Comments on: One Hungry Village http://www.equivocality.net/one-hungry-village the world is a complex and beautiful place Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:36:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Kim http://www.equivocality.net/one-hungry-village/comment-page-1#comment-7300 Kim Thu, 16 Oct 2008 08:38:23 +0000 http://equivocality.net/one-hungry-village/#comment-7300 Okay, I had typed out a long bunch of stuff, then I pressed something accidentally and it all got deleted. Instead of retyping all of it, I'll just say, author of this article please email me. I recently went to Africa (although the other side of it) and left feeling the exact same way. I feel that I have the ability to help these people, but am even more unsure of what the best way of going about it is (or if it even ethical to interfere at all) now than before my visit. Indeed, it is a chicken and egg situation: what comes first, education or basic life necessities (like food, potable water, etc)? Can you sustainably provide one before the other? Is it even ethical to get involved at all? What impacts to the local culture do you have when intervening? Does it even matter--if you don't intervene, someone else surely will, and perhaps not in as altruistic of a way (coca cola is a great example for kenya)! I don't want to leave my email address here for spammers, but please go to my website, click on the contact link and send me a message via the form. i'd appreciate the discussion and help in sorting out my thoughts on these matters! Ian, thanks for posting the TED link. I enjoyed that talk, especially after reading this story. Good timing. Okay, I had typed out a long bunch of stuff, then I pressed something accidentally and it all got deleted. Instead of retyping all of it, I’ll just say, author of this article please email me. I recently went to Africa (although the other side of it) and left feeling the exact same way. I feel that I have the ability to help these people, but am even more unsure of what the best way of going about it is (or if it even ethical to interfere at all) now than before my visit. Indeed, it is a chicken and egg situation: what comes first, education or basic life necessities (like food, potable water, etc)? Can you sustainably provide one before the other? Is it even ethical to get involved at all? What impacts to the local culture do you have when intervening? Does it even matter–if you don’t intervene, someone else surely will, and perhaps not in as altruistic of a way (coca cola is a great example for kenya)! I don’t want to leave my email address here for spammers, but please go to my website, click on the contact link and send me a message via the form. i’d appreciate the discussion and help in sorting out my thoughts on these matters!

Ian, thanks for posting the TED link. I enjoyed that talk, especially after reading this story. Good timing.

]]> By: Ian http://www.equivocality.net/one-hungry-village/comment-page-1#comment-6500 Ian Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:06:40 +0000 http://equivocality.net/one-hungry-village/#comment-6500 Oh, and that was me. Also, you have comment spam. Oh, and that was me. Also, you have comment spam.

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.equivocality.net/one-hungry-village/comment-page-1#comment-6499 Anonymous Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:05:49 +0000 http://equivocality.net/one-hungry-village/#comment-6499 '"So what’s your favorite type of food?" Baba pauses and chews, thoughtful. "Rice," he says. ' I watched this nifty TED talk recently. You should check it out. I've been integrating this notion into my picture of how my own mind works. It's useful, and I think is maybe another part of this puzzle, the one called, "why don't people quit being poor?" http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/97 I should talk with you about the mentality of poverty sometime. That is, what it's like to be happy, even proud, that you're poor -- like your struggle is more authentic than that of others, that your accomplishments mean more and your failures less because of where you started. It's a hard thing to let go of. ‘”So what’s your favorite type of food?”

Baba pauses and chews, thoughtful. “Rice,” he says. ‘

I watched this nifty TED talk recently. You should check it out. I’ve been integrating this notion into my picture of how my own mind works. It’s useful, and I think is maybe another part of this puzzle, the one called, “why don’t people quit being poor?”

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/97

I should talk with you about the mentality of poverty sometime. That is, what it’s like to be happy, even proud, that you’re poor — like your struggle is more authentic than that of others, that your accomplishments mean more and your failures less because of where you started. It’s a hard thing to let go of.

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