Developments

I skipped a few weeks worth of entries here but we covered a lot of similar information in the corresponding meetings... discussing firstly development projects... 

Victoria Harris led us off with general insight from the course(s) she is taking and it evolved into a lively discourse of the real purpose of  development projects .... is it to make us feel better about having so much, make ourselves wealthier? , to "civilize the savages" or are we working out of genuine desire to better the lives of people..... if the last then we must seriously consider whether our actions will have long term positive effects.... progress should not be attempted at the expense of socio-cultural and environmental sustainability.  We also discussed the pros and cons of missionaries' efforts at things like education and economic stimulation/development concluding that there seems to be better understanding/training than in the past but there is still too often a euro-centric or Western-ideology that dictates missionary efforts.  For example we should be promoting the idea of enhancing education already in place rather than completely replacing it with a North American style school.

Later Ron Peters and Brent Friesen told us about the project they are working on in Cambodia of acquiring a piece of land that the outcasts (often racially segregated people groups) can have a home. They have had amazing "chance" encounters with the high ranking military officials. Specifically, Brent befriended a son of the general while he was studying at TWU, which opened so many doors allowing the administration of CanadianAID (correct me if this is not the right aid organization) to begin discussing the possibility of buying suitable land.  They also made contact with a few locally based groups that are working for change one of which Cambodian Hope Organization is run by a Cambodian (in other words it is not made up of a bunch of representatives from wealthy nations).

Finally, we discussed poverty and became overwhelmed with statistics (to the point where at least at least I felt somewhat at a loss).  Discussing how our ten dollars for a homeless person here is multiplied a hundred times in poorer countries we then have to decide how to use our money that has the most positive impact.  For myself I feel that my money is best spent enabling people who are "there" (where ever that may be) while I should use my time "here" to effect change.