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The reading that we did for this week: “Perceptions of short-term medical volunteer work: A qualitative study in Guatemala,” made me think and feel deeply into what type of “help” truly comes from short term care/aid. I felt like my thoughts and feelings would be reflected best through poetry. I wrote it through my eyes as if I were an adolescent living in El Salvador, in a very impoverished state. Being that this is my country of origin and many organizations do short term aid work there, I reflected by putting myself in the receiving end of that aid, and how I would feel.

You come with a smile and with a “helping hand”
You say you are here to help, but do you really understand
I wake up everyday with pain that cannot be cured with a band aid or a drug
My pain needs more than just a doctor, my pain needs long term care and love
They may think that this is going solve my problems, it may solve one for today
What about tomorrow, what about next month, what about in 10 years
I will still see poverty around me and I will still feel deep fear
I thank you for the clean water and care provided for today
But I am saddened too because you always stay a little while and always go away
Your families are safe,healthy and all have food without any conflict or struggle
My family is sick, dies slowly, starves with tears and blood, while we live in rubble
I cannot share with you how one days relief can sometimes bring me more grief
It reminds me constantly that you will always have more and that I always have less
I pray that one day this “help” stops, the day when all of us are equal
The day when I can also drink clean water, have food to eat and have a home
When I am also healthy from within and all around, the day when I can feel peace and no longer alone

This weeks readings: “Perceptions of short-term medical volunteer work: A qualitative study in Guatemala,” “The ethics of nursing student international clinical experiences,” and “Volunteering: Beyond an act of charity” all seem to run along a similar theme: in all international engagements, it is crucial to take into account the sustainability of one’s work. It is important to bear in mind the needs of the communities so that local members are able to thrive on their own with the existing resources they possess. Most international student volunteering organizations provide programs of two weeks to a month at underserved communities. These short-term volunteer work certainly make a difference during the times they are there, however once the volunteers leave, the underserved communities may not have the capability to maintain the same service to patients as before. Something these organizations may consider is to work with what the communities abroad have and share with the people ideas and practices to help them feel empowered and educated.

What these organizations can also think about is whether the people they want to help actually want their help and think of ways to best approach their presence in a long-term sense. Practices that seem “good” and “right” in the context of healthcare in our communities may not coincide in other communities. For instance, by simply donating unused medical equipment and instruments to a community without research may defeat the purpose of aid, as the supplies may not function properly with the technology in the community and cause more problems. This charitable approach may benefit the donor, but one must ask oneself whether it benefits the receiver. Is the help people are being given truly helpful? Do the people have to reply on temporary service or can they rely on systems that already exist?

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

In the article Community Service Learning in the Face of Globalization: Rethinking Theory and Practice, Novella Zett Keith discusses the contribution of neoliberalism, time-space compression, and globalism to globalization, which is bringing to light the truly interdependent nature of human existence. An example from recent history is the people’s revolution that changed the political landscape of Egypt, and emphasized that small actions can bring about much change through a ripple effect. The poem below reflects some of my thoughts based on our recent class discussions regarding colonization, globalization and motives for international development.

Brother From Another Mother

The air I breathe fills thy lungs too
The water I drink quenches thy thirst too
The earth that nourishes me feeds thy belly too
Then, Brother, why art thou poor?

The air that fills your lungs is made pure
By the lush greens that you saved
But Brother, they wiped away my forests
To build the factories that leach poisons
Into the rivers that my kinsmen bathe in and drink from,
That were the source of my sustenance until the fish died.
The earth, too, was plundered for copper, silver and gold
The metals that adorn you, and the carbons that fuel your way of life
The luxuries you enjoy from methane, oil and coal
Why then, Brother, do you wonder about my poverty?

No! No! It was not I, Brother, that took away thy riches
‘Twere those big corporations, whose greed hath left thee
Without trees to shelter from the heat of the sun
And without land to grow thy nourishment
What was I to do?

