Some Peace Corps Volunteers hand out ‘sweeties’, or candy, regularly to children. I don’t. Reason why I don’t is because I want children to
appreciate ME as a friend. I tried handing out candies to children early in my
service when they performed tasks, but that leads to children coming by
frequently asking if they can do something for a sweetie. It sounds reasonable,
but having children coming by several times throughout the day is tiresome and
annoying and I don't have that many tasks to delegate.
This culture has been sensitized to receiving things for
free; especially from white people. That is what we do. It is our fault we’ve
created this way of thinking.
The only thing I will freely hand out is chalk to use to
draw on the cement floor of my outdoor kitchen, which I rarely use. Children
eagerly practice writing their names and draw pictures of bicycles and cars
with the chalk. They don’t have many opportunities to do this because paper and
pencils are a rare commodity in the village.
Another reason I don’t hand out sweeties is these children
don’t visit the dentist or even brush their teeth. They may live their entire
life not flossing their teeth. This is a big concern of mine.
So, if you envision visiting a third-world country and hand
things out; change your vision. In the States we do this handing out of things
like sweeties so we can see the smiles on children’s faces. Here I want to see
a smile on a child’s face because he can write his name without help anymore.
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