Sheltering "Sustainable Development" habit

          It has been about two week ago since I last blogged. It had been very hectic with the first sets of four o'clock  Now, hopefully, everything will settle down till Spring Break. In addition, there isn't too much going on with Haiti group and unfortunately we haven't make a lot of progress. (This is expected, change does not happen overnight!)

          For this blog entry, I would like to address one of the topic for video project that Professor Orrs assigned. My topic is "Pick something you have learned this semester- either about yourself or someone/something else and talk about what it is, how you learned it, and how it may have influence you.".

          Although we may not have a neat notebook to show our parents that this is what we have learned through Sustainable Development class; although there may not be solid proof through tests and quizzes to show our result, I felt that I have gain a more mature viewpoint of what sustainable development is and explore what it takes to help without doing damages. Most importantly, I learned to shelter a new habit of "Sustainable Development".

This picture is a representation of what we learned can be
applied in more than one direction.

          I can ramble on the negativity of volunteer tourism, or I can talk about Haiti's economic framework or policy, but these are specific topics that I cannot apply "sideways". When asked about learning, I think of a skill-sets, or a habit that can be carried on beyond this class and may still have influence on me after the completion of this class, in a way I can apply this skills elsewhere or "sideways".

           It strikes me one night while I was talking to one of my friend. He asked what is sustainable development to me, how does it goes along with your career. It was just a casual conversation, so I had no pressure to answer. But I did, after pondering about it for a while. It goes along the lines of these. I really do not think necessarily I will go build a biosand filter or build shelter in underdeveloped nations. I am not sure if I will be hands-on or directly involved in sustainable development. Perhaps I will be an industrial engineering at a company, when asked to implement a project and considering its alternative, I will apply my habit of SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT in choosing a project that will be less harmful to the environment and its community. Sustainable development is a huge part of Corporate Social Responsibility. A company will not thrive without a healthy community. The answer really struck me and I am pleasantly surprised by my own answer. Prior, I did not really think of sustainable development beyond physically travelling to countries to help others. Perhaps sustainable development needs to be implemented in our own country and in our own backyard as well.

          Hence, I strongly suggest that while we are narrowly focus in our specific project, take a step back and look at the skill-sets we have learned and the habit we developed. Evaluate them and think of how we can apply them in a broader perspective. Chances are when we all graduate, we will not be fortunate enough to keep working with the country or the NGO, but we will still have all the skills and habit that we have learned.



The term "applying sideway" originated from a blog by MIT admission Here is his blog. http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways

A skill to be learned "Shut up and Listen!"

In respond to Ernesto Sirolli "Want to help someone: Shut up and Listen"

An image of Ernesto Siroli        The main motives of western countries are imperialist, colonist, and missionaries. Generally, western countries have good intentions; most want to help either to bring civilization, to bring technology, or to educate. However, they often arrived at these countries with a sense of superiority of a sense of “better than thou” mindset. In Ernesto Siroli TED talk series, he speaks of the idea of patronize and paternalism. He made the reference of “Thank god we are here. To save the Zambian people from starvation.”  However, the local people take no interest in participating in the Italian farming. The actions of the Italian that brings minimal benefit to the community and this makes Ernesto question their approach. Perhaps the patronizing and paternalism was not a favorable way of getting involved.       The next time around, Ernesto Sirolli did something different. This methodology is much more welcomed and accepted by the communities.  It is such a simple action but so difficult to execute. It is simply to “shut up and listen”. While at the field, an outsider should never initiate any idea, never motivate any individual rather to be “the servant of the local” who has a passion to better his own business or the community. To “shut up and listen” is so counter-intuitive. To “shut up and listen” to us almost seems too passive and too counter-productive especially to us American. We are anxious to see measurable results and returns. We want to get our hands on an “important” project as soon as possible and to do so without recognizing the local’s need. Perhaps Ernesto Siroli is correct, the best way to help the locals is to listen, to listen to their needs and to do so their way. Listen to them at their “natural habitat”, at a local café or at the dinner table. Listening is such an important skill set that are often overlook and undermine.   Shut up And Listen! For those who are interested in watching the TED talk presented by Ernesto Sirolli, here is the link: http://www.ted.com/talks/ernesto_sirolli_want_to_help_someone_shut_up_and_listen.html

And then there are Lakes..

And then there are Lakes...

Fishes from one of the lakes from rural Haiti

      Sustainable development is more than your alternative spring break. After reading The Possible Negative Impacts of Volunteer Tourism, I sincerely hope that our future project will not be part of destruction and the beginning of community reliance on foreign aid.

*For those who are not familiar with the article above, I would like to make a quick summary of the potential harms of short term volunteering *

• The lack of skills of volunteer hinder work progress or completion of unsatisfactory work
• The decrease in employment opportunity for the local
• The neglect of local desire and the lack of attentiveness to the local needs
• The increase in foreign dependency 

* For those who are interested in reading this article by Daniel Guttentag, I have found an online version. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jtr.727/pdf

      With that all being said, I am more conscious of my actions and our future project to do the least harm as possible we can to the community. What we want to do is to educate them to start a business, to sustain a business and to expand the business. This way, the knowledge retain in the community years after we left the country. And I believed that this is what we are heading towards with the initial encounter with Dr. Viessman.  

