lose their job,
suffer an accident or serious illness, if their home is damaged by fire, flood,
or earthquake, the backward movement is suddenly accelerated, diminishing all
hope of eventual advancement and change.
If the movement could just stop, maybe then – little by little – they
could start advancing, at least at the rate of their own steps.
As I watch, I feel helpless. I can help a bit by paying fair prices for
their goods and services, but is there anything to be done that could actually
change the sidewalk’s direction? Where
is the switch????
