Connecting to the World
LIBE 477 // November 1st // JKroeker
“By learning to read and write, children can succeed not only in school but throughout their lives.”
(CODE website: https://code.ngo/understanding-literacy/)When
looking to provide aid to developing countries, many NGOs focus on delivering
support to fulfill the bottom tier of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to the
population. Physiological needs of food, water, shelter, clothing, air, and
sleep are vital for life. Without these needs met, growth cannot be made to
better one’s life because focus is entirely on surviving. NGOs are able to pull
at the heart strings of North Americans sitting at home because the idea of
these basic needs not being met brings on feelings of empathy and sadness. I remember
my dad, who worked for World Vision for my early childhood, holding a small
child in his arms describing his or her story to the cameras and into the homes
of viewers. As donators we focus on our money being put towards giving that
child food, water, clothing—their basic needs. But in order to lift a nation
out of poverty, one might argue that people within that nation need to have adequately fulfilled
each layer of Maslow’s Hierarchy. I wonder if self-actualization or "desire to become the most that one can be" is required in order to take action to support one's own country. What do you think?
What About Wifi?
In this
modern age, the knowledge available to students is not determined by the
background knowledge of the teacher. If that classroom is connected to the
internet and has suitable devices, the teacher automatically becomes a guide to
education instead of the source.
As we learned so clearly in the spring
of 2020, remote learning is possible when we decide that (1) a device and (2) wifi
access should be available to all. If we treated developing countries with the
same level of urgency that we did with our own the education of our own children
in the spring and, somehow, focused on giving them access to these two things
(provided their basic physiological needs were met), then their access to information
and, therefore, education will explode. Students could access experts from all
over the world, stream world current events, and connect and collaborate with
students and individuals around the globe.
What we do:
Shipping relevant, physical books to under-developed nations is logistically difficult, but worth the effort. At my school we take part in one of the many programs that takes deleted books and sends them to libraries abroad. Notably, we of course only send the books that are (a) in good condition and (b) are still relevant. The project is called Ix-Canaan. Watch this great video to learn more about it:
As you can see from the video and website, opportunities come when access to information increases. We send physical books, but with the accessibility to the internet, suddenly databases such as World Book kids, Curio, and National Film Board, which are built with non-fiction text and media, grant the students new perspectives. They use the internet for research projects which lets them learn about things beyond their town.
Jennifer, I am also a supporter of World Vision, as well as Compassion Canada, and can appreciate your perspective on how these organizations work to support the most basic needs of children in developing countries, but do not address the other levels of the hierarchy you mentioned. I think that self-actualization, the desire to be the best one can be, absolutely plays a role in how individuals in developing nations support their country in development. In 2011 I had the privilege of traveling to Rwanda and directing a summer camp. The people I met while I was there absolutely blew me away with the amount passion that almost appeared to visibly exude from them whenever they talked about the future. Despite the hardships that many of them endured during the 1991 genocide, these people were resilient and passionate about moving their country forward. They understood that children are the future, and were eager to volunteer and invest their time and efforts in supporting child development and education. I noticed a similar degree of resilience and passion amongst the children. I will never forget one little boy who approached me on the soccer field one morning. He was not part of the summer camp, and had obviously wandered over from the slums across valley. He was quiet and respectful as he watched the other kids play, and his face completely lit up when I was finally able to communicate through hand gestures that he was welcome to join in. He joined in with us regularly after that, and used the opportunity to develop his English skills, which he would share with his younger brother. My experience during my time in Rwanda made me realize that I wanted to find a way to continue supporting the locals, as their passion for their country instilled a passion within me. Upon returning to Canada, I became an ambassador for the Wellspring Foundation, which has a head office in Langley as well as in Kigali, Rwanda. The Wellspring Foundations vision is "to be a catalyst for transforming education in Africa and to foster vibrant communities that address poverty in all its forms." They're working to develop a sustainable education system by providing teacher training programs which empower local educators to train and mentor their colleagues and ultimately transform the current education system. Although I agree that organizations like World Vision can support in meeting the basic needs of people in developing countries, I think that organizations such as Wellspring whose intentions are "to go deep rather than wide and to create models that enhance systemic change at both the grassroots and national levels" provide sustainable solutions to addressing issues of poverty, and allow for citizens of the developing nation to play a key role in evoking change. I think this is especially important to the sustainability of any type of change, and ties in with your point about self-actualization and the importance of initiating change to be the best you can be. If you (or anyone else) is interested in Wellsprings initiatives, you can read more about their work at: https://thewellspringfoundation.org/
ReplyDeleteThis is a good post, You share many important thoughts and ideas. I appreciate your thoughts on remote learning and the urgency in education. Interesting to think of this from a global perspective. A reminder to include a works cited list with your post.
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