Re-evaluation of Ursula Le Guin's Story

Last week, those of us going to Uganda met with Krista who went to Uganda last year. We were talking about what we needed to do to prepare, what we should think about, what to be aware of and not be aware of, etc. Afterwards, I walked to the front of DC Library, and all the sudden I wanted to cry. I can't really explain what happened. I am normally very in control of emotions.

I sat down on this circle seat that was oddly placed, and I called my parents. I cried, and told them I just wanted to hear their voice. I started to tell my Dad about all these expenses I didn't realize were there. I didn't think about having to pay for Spring Term fees or shots or the fact that I don't have a sublet so thats four months rent to factor in. I felt crushed by all this money that I owed or would owe. I felt crushed that there was this thing that I wanted to do, and I felt like I couldn't do anymore because of money.

It wasn't just the money that made me feel so overwhelmed. I feel like there is so much I don't know. I'm not prepared. I have work, school, projects, volunteering, friends, and my fish. At the end day, I'm tired. I don't have time or energy to sit down and read my travel book about Uganda. I don't feel like I'm ready to go away to Africa for three months.

Its been making me think about the Ursula Le Guin story. For those who haven't read it, it describes a utopia. People are happy and their lives are prefect. Essentially, the story reveals that this exists by condemning a boy to live in a basement. Le Guin is fairly graphic and describes the boy as fiddling with his genitals and sitting in his own excrement. People go and see the boy. Some people just return to their happy lives and others leave the utopia. In our class, we associated the boy to be the developing world and the people living in the “utopia” to be the developed world.

In the story, it seemed so easy for people to go and see the boy. We assumed that they just had to walk in a basement. But what if the door to the basement is locked with Alien technology? Furthermore, what if to even get to the locked door, you have to go through a maze with money spiders who crawl all over you and suck your blood?

We never considered that maybe people do not go to see the boy because its just really difficult. I don't want to put words in my classmates mouth but I assumed it was just a matter of walking into a house and going downstairs. And I don't know what it was supposed to be in the story, but the real world is not like that.

I've wanted to do to this program since first year. I felt amazing when I found out I was accepted last year. It never occurred to me it would be difficult in the ways that it is. I never thought of the preparation mentally, physically, financially, and emotionally.

My question is can you make the decision to leave the utopia without seeing the boy? I don't want to suggest that I'm backing out of this work placement. However, I understand and am more empathetic to those people who don't want to do something like this. My question is can those people who don't go for legitimate reasons to the developing world, draw the same conclusions as those who do go. Is it possible to live in perspective as we've discussed, if you haven't seen or experienced the developing world?