Clare Cameron

Clare Cameron was, during this trip, a junior anthropology major from Chicago, IL. Her interests include the relationship between health and human rights, anthropology and human rights, and international development and anthropology. In pursuit of greater experience in the field of public health, in 2005, she spent six months working for a women's health and human rights organization in Senegal. She was the co-coordinator of the College Council for CARE.

In this way, Sierra Leone proved a personal challenge, not only as a lived experience, but as a conflict of conscience. I think the tendency, in a reflection such as this, is to embellish emotions, to describe the transformative process of new experiences. The transformation is frequently not untrue. Yet, doing so would neglect another part of the experience. The part that nags at you, the part that cringes when you hear people speak of "Africa" as a homogenous place of destitution, where the rhetoric of development is latent with accusation. Where the part of you can't help but think, this is a good start. The part that says, we're doing our best, but it's not good enough.

I wish I could say I felt immune to these feelings while in Sierra Leone. But as I read programmatic protocol distributed during our visit, the feelings continued to nag. Why did CARE refer to the strategies of HIV/AIDS prevention as "behavior-change communication strategy?" Why are the paternalistic tendencies of colonialism still, perhaps inadvertently, reflected in the rhetoric of development? How is it that I found myself questioning a human-rights framework, despite supporting the rhetoric of rights? Was it because of an apparent selective application of human rights? Why was the human right to health ostensibly absent or marginalized in CARE's human rights discourse?

For too long, I have felt guilty of this critical evaluation of international aid. I have been made to question the value of problematizing rhetoric. But does that criticism in itself not suggest a willingness to accept inferior standards?

This was not my first time in Africa. There is every indication that it will not be my last. I am grateful for the opportunities that CARE has shared with me, to see what appears to be the very best in humanitarian assistance. I am grateful that this opportunity has fostered irreplaceable relationships and invited thoughtful critique, with the goal of improving the process of "development," whatever that may be. I truly believe CARE is doing the best it can right now. Perhaps that's the best Western governments will allow or the best the international community cares to achieve. I hope never to lose sight of the fact that this isn't enough. If that's called cynicism, then so be it. But we should choose our words carefully.