This might be tricky

Puneet Goenka - Ross School of Business

(This post was typed-up 2 weeks ago but is being posted now)

I believe a brief intro will be in order. I am a rising second year MBA student at the Ross School of Business.  I'm three weeks into my WDI summer internship with PATH, a global health technology-based nonprofit focused on improving healthcare in emerging markets, based in Seattle.  My internship project will take me to South Africa, Ghana, and Uganda.

Having grown up and spent more than half of my life in India, I am somewhat immune to the challenges that living and working in developing countries brings with them.  I am also less excited by otherwise ‘exotic’ experiences such as open markets that sell fruits and vegetables, the occasional cow or dog roaming the street, and slums sharing walls with million dollar apartment buildings.

Even though I am from India, a country that offers developed world visitors all the ‘exotic’ experiences mentioned above, Africa still remains exotic to most Indians I know.  Perhaps we take comfort in the belief that there are dozens of countries on the African continent that are less developed, more corrupt, and equally dirty as ours.  Just a few days ago, while reading about the controversy around Ford Foundations recent funding activities in India, I scrolled to the comments section on the website of the Indian News Channel.  “Take your money and go to Africa” a particularly peeved reader commented.  Friends have half-jokingly (but also half seriously) asked me to come back alive, disease free, and without being robbed.  And while I can pretend to be better, I am not.

I am well aware that Africa is a large continent with 50+ countries but I was still surprised that a direct flight from Johannesburg to Accra was almost 7 hours long.  When reading about the recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa, I imagined Asian and Caucasian expats when the article mentioned that foreigners were forced to take shelter from the violent mobs.  Foreigners in this instance were primarily Nigerians and Zimbabweans.

And so, with greater awareness about how I partake in perpetuating the dominant image of Africa, I am afraid of being overcautious in how I digest and reflect on my upcoming experience of working in South Africa, Ghana, and Uganda for PATH.  I am afraid of being voyeuristic if I take pictures of a resource poor health clinics and out of touch with reality if I have a good time at a swanky downtown bar in Accra.  Perhaps the more I think about this, the more conscious I will make myself. 

I recently came across someone’s travel video documenting their India vacation.  For whatever reason, it stuck with me.  It had shots of slum kids, and upscale pizzerias in equal measure but it never felt voyeuristic, nor out of touch with reality.  It felt non-judgmental, and carefree – and that is probably what I should aim for.

In any case, welcome to the blog!