Milking the Poor

Scenes of communication towers sitting amidst traditional huts are never missed in Bor town area. It is such a stark contrast of things that should never go together in first place. I had an impression that things had improved tremendously when I began to receive calls in the States from Bor. I visualized the wired town with cables and what have you. I envisioned some modern buildings that go along with modern lifestyles that have sprung up in Southern Sudan in the last few years. And because people could afford to buy cell phones, I imagined a totally improved ways of living. Well, I couldn’t be more wrong! This is what I discovered happened when I arrived in Bor. It looked like the Multinational Corporations (MNCs) are moving in. Corporations had grown smarter to extent that one could describe it as greedier. They have anchored up to three tall communication towers around Bor. These towers send signals way deep to villages. Then they send phones to more kiosk-like retail shops where people can buy them. And when you buy a phone you have to buy simcard separately and twice as much. But that’s not all. You have to continue buying credits locally known as “airtime” in order for that phone to continue operating. Additionally, these phones need to be charge every so often. And this creates a boom in generator’s business. An owner of a cell phone goes to charge his/her phone on generator generated power. I suspected it must be very expensive to own a cell phone here. I believe a rational villager would realize this. But, as is well known in the field of economics “rational people don’t act rational”. When I went to the village I saw several people with cell phones hanged on thatched huts. I even made a comment that I later on thought didn’t sit well with my relatives. I wondered why development started with satellite towers sitting among the traditional huts. The other sharp contrast that I observed was the way people now consume bear and coca-cola drinks. It seems to me there is an invasive consumerism that comes with perceived status of being able to consume coca-cola or beer instead of locally brewed. People want to live a modern lifestyle so much that everyone likes drinking modern drinks: beer & coca-cola. Everywhere I went being either gatherings or just simple homes, there were crates and crates of either beer or cola drinks. To make matters worst, there seems to be great prevalence of drinking among the post-conflict population of the Southern Sudan. This comes with great human and financial costs. I just discovered that everything; food, construction materials, vehicles, drinks, and even, to some extent, skilled workers are imported from Eastern Africa. This makes things twice expensive. And talk about beer as a luxury thing? I came back to Juba and was given a work’s phone. Then I bought airtime for 20 Sudanese pounds equivalent to 10 US dollar. After that I made three short phone calls before an automated voice told me I had not “enough credit to make this [fourth] call”. This was the point where I confirmed my earlier instinct fears for this encroaching modern lifestyle in the villages not yet capable to copy with it effects. I realized I was being milked. Much worst, I now understand the calls that I watched my brother, cousin and so many others, made in Bor were extremely expensive. I now wonder whether this is ethical. Ethical or not, the reality is that the rich are milking the poor in this part of continent.