But was it not you that wanted independence, Brother?
Did you not vote to for freedom from the state,
For the capitalism that has fueled life into the greedy corporations?
How did the demands for individual freedom from a few
Turn into squashing the rights of entire communities?
Do you not wear the clothes my children sew,
Eat the food that we pick from the fields for you,
Smoke the tobacco and opium my neighbors grow for your pleasure
When they could grow grains, fruits and vegetables
But do I complain of sleeping under a mud thatched roof
While you enjoy fast cars and freedom?

O Brother! I did want to improve the quality of my life,
For what parent would not want their children to enjoy,
A better life without the suffering that they themselves had to live through.
But in my haste and greed I forgot
That this planet is as much yours as is mine
That my actions have consequences
That my privilege means your oppression
That freedom of choice brings with it a moral responsibility.
Brother, I cannot undo the decades of damage
Nor will I play the blame game that leads to nowhere
But hope that my actions now will make your future brighter

By Heather Amos, UBC Reports | Vol. 56 | No. 11 | Nov. 4, 2010

Naeem Mawji knew that many of his fellow Tanzanians did not have access to electricity. But, it wasn’t until he got to UBC and investigated the matter that he realized the extent of the problem.

Fourth-year chemical engineering student Naeem Mawji did some research and discovered that 80 per cent of his fellow Tanzanians don’t have access to electricity, and the figure jumps to 97 per cent in rural areas.  He also learned that families without electricity depend on kerosene-fueled lamps for lighting and that 75 Tanzanians die every day from respiratory issues and burns caused by these lamps.

“It’s not just a health problem,” says Mawji.  “Electricity allows people to store food, work longer hours and process grains into flour which can be sold for more money.”

Mawji was intent on making power accessible but it has taken him more than two years to turn his intentions into reality.  He worked with Dr. Shafik Dharamsi, an assistant professor in the Department of Family Practice in the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty Lead of the Global Health Network at the Liu Institute for Global Issues. They also worked with the Ethics of International Engagement and Service Learning (EIESL) to develop a plan.

UBC’s EIESL project explores the ethical dilemmas of international engagement projects, and aims to make UBC’s international outreach sustainable as well as collaborative with local people.

“Naeem’s project is a model for EIESL,” says Dr. Dharamsi, the principal investigator at EIESL.  “It’s not about charity; it’s about social justice through community partnership, sustainable engagement, and solidarity.”

Mawji, with the help of his father, who works in road construction, found it simple to connect with a community.

The village of Masurura, just outside the city of Musoma where Mawji grew up, had no access to power and does not use generators.  In Masurura, people walk long distances to get water, and the medical centre has to close when the sun goes down.  To charge the cell phones that most villagers own, one woman would travel 20 kilometers to a nearby town, charge a car battery and bring it back to Masurura.

Mawji worked with the community to develop a plan.  The priority was to provide electricity for the community centre, the school and the medical centre.

“The objective of this project was to first introduce the technology to villagers by illuminating communal spaces and using those spaces as a platform to educate, interact and collaborate with the community,” said Mawji.

In July 2009, Mawji installed solar lighting systems in the community centre, the school and the medical centre. All three systems are also equipped to charge cell phones. The fees from this service are collected and reinvested by the village council to maintain and repair the systems.

After this initial project was complete, Mawji decided to expand.  He started a social enterprise, Carbon X Energy, and recently won a grant of $100,000 from the World Bank through the Lighting Rural Tanzania Competition 2010. The funds from this award are now being used to build a solar-powered mini-grid to provide power to some of the homes in Masurura.

Last May, Mawji returned to Tanzania with two other UBC students and began preliminary work to build a solar powered mini-grid that will provide power to some of the homes in Masurura.  During this trip, UBC student Dan Kahn was approached by a man living in the village.

“He came up to me,” says Kahn, “and said, ‘Don’t say you’re going to do something and not do it. So many people come and say they will do something and then they leave.’”

This is one of many recurring issues that EIESL has identified; it’s the type of problem the project hopes to prevent.

