Reconciling cultures and post-Peace Corps beekeeping

ruches - beehives
Originally uploaded by parisdelhi

Reconciling life in Togo and life in the US hasn't been fun. Contrary to what one would think given how the whole world is trying to train Africa out of its supposed backwardness, I have more or less come to the conclusion that the culture, eating habits, amount of physical activity, societal structure and the general way of life of my village in Togo are much healthier than those of the US.

In the US we have plenty of money but we no longer know how to live, for the most part we are unhealthy and lost in modern life, and what is worse is that the rest of the world is trying to copy us. In Togo, for the most part people know how to live well. The only thing that is missing is a bit more money. That is where beekeeping becomes useful...

One could very well argue that in the end money will manage to strip Africa of its knowledge of how to live well. In that case money is the culprit.