I received an email regarding school sponsorship from an organization which I befriended when I was volunteering in La Prusia, Nicaragua. My neighbor in La Prusia, a 19 year old girl named Chilo, inspired me to initially contact this organization about school sponsorship programs. Chilo is a sponsored student; a woman who also volunteered where I did pays yearly for Chilo's school fees, uniform, and books. Chilo is incredibly bright, and aims to attend university next year in Managua, hoping eventually to study outside Nicaragua.
La Prusia is an extremely poor neighborhood just beyond the borders of Granada, Nicaragua. The people who live there are marginalized by the government, which doesn't recognize them as legal landowners and therefore provides no sanitation, electricity, clean water, or schools for any of its more than 500 residents. The youngest children are sent to school in Granada, and their parents must pay school fees equivalent to about $100 yearly, which is usually more than each family earns over the course of 3 or 4 months. Most children do not go on to secondary school because of the high cost and because their help is needed in generating family income.
La Esperanza Granada funds a free school in La Prusia, but their teachers are volunteers and therefore there is a high changeover rate among staff. To help students who are most dedicated to their studies, the organization helps match deserving students with sponsors who pay for secondary and university education.
Chilo implored me to sponsor a student, and I intend to fulfill my promise to her. I'd like to start a sponsorship collection fund. I think it would be great if everyone donated as much or as little as they are able. In 2009, school fees will be $210. I'll make up the difference between whatever we collect and the $210 sponsorship cost. A link to the La Esperanza Granada website is below. To contribute to the collective sponsorship fund I proposed, just click the button. You can contribute online via PayPal!
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
El Diaro Che
Poverty is forced passiveness. To be wealthy is to be able to live life aggressively.
And this kind of wealth should never be forsaken and unappreciated, wasted, or lost.
Ernesto "Che" Guevara as a pop culture icon bothers me. My adoration of Guevara is not based on the concept of him as a counter-culture, fuck-the-man, martyred-by-the-CIA figure. Guevara is a symbol of what it means to explore, to set out on the open road, and to be touched by people. He is the one who said "Let the world change you, and you can change the world." And he did. He really did change the world. It was for a short time, but he fought and won a revolution. He led resistance in the Congo and in Bolivia. He was the ultimate destroyer of systems, ignorer of structures, inspirer of masses. It was convenient that the slang of his country allowed him to wear such a populist nametag as che -- dude, buddy, friend. At how ironic that such a name would always highlight his roots in South America's most European country. How fitting that he wore that badge, the blood of the Spaniards so strong in his veins, while fighting for the cause of the single, mestizo race of Latin America.
Guevara was the ultimate traveler, couchsurfer, idealist, visualizer, thinker, dirtbag. He should be studied for his thoughts, his journal-keeping, his experiences, his goals. He is not a lesson in failed populism, CIA intervention, halted revolution, or narrow-minded idealism. Guevara is a lesson in the value of the journey, the importance of the daydreamer, the power of the open heart. Those lessons would do everyone a lot of good.
He changed the world, and it all started with a backpack and the road.
Monday, September 15, 2008
My Maple Syrup Brain
My head is spinning and I'm not quite sure what set it off. Could it be the massive amounts of development theory I am reading through each day? Or maybe it's the economic equations with their dozens of variables that set my brain on a spiraling path to insanity. Could the dizzying pace at which I have settled into life in Vancouver be contributing to the madness? Without a doubt, the sheer volume of names and faces and stories and places that have muscled their way into my consciousness must be complicating my mental state.
When it comes to school, I have theories on everything and opinions on nothing. Each book contradicts the next. Easterly says development is economic growth, and the only path to success is through incentivizing investment. But Sachs argues that debt forgiveness and education and disease control are the goals which will lead to development. Easterly mocks Bono; Sachs is Bono's mentor. Sen argues that everyone is completely bonkers -- and the only way we can measure development is by the capabilities of individuals; development is freedom. But such a broad definition of development opens the door to arguments both for and against anarchy, Marxism, capitalism, industrialization, de-industrialization, economic reform, universal education, and globalization.
I'm in Vancouver because I want to learn about development, which to me is the minimization of misery and the increase in equality among all people, not just within a given community or country. I think this requires sacrifice on the part of the wealthiest -- I see no practicableness in the idea that we can keep economies growing infinitely to the end that everyone is wealthy. No, wealth is built on the exploitation of others. To achieve equity and fairness, sacrifices must be made. The system must be radically changed (destroyed?). I'm in Vancouver, and I spend 10 hours a day thinking about all these things that need to be done. I think, I listen, I discuss, I think some more, I argue a bit, I think, I go home, I read, I think, I try to synthesize it all, and I end up turning to my journal or this blog or a friend's unoccupied ear in the hope that if I ramble long enough about all these ideas, some sort of cohesive thought will eventually form in my brain and tumble off my tongue in a coherent manner. But all that I've got is the previous sentence: 75 words of gibberish.
