I was squatting, with a child in my lap, and another child standing next to me. We all smiled for the camera. It also said “click”. I was in a village in South Africa together with the rest of my folk college class. We went to an assistance line and had been in the village for a few days. Now I had to attach a memory to the memory card. I had played with the children for a few days. The day after the picture was taken, I traveled on. I enjoyed life as a tourist in South Africa. Standing on a surfboard and climbing mountain peaks. Went to the shopping center and safari. Stiff smiles for 14 years With me back to Norway I had many good memories, including this picture of me and the two children. I didn’t know their names, or how old they were. I had never met their parents, and even less asked permission to photograph their children. But I looked good in the picture, so what was more natural than posting it as a profile picture on Facebook? And the picture stayed like this, even though I changed my profile picture several times. The two smiling children continued to smile at those who visited my Facebook page. Until last year. I was probably a bit bored and scrolled through my profile pictures. I was completely blown away by seeing the picture I had posted 14 years earlier. The “hero” in South Africa I’ll be honest. The picture had ended up on Facebook because I had a need to present myself as a considerate and kind person. But why did I know that a picture of me and two children would make many think such thoughts about me? Yes, because the children were African, and Norwegians were used to being told that Africans are people who need help and care. That’s what made me sweat. Realizing that this was how it all came together. Perhaps you have heard of the “white savior complex”. A kind of idea that the white man saves the black man. Helping others is a good thing, but it must be done without making others appear to be a poor doctor. And helping others must never be about portraying yourself as a hero. Then I’m out driving. And let it be perfectly clear. The two children in South Africa got zero help from me, and probably didn’t need any kind of help either. Nevertheless, I presented the whole situation as if I were something more than an ordinary tourist when I traveled to South Africa. Many celebrities have been on short trips to promote aid work. BBC journalist Stacey Dooley received a lot of criticism after she was with the organization Comic Relief and published, among other things, this picture. The organization later decided that they will not send more celebrities on promotional trips. Photo: Stacey Dooley’s Instagram account Aid tourism and slum safari The year after folk high school, I traveled to Africa again. This time to Kenya. It was then that I slowly began to understand that a Norwegian 19-year-old is not actually the best qualified to look after or teach African children. But I had enough money to pay for a stay of six months. I traveled down with the thought that I should make a difference to others. Yes, I got some veins. But when I returned home, there was no doubt that the person who had gotten the absolute most out of the year was myself. “Aid tourism” is another name for what I do. That you pay money to travel to a developing country to do voluntary work. I gradually got my finger stuck in African soil, and realized that the scheme I was part of was not about saving the world. On the other hand, it was about me learning about myself, the country I visited and the people I met. And it was a type of learning I really needed. Because I have thought a lot about this. Why did a Norwegian 19-year-old think that he could just get on a plane to Africa and help people? It is somewhat problematic that I looked at myself in such an exalted way, and that I looked at Africa in such a condescending way. Tjørhom worked as a volunteer in the district of Korogocho, where most residents have little income. Photo: ROBERTO SCHMIDT / Afp The year in Kenya also introduced me to the term “slum safari”. In other words, tourists, often white-skinned too, who are visiting a poor district. The purpose of the trip can be many, but one cannot hide the fact that some of those on the slum safari are most curious about what extreme poverty looks like. I heard about “slum safari” because I worked as a volunteer in a slum. Yes, I am involved in “aid tourism”. One of the people I worked with said that not everyone liked to see white people in the slums, because they were often there for a few hours to see people living their lives, and then left again. Like a zoo, some of the people I met thought. I understood well what they meant. Aid, journalism and Africa Both “white savior complex”, “aid tourism” and “slum safari” have some good intentions, but just the fact that such words exist tells me that we have a problem. Because such words ooze with “us and them”. I don’t think I’m alone in having seen Africa as a continent that needs the help of the rest of the world. I think these thoughts arise because one has concern for other people. But the thoughts also exist because the aid industry has made its communication too simple, and Norwegian media houses have made our knowledge of Africa far too narrow. There are plenty of examples of the story that the white man can save Africa. Médecins Sans Frontières recently dealt with its own communication. They admitted that they had used too much images of white doctors and nurses when they talked about the work in Africa. The fact is that the vast majority of employees in Legar without borders are local. Radiator aid to Norway And there are organizations that have been far worse. In some commercials, you can see an African child sitting all alone in a dark room, and a sad voice tells you something that can only be interpreted as saying that this child depends on your help to get by. When I see such commercials, I wonder what ideas were rejected during the brainstorming session. Because the advertisement does not show a hint of truth, and the fact that a Norwegian flips 100 kroner during a commercial break is in any case not the solution to that child’s problem. If the African child in the advertisement actually needs help, then there are adults around the child who can give that help. The advertisement is only made for one purpose: to get more people to give money. In isolation, it’s a good thing. The problem is that the advertising also helps to build up our thinking that Africa is a continent that needs our help. The student organization SAIH took up such communication a few years ago, where they made a catchy song about sending radiators to Norway. The TV pictures that the Afrikaners got to see showed that it was terrible weather and cold up there in the north. The campaign had an important point. Because there is a lot of defining power in communication. And Norwegians have for many decades been exposed to communication that paints a picture of Africa as a continent in dire straits. So maybe it’s not so strange that as a 19-year-old I actually thought I could make a difference by getting on a plane to Africa? Do you know that it is almost Christmas? Yes, I also mentioned the media. I have felt it many times since I became a journalist. It is almost impossible to do justice to Africa in Norwegian media coverage. There is a big fight for space in broadcasts and on web pages. The cases dealing with Africa quickly become few and far between, and when they do come they are too often cases about conflict or crisis, because there are many good reasons to make cases about such things. But the result is that journalists report too much on African problems. So that prejudices about Africa are established over time is perhaps not so strange. I am at the very beginning of my three years as an Africa correspondent. I know that I will write about war, conflict and poverty. Because it exists in Africa, just as it exists in Asia, America and Europe. And I know that I will write about joy, commitment and optimism for the future. Because it also exists in Africa, just as it exists in Asia, America and Europe. I have several goals. One of them is to help ensure that as few African children as possible have to adorn the profile picture of random people like me. And, yes, they know it’s almost Christmas.
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– I was totally blown away by seeing the picture I had posted 14 years earlier – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
