This slideshow documents my first tricycle ride in Manila. M. and I rode in the sidecar, while B. rode on the back of the motorcycle. There are some interesting U-turns in this city.

• The racism, stereotypes, and wrong conclusions in some attempts to bring attention to poverty.
• The transformative potential of Village Savings and Loan Associations profiled in Small Wonder, from the Economist.
• In the spirit of the season: “‘Yes we know it’s Christmas’ say African musicians“: “Speaking at the launch of the single, whose proceeds will go towards teaching discipline, literacy and contraception at British schools, composer and singer Boomtown Gundane said that for years he had been irked by Geldof’s assumption that hungry Africans were also stupid.”
• Nerdily amusing correlation-causation graphs.
• Came across this gem while [distracted from] writing cover letters recently.

Next update should be from the Philippines in the new year. Happy 2012!

I’m plenty busy (and happy) taking courses in international development and doing an internship, but I’m hoping to write here also to stretch my brain further to engage thoughtfully with development topics outside the classroom. I imagine I’ll learn plenty in the process.

For those who have followed me before, I don’t intend to make this an academic exercise, rather something that you might find enjoyable and interesting to read. As much as possible, I will try to include thoughts, stories, photos, and other treats from my upcoming travels- The Philippines and Brazil are on the calendar for 2012 so far!

Cheers!

This report describes a lot of things I’ve personally witnessed, and I think it brings up some really interesting, important questions.  Particularly in the case of short-term volunteer stints, can good intentions cause more harm than good? I think the answer is definitely.

Click to read and let me know what you think!

We Garden Under Blue Lights

We garden under blue lights
Affixed to a 30ft pole
The blue lights flash
Specially marking
Our inner city acres

To get the lights
a street needs to have
enough gun shots
enough drug deals
enough walking dead
(hungry ghosts)

At these blue light places
we garden
first collecting pieces
of blue light toxic waste
needles, chicken boxes, mattresses
rat carcasses, colt 45 cans, sofas,
toilets, crack viles, bullet casings,
dirty diapers, broken toys
carting them all away
in contractor bags and dump trucks
replacing now vacant space
with organic matter
hummus soil
layering in life giving compost
making a base for something new
with paths, trails, labyrinths
we mark a wandering course

Its slow going
under the blue lights
they’re presided over so much death
but the resurrection
is buds of brilliant blue
stems and stalks decorated with rainbow
petals
sunflowers towering their faces of a
thousand seeds
follow the sun
rocks smooth steps in an imaginary river
bed
boulders jutting from deep dug holes
secure in their new home
bushes creeping around trees
slowly growing to canopy beauty

After long hours
sweaty heavy dirty work
people sisters and brothers
young and old
gaze…
at our blue light special
still remembering what was
charmed by what is.

–PKB, June 2008

I worked to establish a marketing campaign, enable customers to spend Food Stamp benefits at our produce stands, and draft a business plan.  I also spent some time working on the farm and at the neighborhood produce markets.

For me, this was the perfect way to transition. I was able to make use of valuable Peace Corps experience with organizational development and planning, business development, and community needs assessments.  I met some really interesting and dedicated people involved in many different aspects of Baltimore’s betterment, and I got to eat some fresh fruits and vegetables along the way.

I will remain involved with the farm to some degree for a while, even though my summer position technically ended in the middle of August.  I’m still working on finalizing a business plan and some record-keeping systems.  When I get the chance, I like to support the neighborhood markets, where Real Food Farm offers affordable produce in areas where fresh food is scarce.  I believe in the goals of the farm, and the people have given me a very friendly introduction to this new place.

Here are just a few images from the summer’s work on the farm and at the markets:

And here’s an article featuring Real Food Farm and others in Baltimore: Baltimore seeds city farms as path to sustainability, jobs

She insisted she didn’t mean it in a bad way.  She meant that my service had made me tough.  I had changed.  I stood up for myself in a big, unapologetic way, especially when I felt someone was trying to take advantage of me. I fought, because I saw the ways that “help” was creating dependency and certain images of white foreigners.  I fought the stereotypes assigned to me (even when they were true), even as I fought the tendency to become numb to the need all around me.  I fought when I felt anyone was trying to cheat me, even over pennies.  I fought with men who believed a white lady “friend” was their ticket out of poverty.  I fought with co-workers who thought if only I found the right rich donor friend, they could skip the formal grant-writing process.  I fought when my mother wanted to send gifts to my Ugandan friends and co-workers, lest it create a certain image.  What image did I leave in the end?  I don’t really know.  Sometimes all the fighting made me tired.  Sometimes it gave me purpose.

In my experience, all Peace Corps Volunteers go through similar frustrations over the boundaries and effects of giving.  We struggle with what sort of impression we’re leaving, what sort of image we project of America and Americans.  This writer, who worked in Northern Uganda, describes some very familiar situations- particularly the question, “Will you be my friend?” from a pushy random passerby.  In his article, Andrew Morgan captures many of the questions we ask ourselves:

ethical dilemma: giving more than we thought we gave

More at: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/07/12/uganda.bombings/index.html

As the mainstream Western news coverage decreases in coming days, Ugandan and regional coverage can be followed at:

• http://www.newvision.co.ug/
• http://www.monitor.co.ug/
• http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/