Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Classic example of the simple knowledge I can pass along to Rwandans:

It was the lovely beginning of an afternoon. No need to rush back to work after lunch. Fidele* and I usually like to relax and digest for a half hour after eating lunch, if we don't have a meeting at 2pm. We were watching Rwanda TV, which was showing a documentary on the history of airplanes. I was gathering as much information as I could, which was limited since it was in French. I asked Fidele if he had heard about the solar plane that completed a 26 hour flight. (If you haven't heard about this - google it - exciting stuff for alternative energy; and hopefully cheaper plane tickets are in our future). He had not, although he was very excited to hear my schpel about it.

This is about the third conversation I've had with various Rwandans about planes, where I have to remind myself that there is a very small minority of people here who have actually been on a plane. Fidele- not being within that minority, although one day he dreams of being in a plane, even if for just a few minutes to get a good bird's eye view. Of course, he like all Rwandans, want to visit America and by visit I mean somehow get into the country and then disappear into a crowd and become an illegal immigrant because life is perfect in America and all the roads are paved in gold and there are no starving people, etc. etc. …I hope you caught the sarcastic tone in my typing.

I began by explaining how long the journey was for me to travel from Michigan to Rwanda. A whole three flights and roughly 20 hours of flight, not counting all that 'arriving at the airport early' stuff. I didn't even begin to venture into a time zone discussion. It started off with naively adorable questions like can you see people from that high up, what does the ocean look like, how high up do you think you have to be to see the entire continent of Africa. Around the point Fidele asked what sort of hotel waiver the airlines gives you so you can get a good night's sleep, I realized this man was seriously ignorant to the world of planes. I gave him a crude understanding of sonar, air traffic controllers, altitude pressure, sleeping in a chair, TVs in seats, pilots getting their very own room where the passengers can't hear everything they say, intercom systems, and airline food. I was feeling so ambitious I even ventured into a conversation about hot air balloons. In case you're wondering Fidele had absolutely no reference point for this - not even birthday balloons. I cringe just thinking about my elementary understanding of these things that I'm now passing along to people who don't know any better than to listen to me.

It made me realize that - sure, not every American has flown in a plane - but we have the privilege of media and movies. We can vicariously experience just about anything by turning on cable TV, including many things that no one should experience. We at least know these things exist, whether or not they will ever be a part of our reality. Some experiences are such extremely foreign concepts in many places in the world. (If it's entertaining to you, you can emphasize the pun of the word foreign.) Is it serving us well to know all this? Would life be less cluttered if we didn't know that planes can actually fly through the night without hitting each other?

*Fidele is my supervisor/coworker for those of you who don't know.