#LintonLies, #WinklerWoes and the “seductive nature of white noise”
A review of a cautionary memoir of a young Australian woman’s tumultuous mission to save orphans in Cambodia.
A review of a cautionary memoir of a young Australian woman’s tumultuous mission to save orphans in Cambodia.
Too many TED talks. Too little time. Here’s some I’ve come across over the last few months to share with how-matters.org readers.
“Development work had become more about systems and structures than the actual lived realities of people,” argues Mette Müller, founder of Best Self Experience. Can important concepts like ’empathy’, ‘understanding’ and ‘compassion’ enter the way we deliver aid?
Richard Moore, founder of Children in Crossfire in Derry, Ireland, discusses the figurative blind spots for many people as they become involved in aid work. Richard, who was literally blinded by a British soldier at the age of 10, also discusses the value of community and the power of vulnerability.
Advice for people embarking on an aid career or any international do-gooder endeavor.
Sharing three recent TED Talks that encouraged me to reflect on how I personally and professionally stay connected to “what is living” at a local level that is authentic and that has potential to unleash social change.
Is fundraising using ‘pitiful’ images justified if charitable organizations use the money effectively? Duncan McNicholl, founder of the “Perspectives of Poverty” project, responds on how-matters.org.
“The kids in Africa were soooo amazing and so darn cute.” And so, the smoke poured out of my ears before I could even have my morning coffee.
My personal list of raw ideas that helps me contrast what I consider to be “old school development” and the long overdue emergence of alternatives to “business as usual” in foreign assistance.
I believe that our role as “outsiders,” whether we are working for a multilateral donor in Nairobi or having wanderlust dreams during our unfulfilling job in Ohio, must be about getting community leaders the resources that they need to address their own priorities.
Yes, the paradigm of development can break our hearts. But everyday, we have a choice. Will we slump into the system? Or will we challenge the parts of it that prevent us from feeling and exhibiting compassion?
Answers to: “If you personally could do one thing to change “the system” of foreign aid and development assistance, what would you do?” The number and diversity of responses has been overwhelming…and it keeps coming.