“When I heard Naeem talk, it came through loud and clear that he was genuinely interested in working and learning with the community where he’s from, and improving the quality of life in a sustainable and enduring way” says Dr. Dharamsi.

Source: UBC Reports

Find out more about Carbon X Energy here: www.carbonxenergy.com

The EIESL team kicked off summer with five fantastic new additions to the project. Coming from very different academic and geographic backgrounds, it’s amazing to reflect on summer accomplishments, one undoubtedly being the sense of community we’ve established within our team. As we move forward with excitement into the school year, we look back with pride for all we’ve accomplished in the summer of 2010.

As our five new team members were introduced to the EIESL project, we were also introduced to a new resource put together during Year One of the project. The newly released Web Based Guidebook was put together through a series of dialogue sessions with the UBC community. Check it out at: http://www.ethicsofisl.ubc.ca

The Web Based Guidebook was used as a resource for five individual workshops that we each produced in the beginning of the summer. Topics included: Orientalism, Cultural Competence, Teaching and Learning, Ethical Pluralism, and Tropical Medicine. These interactive pilot workshops will be continued in the fall, as we introduce the iTalk series on campus.

EIESL hosted a summer launch at the Liu Institute for Global Issues to connect with past (and future) supporters of the project. With delicious refreshments to keep everyone energized, we introduced the new team, outlined the goals of the project for the second year and broke into discussion groups to obtain feedback on our ethically framed objectives for the fall.

Through a series of interviews with both faculty and student groups, the EIESL team collected and collated data for a collaborative research report that examined beta testers’ experience with the Web Based Guidebook. The information synthesized from these interviews was highly informative and will help shape future resources produced by individuals involved with the project. This report will be posted on the blog within the next few weeks for community feedback.

Upcoming events and coming ways to get involved:

As one of the founding members of the Global Lounge, EIESL will be providing three student workshops on workshop facilitation this fall. Further, the iTalk series will provide a forum for students to come together and discuss international issues through a workshop style format. It will be coordinated by Saida Rashid and  hosted at the Global Lounge. Our cup of excitement runneth over when EIESL found out our application for a Student Directed Seminar was accepted. In second semester, Ricardo Segovia and Sara Radoff will be running Developing Internationalists:A Ethical Approach to Service. We encourage all students who are interested to register for the class.

With so much to celebrate, the EIESL team will put away our summer hats as we prepare for fall rain (full of ethics, of course). We hope everyone had a fantastic summer and is excited for the start of school. Welcome back to UBC!

By Matt Whiteman

So this is a neat looking film which seems from the trailer to sum up our basic argument. Only thing is, they won’t ship it to us because we live in Canada. This makes us sad.

Also, did anyone else catch the irony here?  Unavoidable I suppose. Anyway, strong work for an accessible criticism of the charity paradigm. Although, it sorta feels a bit like that ridiculous Invisible Children documentary… and I’m not sure how to feel about it yet (and I will never be able to hear the words “Cairo to Cape Town” without thinking of our dear friend Cecil Rhodes). This is why I want to watch it to be sure. Either way, I think it could be a valuable teaching tool.

Is it unethical to smuggle a documentary that teaches people about ethics across the border? It may come to that (I also tried to steal an ethics class  once, arguing that it was “for the greater good”, but caved under my own conflicted conscience and came clean to the prof after a few lectures).

In summary:

Stickin’ it to big aid = sweet.

Featured at many film festivals = right on.

“Featured on CNN, NBC, FOX etc.” = *soft, apprehensive Canadian liberal grumble*

Anyhow, here’s the website for the film if you want to know more about it.

Dear EIESL members,

Anyone interested in increasing access to lifesaving drugs worldwide is invited to check out a student-directed seminar course coordinated by Sonja Babovic next semester. HESO 449B 003 is a 3-credit course in Arts that will take a multidisciplinary approach to the study of ensuring fair access to essential medicines in developing countries.