      We had our first meeting with Dr. Viessman on Friday. She is such a dynamic and passionate lady. Through her eyes and the way she talks about Haiti, she is so fulled of compassion to the Haitian people that she calls her family. 

The Development of Lakes Community

      We get straight to work. Professor Orrs send us a link about a grant called Grand Challenges. Our group is very interested in applying for it because we think that the money would be extremely (extremely, extremely)  helpful in getting the Haitian a head start in their business. We will be looking in the application more closely and will be working on that this week since the due date is closing. 

     Our initial idea on how to use this grant money is to build 10 communities around the lake. We will provide each community with one boat, eggs and chicken farming materials, and perhaps a community center where children could learn and family could obtain clean water. We are not too sure about the logistics yet since it is only a very rudimentary idea.

      We would like to have the Haitian be the beneficiary of as much of the money as possible so we intend to have them build the chicken farming cages and also buying raw material from Haiti. All of our actions are constantly being evaluated with the negative impact of short term volunteering. All the ideas that we are implementing are requested by the Haitian people, this is their needs. We will work hard on the application  and will keep you updated!

Lessons from Childhood

Lessons from Childhood 

Image from: http://www.relevantchildrensministry.com

            As children, we dream about being the president, living in the white house, flying around the country in the Air Force One. We all have this dream of being the top guy in the one of the world great dream however, this presidential dream caught up with reality relatively quick. Similarly, I fall into a similar imaginary parallel as I was first expose to global issues. At around the age of 14, I was exposed to globalization and world outside of my own bubble. Upon hearing stories from missionaries at church, I dream of feeding the hungry, building schools and shelters. Little did I know back then, my dream of tackling so many global issues that are way beyond my powerless self.  The ideology of “solving” global issues is long gone .However I do believed that there are many lessons to be learn from the naive childhood dreams.

            Before diving into the lessons we can learn from our childhood, I would like to begin with a little introduction of myself. I am Royce Kok, a verdant freshman at Lehigh University. I think I am majoring in Industrial Engineering however, that may change. (Yeah, great, now we have a college freshman who does not even know what she wants to do with her own life yet and she wants to go abroad to help other!) Yep, that's me!

Side track: This is a picture of my beautiful GC cohort nine.

            Well, originally I signed up for this class because I want to be involved in the Caring for Cambodia(CFC) project. I learned about Caring for Cambodia through Global Citizenship (GC) retreat and I become very interested in it. However, as plans usually deviates, CFC needs computer engineer at this developmental stage and I am not one. 

           Now, I am a proud member of the Haiti- Lakes project. Haiti goes through period of drought and period of rain. There are now artificial lakes in Haiti that acts as reservoir for water. With this new addition, there are endless possibilities. These new possibility includes (but not limited to) year-round agriculture business, sanitary water supply, and fishing.  

I embrace change, so I am completely fine with the switch from Cambodia to Haiti. The motif of this class is to assist these organizations and provide them with the expertise we have as college students. 
*Mini lesson: In philanthropic effort, the willingness to embrace change is very important. Our overarching goal is to help others so the interest of the NGO, host country and community should be placed before our interest. In addition, in participating in field work and collaborating with the communities, flexibility is crutial. For example, the host country might not have the same electrical supply as we do here in the United States. We have to alter the project.  (Sometimes slightly but it could be starting from the scratch).

After an introduction about myself, my role and project in this class. Let's get back to childhood business. Sustainable Development Solutions (ES297) is a pilot program at Lehigh University. Our class is then categorized into project groups. This projects is to work with the local community and NGO to find out in what way we could help them. In addition, we will have a chance to visit the host country. Most of the projects are like infants, some are farther ahead but all in developmental stage. However, for Haiti, we are infants so we should learn like the way they learn. 

Lesson 1: Children learn by imitation.

Actions such as talking and walking are learning through imitation. Students of sustainable development that wants to help the community needs to “mimicking the way of live” of the community. This way, student will learn to put themselves in the position of the communities.  

Lesson 2: Children are creative.

This is a picture of me learning how to walk.

Children think creatively, they solve problem unconventionally. Although we might not always want to be too unconventional in implementing or while working on the project, many brilliant ideas are grounded upon unconventional ideas.  

Lesson 3: Children are not afraid of failure

Children are not afraid to fail. While they are learning how to walk, they fall multiple times a day. They somehow manage to stand back up. We need to learn the persistence of children.

Lesson 4: Children learn through trial and error

While children putt puzzles together, they will try to put the puzzle pieces in one spot. However, through measurements, they quickly learn that this piece do not fit here. As for us, there is not a lot of room to condone error in the actual work site or host country. However, at Lehigh, while we are doing project stimulation, it is laudable to come up with a prototype for testing purposes and to learn through error.

Lesson 5: Children play fair.

Image from: https://www.iru.org

Children share when they play. In terms of sustainable development, student need to properly develop their project in a way that is “fair” to the three aspect of sustainable development, which is the social well being  social inclusion, and environmental protection.

Another central phrase around this class that we will use like a child would be “I don’t know.” Please do not be offended by that, we are merely being honest. The class and the groups will works hard to find the “solution”. However, there will be times where we will not know what we are doing, we will try really hard to understand the product from their cultural perspective and we will try really hard to DO NO HARM. Please do not be discouraged by the project we are starting, I invite you dive in to be part of our journey as we become the pioneers to many who comes after us.