WHY NOT?

The question expresses an attitude about the art of seeing and seizing opportunities

By Ane Haahr Andersen, Volunteer in My Sisters 2007

When you ask an Ethiopian a question, the answer is often and very likely: "Why not?"
"Can you tell me where I can find the cheese?"
"Why not?"
"Can I buy that cheese, please?"
"Why not?"
"Do you think it is a good cheese?"
"Yes, why not?"
Some questions are of course more important and relevant than others, and for a lot of the Ethiopians the "why not"-phrase is simply one of the few English phrases they know.

A matter of angle
In the work I have been doing to get this website running, I have become more known with My Sisters, both as an organization, the work they do, and their staff. And often it has struck me, how their attitude towards everything simply is: "Why not?": Why not do Youth Club every day after school? And why not on Saturdays as well? Why not use lunch break twice a week praying instead of eating? Why not?

A naive, western-inclined foreigner like my, has, I am afraid, a much bigger tendency towards asking: "Why?", like I did as a child, when my Mum dragged my out of the TV serials and told me to clean up my room, help setting the table, etc.

Impressive "why not filter"
The more I see of the work My Sisters do and the way they look into things, the more impressed I get. The main purpose of the organisation is that everyone who comes to them for help will receive help, and new work is started where and when there is a need for it. Why not?

Every time I visit My Sisters to paint, take pictures or do something else, I am met with smiles, encouraging words and greetings that cannot help making me in a good mood. But what more than anything makes an impression on me, is that it seems like everybody in the My Sisters staff is wearing this "why not filter". When an option is seen, it is taken. Does something demand more time, they work longer. It is not everything that succeeds, but they try. Why not?

In my work here, I feel how I also want to wear a "why not filter", and I can only hope that it will keep working in Denmark. Why not?

Of course, it is not just about asking "Why not?" and then await other peoples answers and decisions - I would tend to do so once in a while, but in My Sisters the why not attitude works more like an initiator, because an option is seen and wished to be taken to achieve something. - That is why there is a Youth Club with thirty members after just one month. That is why there is an HIV support group, a health promoting programme for young girls, teaching of mothers in hygiene and nutrition, day care centres, a library, a first aid clinic, etc.
Why not?

Yes, why not?
Most of the staff of My Sisters are former clients, who fought their way to an education and to where they are today. They have every good reason to ask: Why?

Still though, it is always just a smiling "Why not?" that is read on their faces, and I think that is partly because My Sisters is a good organization that is able to build up their employees and leave their mark on them and let the positive attitude grow amongst them, partly it has got something to do with the Ethiopians being unworried in their way of living in general. And partly - I smile to myself and read the two words on my own infected face - "Why not?"