In an ideal world, everyone would have the opportunity to expend this much mental energy on theory and philosophy and concepts, but there would be no need because there would be no desperation for change. Even though I know that the opportunity for this thought is what separates the free from the unfree, I don't think that life should really be lived this way. Life should be simple, clean, happy. People should throw off desire, embrace reflection, nature, and the generosity of others. Buddha had it right -- but the problem with Buddhism is that we are all supposed to toss away our possessions and rely on the generosity of others in order to obtain what we need to survive. If everyone is throwing off desire and possessions, then who is left to give charity?
That was way off the point, but it's been an idea that has crept into my head more than once today, and I thought perhaps the best way to deal with its annoying presence in my mind would be to try to communicate it to someone else. It's not that the idea annoys me, but I feel that my mental energy is so pushed to the limit that any thought not directly related to Sen, Easterly, Keynes, Mosse, Harriss, the IMF, Bono, Sachs, the World Bank, globalization, the dalit, the WTO, Marxists, hippies, anarchists, and famine is mental energy that is being wasted.
But then on the other hand -- what good is my position in a "developed" society if I cannot exercise my mental capacities in the way that I see valuable? I want to think about football and chocolate, sunsets, leprechauns, the Hold Steady, Buddhism, paper airplanes, the attractive people I see everywhere, movies, Naipaul, cotton vs. hemp, and quesadillas. Thinking about that stuff is fun. It makes me feel alive. Thinking about development economics does not make me feel alive; it makes me feel like I am drowning in molasses (or should I say maple syrup?), but that perhaps someday I'll have one single great thought that could make a huge impact on the world and rocket me out of my sugary grave. So I am trapped inside my own mind. On the one hand, I want to exercise the parts of my brain that give me instant gratification, and on the other hand I want to push my brain to the absolute limit of my capacity for abstract thought, even though it is painful, frustrating, and apparently doomed to futility, since I have more questions and no answers.
When it comes to school, I have theories on everything and opinions on nothing. Each book contradicts the next. Easterly says development is economic growth, and the only path to success is through incentivizing investment. But Sachs argues that debt forgiveness and education and disease control are the goals which will lead to development. Easterly mocks Bono; Sachs is Bono's mentor. Sen argues that everyone is completely bonkers -- and the only way we can measure development is by the capabilities of individuals; development is freedom. But such a broad definition of development opens the door to arguments both for and against anarchy, Marxism, capitalism, industrialization, de-industrialization, economic reform, universal education, and globalization.
I'm in Vancouver because I want to learn about development, which to me is the minimization of misery and the increase in equality among all people, not just within a given community or country. I think this requires sacrifice on the part of the wealthiest -- I see no practicableness in the idea that we can keep economies growing infinitely to the end that everyone is wealthy. No, wealth is built on the exploitation of others. To achieve equity and fairness, sacrifices must be made. The system must be radically changed (destroyed?). I'm in Vancouver, and I spend 10 hours a day thinking about all these things that need to be done. I think, I listen, I discuss, I think some more, I argue a bit, I think, I go home, I read, I think, I try to synthesize it all, and I end up turning to my journal or this blog or a friend's unoccupied ear in the hope that if I ramble long enough about all these ideas, some sort of cohesive thought will eventually form in my brain and tumble off my tongue in a coherent manner. But all that I've got is the previous sentence: 75 words of gibberish.
In an ideal world, everyone would have the opportunity to expend this much mental energy on theory and philosophy and concepts, but there would be no need because there would be no desperation for change. Even though I know that the opportunity for this thought is what separates the free from the unfree, I don't think that life should really be lived this way. Life should be simple, clean, happy. People should throw off desire, embrace reflection, nature, and the generosity of others. Buddha had it right -- but the problem with Buddhism is that we are all supposed to toss away our possessions and rely on the generosity of others in order to obtain what we need to survive. If everyone is throwing off desire and possessions, then who is left to give charity?
That was way off the point, but it's been an idea that has crept into my head more than once today, and I thought perhaps the best way to deal with its annoying presence in my mind would be to try to communicate it to someone else. It's not that the idea annoys me, but I feel that my mental energy is so pushed to the limit that any thought not directly related to Sen, Easterly, Keynes, Mosse, Harriss, the IMF, Bono, Sachs, the World Bank, globalization, the dalit, the WTO, Marxists, hippies, anarchists, and famine is mental energy that is being wasted.
But then on the other hand -- what good is my position in a "developed" society if I cannot exercise my mental capacities in the way that I see valuable? I want to think about football and chocolate, sunsets, leprechauns, the Hold Steady, Buddhism, paper airplanes, the attractive people I see everywhere, movies, Naipaul, cotton vs. hemp, and quesadillas. Thinking about that stuff is fun. It makes me feel alive. Thinking about development economics does not make me feel alive; it makes me feel like I am drowning in molasses (or should I say maple syrup?), but that perhaps someday I'll have one single great thought that could make a huge impact on the world and rocket me out of my sugary grave. So I am trapped inside my own mind. On the one hand, I want to exercise the parts of my brain that give me instant gratification, and on the other hand I want to push my brain to the absolute limit of my capacity for abstract thought, even though it is painful, frustrating, and apparently doomed to futility, since I have more questions and no answers.
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