STORY ABOUT THE FIELD:

The Uncrossable Chasm and Another Man's Shoes

by Dale Albertson, new Executive Director

It's difficult to truly visualize and understand the life of people from another country and culture, to really have a sense of what it is like to be "them" even after having spent time there working alongside them. Despite living in the same communities, working in the same programs, sharing the same goals and the same difficulties, and even becoming close with them on a personal level, there is still a gap between us. When it comes to the worldview that colors how we understand who we are, how the world works and what we see around us, we can be walking in completely different directions.

The old saying about walking a mile in another man's shoes in order to understand him is perhaps only partially true, because up until the moment when you do actually start walking in them, (if that's truly possible) you will still have no frame of reference about him at all. Even then, besides an appreciation for his circumstances, you will not really understand his worldview, or how he came to possess it. Often, the defining moments for shaping our worldview have occurred over a period of time as a series of small events and epiphanies about the world we live in and the personal savvy that you inherently get from the environment you grow up in. It's a gradual process that simply happens as a matter of course, influenced by our own personalities, genetics, social and economic status and geography. You can never go back and get that perspective about someone else, even if you are now walking in that someone else's shoes. Worldview is an intensely personal component of our being that is unique to each of us in some respects, yet shared with those of our own community in others.

You see, I really have no idea what it's like to be Martin. Granted, we had just met, but we have much in common, even though we grew up in different worlds. He is from Kenya, I am from Canada. He is young, I am, well, older. He is in University, I am employed. He grew up wealthy and privileged, I grew up middle-class, and occasionally poor. Martin is part of the privileged few that have every opportunity and considerable resources available to them in a country where lack of opportunity and resources is the norm. Still, he has a Kenyan perspective that informs his view and understanding of the world. It's what makes him Kenyan. I have a Canadian perspective, even though I have spent a lot of time over many years working alongside Africans in Africa.

Martin and I shared ideas, observations and goals about our mutual passion; helping those less fortunate in Africa. We struck common ground on many issues, concerns and needs. Yet our worldviews collided on others, because neither one of us was able to remove ourselves from our own worldview into the other's. We quickly found out that we had different connotations about the meanings of words and concepts. Like health, culture, education, gender, corruption and many more. Martin is very progressive for a Kenyan, I am very conservative for a Canadian, yet my views and perception around some of these issues were offensive to Martin, because I was far too progressive for his Kenyan mind. I didn't get it, and finally Martin had to shake his head at me and tell me that it was simply "against his culture". That was it. An un-crossable chasm had been discovered, and we were unable to find a way over.

Thankfully, Martin didn't judge me for my overly progressive views on certain issues, and I reciprocated for his overly conservative views on the same issues. Reaching a point of understanding that we simply didn't understand was a huge step forward, allowing us to concentrate on areas where we did see eye to eye. Even then, we often came to that un-crossable chasm and had to back away, retreating to the common ground. Slowly, over time, little bits of Martin's worldview began to make sense to me, in terms of being a pervasive view, of being entrenched and not easily overturned and especially of how my worldview on that issue or topic could be misunderstood and offensive. Even though for me it was simple, easy and obvious, to a Kenyan, it was the opposite - incomprehensible, difficult, and un-necessary. Martin began to understand and appreciate my worldview too, and in fact began to embrace some aspects of it. What I noticed though, was that with Kenyans, and for Kenyans, he was still a Kenyan and never showed the un-crossable chasm to anyone that wasn't able to handle it. He respected people, all people, which is why he continued to talk and work with me.

I learned that my view is not everyone's view, and that it's not necessarily the right, best or preferable view, at least not right now. Maybe even never. Even when both Martin and I knew that a course of action, a lesson or fact was the best, right and preferable one, Martin also knew when it was "against his culture" and how it would affect Kenyan people negatively. That was his yardstick. Was the impact negative or positive? Martin was never afraid to make value judgments, but he always based them on the impact they would have, versus maintaining the status quo. Change can be good, but not for the sake of itself, or to accommodate a dominant worldview. The reverse is also true.

Martin taught me more about walking in another man's shoes than walking in them ever could. I learned that the true value of the other man's shoes was his own unique value, and that how he thought about them, what they mean to him and when he should decide to change them were also his decisions. Even if I showed him new shoes, they may not serve the purpose he requires of his shoes, so even the kind of shoe he wears is also up to him. Martin and I walk in each other's shoes more often now. We have moved closer to each other's worldview, and try to identify with both of them. We may not ever understand it, or embrace it, or even like it. But we recognize it, and respect that it exists, and that makes a world of difference all by itself. Sometimes, that is the most important thing of all. Sometimes, crossing the un-crossable chasm simply requires an old pair of shoes.