What is the real meaning of 'foreign aid'

What is the real meaning of 'foreign aid'

JAKARTA (JP): That motley community haphazardly lumped under
the term "expatriates" has been on the receiving end of knowing
looks and choice comments in the last few days.

Behind these is the assumption that the foreign guests, many
of whom get their salaries in prized U.S. dollars, are now living
on easy street with more value for their bucks.

Not the case for yours truly, who gets paid in rupiah, and, if
truth be told, I wouldn't have it any other way. That's not to
say that the spendthrift in me has not run through a few mental
calculations over the giddy gains to be reaped if my salary were
in dollars.

It is the stuff of dreams, and of nightmares. On Tuesday,
after the rupiah had dallied dangerously with 5,000 to the
dollar, someone needled me that I must be cleaning up at the
bank.

It had been a long, stressful day, and I was not in the mood
for suffering fools gladly.

"Even if I did get dollars, which I don't, do you really think
I would be happy about seeing other people suffering around me,
or the hardships ahead?" I berated the increasingly chastened,
soon-to-be-former-acquaintance.

No doubt there are some among the expat ranks who are rubbing
their hands in glee over their fattened paychecks. Christmas in
Cannes? New Year's in Nice? The world really is their oyster.

But these are the same fair-weather friends who, after two or
three years, count their money, pack up and head home, woefully
none the wiser about Indonesia or its people.

I am not crying poverty here -- expatriates live well in this
country, although many do not enjoy the fantastic incomes
imagined by Indonesians. But I like to think that the majority of
us, including those with all the material trappings of expat
life, give something back, instead of just taking the money and
running.

We end up here for a host of reasons. It may be a place to
find oneself, or escape, an inviting and tolerant port of call
when our lives are all at sea. For some, it is their adopted
home, a love affair kindled over a lifetime.

Like all relationships, there are peaks and valleys. Expats
from the affluent world love to complain about the problems, both
imagined and real, of living in Indonesia. Get a group of expats
together, and before long the chorus of complaints begins.

Sure, we are often the object of unwanted, unsolicited
attention on the streets (that standard "Hey Mister, f*** you", I
treat as an interrogative, and answer with a breezy "Dinner and a
movie first").

Sometimes, we are literally and figuratively taken for rides
by taxi drivers out to test our navigational skills. Consumer
service is still a contradiction in terms here. And, yes, it is
tough to find hair care products for blonds in the stores.

Not mightily important in the big scheme of things. But before
the accusations fly that I am a grievous apologist for this land
where allegations of corruption and injustice make the papers
every day, let us all remind ourselves that this is a developing
country.

And I will come clean that I have been guilty of my own expat
hissy fits. Frustrations build up, and, human nature being what
it is, we start picking on the little guy.

While Julia Roberts may be able to call up Spago's and elbow
her way past the Des Moines businessman for the table by the
window, I can shift into ethnocentric, Ugly American mode in
childish fits of wanting to get my way.

That's when I need to be brought back to earth with a thud.
Thankfully, I recently got that hollow feeling of recognizing my
pettiness after recounting a tale of woe to an expatriate
colleague, herself married to an Indonesian.

"When I have experiences like that, I find it pays to slap
myself in the face and say 'developing country'," she deadpanned.

Sure does the trick. Think about it -- many of us expatriates
wouldn't have jobs to fill if this nation wasn't just finding its
feet. We would not have the opportunity to live in this
relatively safe and accommodating land, and to learn from its
rich culture.

Perhaps it is even more important to remember this now, when
life is getting tougher and the people we live and work with are
beginning to feel the pinch. It may be a long haul, but we are
all in this together.

-- Frederick Vickers