I have been reading this book about Dutchman, Jeroen Van Bergeijk's trip from the Nederlands through North Africa. It's not really a girlie book, but he does make this interesting observation which is worth sharing (see My Mercedes is not for Sale, UK: Broadway Books, 2008, 78). To one who travels to Africa quite frequently, I found it thought-provoking.
“Things in Africa come in two forms: broken or almost broken. Whether it’s the power plant or the water supply, the Internet café’s computers or the city buses, the sewage system or the airport runway—seldom does anything in Africa work like it’s supposed to work. The art of motorcycle maintenance? The art of any maintenance whatsoever is a completely unknown concept here. It’s not that all Africans are groovy that they re romantic thinkers, that they’ve not read Pirsig. No, the philosophy here is of a whole other order; the general attitude toward life is that of inshallah—God willing. If its Allah’s will that my cab fall apart, then that’ll happen whether I maintain it well or not. So why should I care whether my brakes are in order and whether the tires still have sufficient tread if it’s ultimately Allah who runs the show? But I don’t really believe that religion is the true cause. I think you have to look for the explanation in the fact that in Africa the future does not exist. Each new day is a struggle for life-even apart from wars and famines. A great many Africans don’t know in the morning if they’ll be able to eat come evening, so why would they think of tomorrow? Why would they look any further than next week if they don t even know if they’ll still be alive tomorrow?
One might object that poor maintenance in Africa is a consequence not of religion or a lack of a concept of the future but simply of too little money. Maintenance would come of its own accord if we, the wealthy Western nations, would just make sufficient funds available. Of course, the problem is, in part, a matter of money. If you have to choose whether to spend the few miserable cents you’ve earned today on food or on an oil change for your cab, the choice isn’t hard. You choose for now and not for later. But is it really that simple?”
