Nicholas Kristof and Heroes

Nicholas Kristof is perhaps the only major newspaper columnist in the U.S. who writes regularly about developing countries. He long ago learned that writing a column about Africa or poorer areas of Latin America or Asia that people will actually read requires the presence of two stock characters: an attractive victim and a "bridge character" who saves the day, an American protagonist with whom readers can identify.

As Amanda Hess pointed out a couple of years ago in Slate, the online magazine, Kristof makes a good case for his approach, which has drawn tens of thousands of Americans to take a greater interest in problems such as human trafficking in far-away places. Many of these readers have donated time or money to combating problems they otherwise would have ignored. Sure, Kristof knows that local people have been and continue to tackle these problems, often with great success. But Americans are seldom interested in those stories..

One danger of this emphasis on Americans' agency in solving the problems of the developing world is the impact that it has on the people of the developing world. I have myself noticed that it is very easy for Yo Ghana! to do more harm than good if we slide into the role of Western Savior rather than doing the more time-consuming work of listening to, collaborating with, and recognizing Ghanaians on the ground who were identifying and solving problems long before we showed up.

It is very dangerous for Americans abroad to start thinking of ourselves as heroes because of what we have done for "our school" or "our village." That sort of thinking exaggerates our impact and can easily blind us to what we have to learn from our partners. It is even more dangerous if the people in the developing countries start thinking that heroes can only be outsiders. I am frightened by how easy it is for both sets of people--myself included--to slip into those roles. That is one reason we like to honor our teachers in Ghana whenever we get the chance, such as Madam Akoto of Akalove School, shown here, a woman who was instrumental in starting the school in the village a few years ago. Very few people in America may ever read about her. And that's fine. But it's important that the people of Akalove remember and honor their heroes--and remember that if they want great things for their community, they don't need to wait for outsiders to come to their rescue.