safe

I’m not certain that I expressed myself clearly yesterday, because I got a comment asking, in my opinion, in which African countries it is safe to work. What I was trying to say yesterday is that I feel very safe in Africa. In general, I have felt unsafe far more often in New York and in Gone West than in any country in Africa. I, personally, would work in any country in Africa.

(In fact, if anyone has the perfect job for a new lawyer who doesn’t have a lot of experience in her own country and who does not want to be a know-it-all and who is tired of moving around every few months, send it my way. I’d like to live in Kigali or Kampala or Dar es Salaam, just as an ideal, but any reasonably sized city will do.)

When I first moved to Rwanda, some wisdom was passed on to me: if you look around and people are going about their lives, if children are carrying water home, if women are stopping to greet one another with vegetables on their heads, if boys are driving the cows home, if a man in an ancient suit is carrying his Bible and a cane, then everything is fine. I have lived by that ever since. I look around, and I greet people, and I have found, so far, that someone has always warned me if I am heading into danger.

Everyone in the world takes precautions, depending on whether they are in the city or the country, whether it is day or night, whether they are male or female. The key is not to avoid a country as a whole, but to make sure that you are aware of what is going on around you and that you avoid danger when it arises. Talk to people. Ask questions (but not offensive or sensitive questions). Be a part of your community. If you and your neighbors are friendly, they likely will stop by or call if there is trouble, to let you know what is happening. And you should do the same for them.

I would work in any country in Africa, but I would not go blindly anywhere in the world, not even here in Gone West. I read the newspaper and ask questions of people who live in my new place. I explore slowly. I follow any safety precautions mandated by the organizations I work for (within reason, of course – situations can change). I am as friendly as I can be without causing additional problems.

Every place I have gone in the world, I have found more good than bad. No place is completely safe, but few places are incurably dangerous. People have helped me, and I try to do the same in the US.

…

Random conversation:

Other Person: I am sick of Hawaii. I was stationed there in the Navy and there’s nothing left to see. My wife keeps wanting to go, though.

Me: Maybe you could go somewhere in the Pacific where you have never been. Then you could both be happy. How about Fiji?

OP: I would never go to Fiji. Westerners get kidnapped there all the time.

M: [Eyes narrow.] I would go to Fiji. I would go to any country in the world.

OP: Would you go to Baghdad?

M: [Thinking]

OP: You are actually thinking about it?

M: Yes, of course, I would go to Baghdad. But I can’t afford it. So someone would have to pay my way.