"Those People"

A couple of years ago, a very good friend and colleague of mine invited me to a resource fair put on by a service organization.  Her organization had a table and she thought it a good idea for me to come. It was sometime in November, I remember, because it was cold out and I was dressed, trendy enough, for the weather. I had on a pair of jeans, heeled knee boots, a black puff coat with fur around the hood, big dangly earrings and a hat with the brim cocked to the side.

I walked to the table and was greeted by a white woman who asked me to sign in. When I finished, she handed me a paper with the word "Goals" written at the top.

I smiled politely. "Oh, I'm not a client, I'm a Social Worker."

A second of confusion passed across her face. "OH! I'm sorry. You don't have to sign in here, you can sign in on this piece of paper. Are you just here to check out some resources?"

"Yes." I said.

When I approached the mouth of the gymnasium, another white woman greeted me. "Welcome, welcome!" she said. "What goals will you be working on today?"

This time, a bit more stern. "I'm not a client, I'm a Social Worker."

Pro-World (http://www.proworldvolunteers.org/belize/study-abroad) is a huge volunteer organization that sends thousands of volunteers to Belize each year. They are placed all over the country to fill the gaps left by underfunded social sysems. Similar to organizations in the US like AmeriCorps, Lutheran Social Services and Habitat for Humanity, the majority of these volunteers are white, privileged (to some extent...(you have to have SOME money to pay the sometimes thousands of dollars to participate) and educated. Their reception by Belizeans appear to also be similar to those of US service agencies in poor, urban neighborhoods: bittersweet.

When I met the two women at Rolson's yesterday, I could tell immediately that the Belizean one was annoyed with me the moment she found out I was a volunteer. She would not engage me in conversation and barely made eye contact (and no, I was not being an uppity American). It wasn't until she found out I  was NOT with Pro-World that she softened. When she found out Mary Open Doors was a Belizean organization run by a Belizean woman, she asked me for my email address.

I live and work in a community where do-gooding white folk come and build playgrounds, plant community gardens, rehab homes in the hood and paint schools to "give back." Among community folk, it is most often received like the news of Bin Laden's death--I am happy it is done, but not happy with the deed itself. I empathize with both the Belizean's irritation and appreciation of service and volunteer organization coming to help "our people" or "their people"--those unfortunate products of their environment, poor and needy. I understand it as a Black social worker living in a Black neighborhood and working with Black people in a declining Black city alongside privileged white people.