AprozarNet

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(Earlier today, Kubuguy contacted me about a post he wrote on IPower called “The Uncultured project is totally useless!” While I wish I was I had the capability to be more involved with the IPower community so I could have read this sooner, I am glad this was brought to my attention. Thanks for writing this Kubuguy. Seriously.)

In fact, I’d like you to meet a friend of mine that I recently met here in Bangladesh. His name is Sharief:

Sharief is ten years old and he’s a fisherman. Taking the phrase “feed a man a fish you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish you feed him for life”, Sharief learned how to become a fisherman at a very early age. Every night he, using the same equipment and putting in the same time as adults, he fishes in his village. His income? 30 cents (on a good day).

So, with the knowledge of fishing not being enough, Sharief decided to put his entrepreneurial & hardworking spirit to even further use by investing in a rickshaw. Most days he rides it himself and earns a fare from passengers. On other days, he rents out the rickshaw and earns money by renting equipment. With these two jobs do you know how much he earns? About 50 cents (or 60 cents on a really good day).

It’s stories like Sharief - and a reality that defies our simple clichés - which is the reason I work on the Uncultured Project..

I don’t do this project is for a sense of self-satisfaction. Indeed, I was more satisfied sponsoring children from afar without having to be confronted by the immense reality on the ground. Nor is it to fill a void - as some comments left by others (like Doomek) seem to suggest. Afterall, if I wanted to fill a void should I really be removing myself from my friends, my family, and all the hobbies and interests I had?

The reason I do this project is because there is a reality that most of us cannot fully comprehend until we see it with our own eyes. Even if you spend your entire life reading every textbook there is on global poverty (as I did for much of my life), some things need to seen first hand. Not everyone can – that’s why I try and vividly share as much of my journey as possible.

What I have learned is that those who say “unless you do _________ what you are doing is totally useless” are always wrong. It doesn’t matter if you are in favor of direct aid, spurring entrepreneurship, or some sort of Che Guevara-style world revolution - there is no one path to ending extreme poverty. Anyone who says that is simply trying to marginalize perspectives they disagree with.

While I appreciate your kind words, you seem to be marginalizing everything I do by saying I’m just giving “things”. I suppose I can’t argue with that – everything I am giving is indeed “a thing”. If I give school supplies (which can be used to learn how to read and write), that’s a “thing”. If I give a water purification system (so people can live without water borne diseases), that’s a “thing”. Heck, even if I pay for an immunization of a baby (so they don’t die), that too is a “thing”.

A mosquito net may only protect a family for as long as it lasts (if it’s a PermaNet – that is a min of 5 years). But, everyday they sleep under that mosquito net, comes the opportunity of a new morning free of having to deal with malaria. Everyday a villager drinks from a Pond Sand Filter, is the opportunity of not having to take a loan (or waste their meager savings) to buy medication to treat the newest water-borne illness they could have otherwise contracted. What you see as “totally useless things”, I see as opportunities. Opportunities people can then use to further improve their circumstances on their own.

When I gave the son of a young rickshaw driver the books needed for him to enter grade nine, I helped him ensure he has the literacy skills needed to command a high paying job. Even if he dropped out the next year, he’d be more educated than 70% of the entire country. By buying him brand spanking new textbooks, I put him in the position where he could resell those books after grade nine and use the proceeds to buy used textbooks by himself in grade ten.

My job, a charity’s job, or anyone concerned citizen’s job isn’t to provide a top-to-bottom solution for the poor. We aren’t suppose to hold their hands and build their life for them. What our obligation is to do enough to break them out of the cycle of poverty. We do that by creating opportunities. This includes the opportunity to live free from malaria, free from water borne illnesses, and in a position for them to start taking care of their own needs.

Uselessly yours in Bangladesh,

- Shawn

P.S.

I’ll continue to wave the American flag wherever I go. If, what you say is true, that the flag has become a symbol of suppression (I think you mean oppression) - than all the more reason for people abroad to see it in a positive context.