“American people say that political changes will change the conditions in our country,” Thar Gyi said. “That’s true. But I think we need to develop our own capacities. We are not ready for democracy. We don’t have any good platform, good foundation, to get those changes.” He spoke of the garbage that often blocked the drains, flooding the streets of Rangoon. Residents complained that the city was dirty, he said. “Where does that garbage come from? People throw it recklessly. When there was a flood, people said that is the responsibility of Yangon City Development Committee. It was their fault!” Thar Gyi’s whisper gave his voice a strange urgency. “But you can’t just say, ‘You should take the responsibility!’ That’s why I want to use the arts. I want to teach people critical thinking.”
I encounter similar difficulties in Yusufiya. Streets are lined with careless trash: candy wrappers, cans, rotting food, animal hides. The cleanest parts of Iraq are probably American patrol bases. I saw an Iraqi man throw a cigarette butt in the street one day. Through an interpreter I asked him, "why not throw that in a trash can?" He answered that it was the government's job to clean up trash here. "But the government has no program for this yet," I pointed to the mountains of trash in the street. He shrugged.
One night, during A'adil's poetry class, we had the students follow the rubric of an "I am..." poem from this website (thanks Mom!). The hardest lines to finish? Anything involving the imaginary. "I pretend..." took almost 10 minutes to explain.
"They don't get it," said Mike, my interpreter. He graduated college in Texas so I knew his translation was accurate.
"How are you explaining it?"
"I asked them, what do you do when your Mother isn't there--one said 'homework' so I clarified..."
This went on for a while. Finally the kids settled on "policeman" or "soldier." One outlier wrote "I pretend I'm sick." And there were verses that came from a world only Intervention could have created:
"I understand geography
I believe in helping to build Iraq
I help the sick
I dream of the clouds
I hope to become president of the Republic of Iraq
I am a good student and I love my school.
-Abdul Aziz Hashim, 11"
