Month: December 2012

Reflection and action are two sides of the same coin; engagement in life.  We act out of our thoughts, out of our ideas of what is real, and what should be made real.  I am reading a book right now which is about social innovation, about the multle lines of connection which string together people and stories, through which social change comes about.

The following are excerpts from this book, Getting to Maybe, written by Frances Westley, Brenda Zimmerman, and Michael Quinn Patton, p. 61 (references below)

We live, by and large, in a culture that divorces contemplation or reflection from action.  We go to school, a time of contemplation, to prepare ourselves for action.  Those who never wish to enter the world of action remain in school, as academics, or become monks, writers, artists.  Those who spring into action rarely find time for contemplation, for standing still—-except on vacation, when they collapse from overwork..

What do you think of these statements?  Are academics existing in exile from the world, or is thinking, studying, and learning actually a form of action?

Deep reflection demands careful observation, not only of the details but also of their relationships to one another….Successful social innovators are thoughtful actors and restless thinkers….

The need for ongoing reflection is shaped by the fact that in complex systems, no pattern stays in place for long, and no intervention has a predictable result.  The world is not acted upon, but rather interacts with us in often surprising ways….

As students in GRS we have the privilege of engaging with the world in a unique way- we engage with its history, its present, and its future.  We look at it through so many lenses: agriculture, land, food, community, politics, sociology, chemistry… I really believe that this time of learning, contemplation, studying, is a decisive action.

1. Westley, F., Zimmerman, B., & Patton M.Q. (2007). Getting to Maybe: How the World is Changed. Toronto, ON: Vintage Canada.

Statistics? Ooh…sorry!

Believe it or not, that is the response that I got 98% of the time when I mentioned that I was taking a statistics class.  And, truth be told, that was my attitude to this required course for the past few years as well. I couldn’t have been more surprised.  I have discovered a new language of communication and expression, one which I am apt to continue learning.

Statistics speak of realities, and skillfully translate disconnected pieces of information into stories.  Those stories are then legible and recognizable in so many different languages.  The background, different elements of the context, and predictions of the future.  Statistics is practical, but it is also highly philosophical.  It is founded upon certain agreed upon truths which allow statisticians to make inferences based on a small sample size of data.

Before I took this class, I felt quite opposed to reducing people’s stories to statistics, and did not appreciate the value of this field.  What I have learned is that it is an incredibly useful tool in giving power to those stories, not only those of people, but those of the environment.  Of gathering together different stories and identifying trends and commonalities between them.  Of understanding the context in a totally different way. Statistics is a tool in analysis and understanding.

This is a reminder to me in just how varied the skills which are available as we attempt to understand one another and the world in which we live more completely.  As I apply the concepts I learned in statistics to my field of study, which has come to be defined as the relationship between sustainable livelihoods, food security, and health (specifically nutrition and maternal health) in a global context, I see how useful this kind of depth of analysis will be in asking the right questions, and connecting different sets of data together to see patterns and trends, to understand not only what is, but why it is.  To see relationships between different, seemingly unconnected, parts of the picture.

Mulembe.  You respond, ‘Mulembe’.  Kamahua.

This is a traditional greeting in Lugisu, one of the 52 languages spoken in the nation of Uganda.

Who is Uganda? Where is Uganda? What are it’s stories?

Yes, Uganda is a nation which borders Kenya, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Rwanda, yes, it is a member of the East African Community, a regional intergovernmental organization, yes, it is a nation who was colonized by the British until 1962, a nation with a rich and diverse cultural heritage with over 60 tribes and 52 languages. Yes, Uganda is all of this.Uganda is a highly agricultural nation, known for beautiful art and excellent music, for the infamous tea shared so frequently between friends and colleagues.  For the Nile River, for its mountains, lake, and rich natural beauty.

Yes, Uganda is all of this, and so, so much more, because Uganda is a nation which is composed of more than 30 million people, each of whom are a unique, beautiful expression of Uganda’s story.We fell in love with the nation because we fell in love with the people, with their warmth, welcome, their humor, laughter, and their enduring love. With their humility.We fell in love with their determination to overcome overwhelming challenges such as the HIV epidemic, which swelled in the late 80’s in Uganda.

Enter the story of The Aids Support Organization; TASO has been a key leader in reversing what was a death sentence for nearly 30% of urban populations in the late 80’s; HIV and AIDS.  The prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Uganda has since been driven down by 22.7% to 7.3%, due in great part, to the leadership of sixteen individuals who chose to embrace those being rejected and stigmatized because of AIDS, to meet the practical needs of the dying, to offer care and support to the lonely and afflicted, and to advocate for those who were oppressed.  Meeting in houses and a borrowed office, they may not have imagined the magnitude of national and international social change that they would inspire, nor that that they would teach and train well over 30,000 people in more than 21 nations on HIV/AIDS treatment and management, that their expertise would be sought after by institutions such as the UN. I doubt that this small group who began without a name, an organizational structure, or any funds would today be administrators of the Global Fund for Uganda due to their recognized leadership, integrity, and organizational efficiency.  That from a borrowed room in Mulago Hospital, they would imagine that today, they would be operating 11 fully equipped service centers spanning every region in Uganda, having brought a cumulative number of over 200,000 people through TASO care since their inception (TASO Achievements, http://www.tasouganda.org/).

They were simply a small band of people who had committed to care.

They acted on one thing; love.