Culture of Jealousy

Status is everything. There is a definite culture of rank here. People occupying positions of power or prestige know it, and they make sure everyone else knows it too. If as much effort was spent on maximizing efficiency as is spent on maintaining authority, a lot more things would get done. A lot. There is no emphasis placed on teamwork, and a very absolute hierarchy exists in any organization or group. Villages have headmans (chiefs), tribes have Supreme Chiefs, everyone knows who’s superior to them, and who’s below them. It does have a purpose, and for all I know, the system may not run as well without them, but it seems to limit certain things. Gender equality is one of those things. Sure, behind every headman or chief is a great woman…or two or three, but her job is to produce children, cook, and work in the fields. Not involve herself in politics or money.

People in positions of power tend to create rules that limit competition and diversity, and eventually I think this kind of structure leads to an imbalance of opportunity, widening the gap between haves and have-nots. Lower-level employees focus on their responsibilities and tasks, rarely (if ever) offering suggestions to the higher-ups, as this would be disrespectful. The flow of information is not very fluid, one must follow the correct protocol. I’m realizing that it is perhaps unrealistic to think that change can happen from the bottom-up.

Interestingly though, this hierarchy is based more on social status than income. In fact, good businessmen who have made quite a good living are often accused of being “Satanists”, and people blame all sorts of misfortune on them. My neighbour was telling me about a woman in town who went into labour, had complications and lost the baby, and died two days later. I sympathized with her and said childbirth can be dangerous if there are complications and no midwife or doctor, and she told me that it was because of one of the wealthy “Satanists” that the woman and baby died – he had placed a curse on her. This is not unlike the Salem witch trials. Where does this come from? Perhaps a myriad of factors; poverty, jealousy, ignorance, deep-rooted traditional beliefs, isolation. The bigger question is, will such accusations ever stop? Can you stop jealousy?

This culture is everywhere. It doesn’t take long to figure out who’s in charge, who’s a bwana. They have an arrogance about them, and are able to look down at you with noses in the air despite being nearly a foot shorter than you. I attend weekly clinical meetings, not often attended by nursing staff as they are busy on the wards. Often, the only other nursing representative is two or three nursing directors or tutors, all of whom regularly arrive 10 minutes late, disrupting the presenters as they shuffle about and move chairs, then sit smugly through the remainder of the meeting with an all-knowing look on their face. I caught up with one of these women to ask if the information from these meetings makes it to the general nursing staff. I explained that many of the issues brought up concern nurses directly, and improving care and outcomes begins with them. She mumbled a vague answer, not meeting my eyes, about how someone is supposed to attend these meetings and pass the information on to the morning staff, who then should pass it on to the evening staff, and so on. She admitted the information gets lost along the way, and stated very matter-of-factly that the staff need to do a better job of this. I hesitated asking her what exactly her purpose of attending the meeting was, and what exactly her role was, as “Director of Nursing”. Perhaps something to do with directing the nursing staff, but I may be out on a limb there.

So…why? Why is it like this? Why do people care so much about status, even when it knowingly gets in the way of efficiency? Is it because getting to that level is difficult, and once you’re there, you feel that you’ve earned the right to be treated a certain way, and to treat everyone else a certain way? You deserve the best seat, the first and biggest plate of food, and there’s never any question about this? The current President of Zambia has travelled more in his first 8 months than the first President did in his 27 years of office. Zambians say he’s been out of the country more than in it. His mode of transport while in Zambia? Helicopter, of course.

Stay keenly aware,
Of the Culture Of Jealousy,
It tears humans apart,
The Culture Of Jealousy…
How much will it hurt us,
And where can it lead?
No one has the answer,
On the Culture Of Jealousy …
(T. Martin)