America

Everyone wants to go to America. It's the first thing they tell me when they learn where I'm from. One man told me it was his destiny to see New York before he dies. Another asked me if it was true you could make money by sleeping in America. Many people tell me about their brothers and sisters living in the States. They want to visit them, but it's very hard; even if you can afford it, the visas are impossible to get. People tell me, without a second thought, that life in the United States is better. Life in Mauritania is difficult, there's no money, no opportunities, nothing to do.

I tell them that life in the United States isn't better or worse, but very different. I try to point out all the good things here that mare missing in America: the strong communities, the closeness of families and friends, the strong spiritual quality of life. I explain that most people in America work very hard and still don't make much money. It's difficult to be poor anywhere in the world.

But who am I kidding? They see the huge, new houses built from money sent back from family in the States. They see the cars, computers, and cell phones, shipped from the US and bought with American Dollars. Brothers and sisters in America, even if they're poor, seem to have money to spare. Their children go to school, receive quality (albeit unaffordable) health care, eat well, grow strong, maybe go to college, and probably never come back to Mauritania. And even while I denied that you could make money in your sleep, I thought of my employee matched 401K, transferred over the Internet before leaving, to an IRA mutual fund, earning 15 to 20% interest on emerging markets and tech stocks. So, yeah, I am making money in my sleep and I'll be making money for the next two years without doing anything except noting it on a few tax forms.

There's an idea in the United States that anything is possible, it just takes hard work and a little luck. Even leaving the US isn't very hard. I just researched my options, filled out some forms, did a few interviews and then I was on a plane for Africa. That some optimism doesn't exist here. People think it's difficult, if not impossible, to achieve what they want, assuming they want anything at all, so why even try? What's really unfortunate is that the most educated people I've met—my host father, the language facilitators, doctors at the hospital—they want to leave Mauritania the most. I think to myself, “Can't you stay here and make things better while achieving the things you want?” But what can I say when my host father comes home exhausted and tells me, “This country will never change. The people are lazy, they don't want to work, there's so much corruption.”