What is your deepest fear?

I am watching the video coverage of Barcamp Africa and I have to say that from what I have seen in the first hour or so has been quite impressive already.  Two essential points that I am all for and one new interesting word.

First one of the speakers, Andrew McLaughlin, mentioned a point that is very much related to what I wrote about a few days ago concerning what I think about how aid is provided to African countries.  He mentioned that when aid money is invested by a non-profit organisation to introduce computers in schools for free, it kills the markets for entrepreneurs who might have been interested to get into such a venture.  Another speaker, Peter Carpenter, mentioned that the same argument could be provided for food aid that is taken to parts of the country.

Peter Carpenter then put up a slide that contained more material that I happened to be discussing with another friend.  I shall just put up the content as it speaks for itself.

1- Know and Respect the culture in which you are trying to make a difference.

2- Know what the people you want to help actually want and need - which may not be what you originally planned to give them

3- What is in your heart and mind is much more important than what is in your wallet - but all three need to be used if you are going to make a difference

The last thing I wanted to mention was the new word I picked up…. reaspora.  This, apparently, refers to African people (at least in the context of the panel it was presented at) who have been working abroad and are making a conscious decision to return home knowing that the very fact that they are in their homes is a contribution to progress in itself.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 28th, 2008 at 11:34 pm and is filed under Recreational. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.