Logic

[YOUR LOGIC OR MINE]

Logic…a word so familiar to our vocabulary and something we (or at least most of us) structure our lives around. In school we are taught to reason, and out of that make “logical” decisions. However, coming to live in Africa the word “logic” didn’t seem so logical anymore.

Let me give you a few examples of things that I came across:

EXAMPLE 1: PAINTING THE ROAD DURING RUSH HOUR
Jep, I will not forget this image easily. During the mornings while driving to one of our projects, I was approaching a busy four-way with traffic lights. It was morning rush hour and cars were coming from four different directions. In the middle of the intersection some guys were busy re-painting some of the white lines. Not bothered at all, they blocked half of the intersection and with that, most of the traffic. Where is the sense in that?!

EXAMPLE 2: FINISHING YOUR SALARY ON THE FIRST DAY
“End of the month” is a very popular concept around here. A bit like the Friday-feeling we experience when it is finally weekend, but then different. Every end of the month the cues in front of the ATM are extremely long, the shops are overly crowded and the liquor stores are making overtime. End of the month is pay-day for most people in Namibia and so an opportunity to buy all your hearts desires. Sadly enough, for a lot of people this means that they don’t have anything left for the rest of the month. Why would someone do that?!

EXAMPLE 3: WAITING AN HOUR FOR SOMEONE TO PUT PAPER IN THE PRINTER
One day I was printing my assignment at the local University. Halfway the printing job, the printer indicated that the papers were finished. I went to the reception and kindly asked whether they could please put new papers in. As I was talking to the reception lady I could see big stacks of unopened paper boxes laying under her desk. “We can unfortunately not do that mem, we need to call the IT guy, because he is having the key to open the drawers of the printer“. I frowned my eyes and asked the lady politely how long she think it will take. “Well mem, he is situated on the other side of the campus so I can’t tell you when he will be here. Just take a seat mem“. A little bit confused I took a seat. Five minutes became 15 minutes and 15 minutes became 30 minutes. “Mem, he says he is almost here“. Thirty minutes became, 45 minutes and 45 minutes became an hour. After more than an hour the IT man walked in, opened the drawer with his key, put in the paper and left again. Really?!

I can probably continue with many more examples. Why are learners driving on the high way with 20 km/h, why do taxi’s stop in the middle of the road, why do people have to stand in a cue for 3 days to register at the local University, why do people say they are coming now but they are still at home, why  are prison sentences longer for  stealing a cow than for murdering a human being, why does the ruling political party build a multimillion dollar building right in front of the government hospital that is falling apart…

I was trying to find a definition of what “logic” really is, but the answers seem pretty complicated (try googling it). To me it seems a rather subjective concept that is highly culturally sensitive.

• “Something that seems to be correct and reasonable” 
• “Study of reasoning and argumentation
• “Justification of the truth”

 “Logic seems a rather subjective concept that is highly culturally sensitive”

Sometimes we believe our logic is the only logic. Don’t we as wife’s for instance believe that our logic is so much more logical than the logic of our husbands? I once red a story (I really forgot where) about this village in a far away country. The women had to walk for hours to get water and come back. So now, someone from the outside reasoned it would be “logical” to put a waterpoint inside the village so the women didn’t have to walk so far anymore. Within a short time period the entire balance of the village was affected and there was a whole lot of arguments and fighting happening among the people. Turns out that the women that used to walk 3 hours to get water would discuss all important matters among each other about their men, families and their village. Without that walk there was no opportunity for them to gain insight, get advise and find relieve in sharing issues with one another.

 “Sometimes we believe our logic is the only logic”

What I am trying to say is that people reason very differently and that something I find logical doesn’t have to be logical for someone else. A danger within missions could be that you judge too quickly that something is not logical and that it is in need of change. Bringing in especially our Western logic is not always successful and can even do harm, particularly when we do it with an “I know it better than you” attitude. Before we start changing things, we should first embrace the culture as it is and fully experience every single aspect of it. And yes, that can be challenging and frustrating sometimes, but that is alright.

So do I believe one should not change the fact that people start painting the road in the middle of rush hour? Or that the lady at the reception in the library can not have the key to the drawer of the printer? No, I believe things like this could probably change at sone point. But then the question becomes how? And in order to know the how, you need to know the why. Why is the road painted during rush hour? Who came up with that idea? Who hired the person that came up with that idea? Etc. You will have to get to the root of the reasoning in order to understand it. So let us be careful to change things without understanding, just because it doesn’t seem logic from your point of view.