noise pollution

As I mentioned, one of the hardest things about living on camp is noise. I'm not just referring to the children constantly screaming in the windows or the continual din of chatter. The real problem is the decibel (painful) and time of day (all hours) people insist on blaring music and the like over loud speakers. This ranges from rather enjoyable Ghanaian high life music to the down right offensive Celine Dion ballad or evangelic ranting. Whatever it is, it is played so loud that you have to scream over it in your own house and frustrated attempts to shut out the noise with ear plugs or mental concentration only make your blood boil. I've spent some time trying to work out why no one (other than every international volunteer) seems to mind the noise. Seriously, this kind of noise at home would elicit at least a "shut the f--k up!" screamed out a window and more likely a call to the police, but here people just go about their business, sing along or break out into a little dance. I have a few theories brewing about this apparent tolerance for such extreme noise pollution, but none of them seem entirely satisfying.

1) This acceptance could be a manifestation of an African sense of communalism and a fuzzier sense of where the individual ends and the community begins. So much here seems to implicitly belong to everyone, and that includes everything from a person's income to their private space, which is (by necessity or culture) virtually non-existent. I have had strangers literally sit on my lap on a tro tro and children grab every part of my body without exception. A person’s fortunes or tragedies are never their own to enjoy or endure. A family member that makes good is expected (not hoped) to share their gains with the rest, but when someone is sick or everyone they know comes to aid with money and emotional support. There are so many manifestations of this communalism and sense that we are all tied to one another. Maybe this tolerance for another person's noisemaking is just another. The air belongs to everyone so no one person can stake prevent another from pouring a sound into it.

2) Maybe it's not all that deep. Maybe, in the same way those who grow up eating spicy food can tolerate it better than those of who grew up eating blander food, Africans’ sense of what is too loud or annoying has become muted through habituation. That seemed like a satisfying explanation, but I have spoken to some Liberians who are in fact irritated by their neighbor blasting music in the wee hours of the morning. So, it could be that…

3) There is no civil authority to create and enforce any noise pollution regulations. Maybe everyone is stewing with rage and frustration in their homes but they have no police to call and are afraid to confront someone who is bold enough to blare 50 Cent at deafening decibels. That could be true, but doesn’t seem to explain everything as most people still seem unfazed by noises levels that make it impossible to think, but maybe that’s the whole point.

4) It *is* hard to think when Ghanaian high life or American rap music is playing so loudly that furniture is rattled. But, considering what so many adults have had to live through in the war and afterwards, maybe silence is a worse offender. If quiet provides an opening for past horrors to visit your mind, loud music could be the antidote. So, maybe loud music works as kind of an easy and convenient palliative strategy when otherwise you’d be left to cope with some serious trauma.

I could still be wrong, but finding an explanation for this helps me from pulling my own hair out in frustration when a hokey musak version of Amazing Grace wakes me at 4 AM from much needed slumber. It keeps me from falling apart as I pull my pillow over my head and try not to loose my own grip on reality.