The “Maalo” concept and its role in development

I grew up mostly in Kenya, then Uganda, I barely remember my years in Tanzania but they all had the same concept. In Kenya it was “mushamba” and in Uganda it was “maalo”, it refers to the ignorant wonderment of an ignorant person. So I remember when video players first came out and people would come for miles just to see one, not to watch a movie screen but to stare at the machine for hours and hours and hours. That was “Maalo” and the Ugandans soon recognized it and learned at least to disguise it with bravado “hey I got like five of those machines, one for every day of the week.” Rwandans are yet to develop this maalo concept and it is holding us back, it is a crucial development tool, a shame reflex to drive ambition. That is how western countries boomed suddenly after WWII, they introduced the ‘maalo’ factor into society, suddenly anyone without a fridge, cooker stove, washing machine, car and TV was backward and where there is a will there is a way. Most Rwandans have a fatalistic attitude if you talk to the average person, they feel their position is predetermined by destiny and they are being taught for the first time that they can do anything. Consumer envy has many benefits but also has negative effects, acquisitive crime – my blackberry was stolen recently. Somebody wants the lifestyle as well and will steal for it. We need mass exposure of this society to the modern world; we have decades to catch up. Rwandans see the world through such a myopic prism. Like the moto rider who was telling me about how he bought a computer but “Biri Geti” – Bill Gates shut it off, apparently this “Biri Geti” owns the inside of every computer and holds people at ransom if they want to use them. I told him there is an alternative called “Ubuntu” which also means generosity in our language and it’s free so “Biri Geti” will leave you alone. My step-father is an Englishman, it always amazes me when he comes to Rwanda, even the local urchins in Kimihurura – the whitest neighbourhood in Kigali will stare for hours with their heads cocked and eyes blaring. In Gikoba in Mutara it was comical, farm workers were amazed “Hey Freddie, why didn’t you call Jean-Baptiste? When I tell him I worked for a white man they will not believe me.” When I called people they would say “hang up and let the white man call me!” Now they do not speak English, he does not speak Kinyarwanda, but they wanted a 2 minute phone conversation where they just walked around the village saying “Look! I am busy on the phone to a white man I have no time for your nonsense.” Then the whole village “Jean is on the phone to a white man!” We often revel in our ignorance, we first need a shame reflex to first hide it, and then we can think of eradicating it. ramaisibo@hotmail.com