Monthly Archives: September 2012

Koudouryoku (行動力)

September 11, 2012

Koudouryoku (行動力) There is a word in Japanese called koudouryoku. I’ve been wracking my brain for a long time trying to find a suitable translation into Chinese or English. Unfortunately, unsuccessful. The approximate meaning is “the ability to get things done.” (Which, by the way, is very much in the spirit of the organization I’m currently working with.) Koudouryoku, as far as I can tell, is quite prized in Japanese culture. It’s about how much energy and perseverance you have […]

An adult and a child

September 4, 2012

Furrowed brows, tightened lips, squinted eyes. A sneer flashed across the adult’s face. The child whipped back his head, innocently staring at the adult with eyebrows raised, brown eyes wide, mouth ajar. The daladala conductor glared at the waist-high student in a primary school uniform with a look of pure hatred. He spat at the child. Then again. The child continued walking, clearly perplexed, turning his head to look back a few more times. As far as I could tell, […]

Tiffany in five sentences…

Tiffany prefers to spend her days globetrotting and living out of a backpack. She is deeply intrigued, frustrated, and inspired by international development work, especially in food security, education policy, and citizen agency issues. One day, she hopes to convince the world economic system to work in favour of the marginalized and the environment. One of her identities is being a graduate from the Global Resource Systems program in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at the University of British Columbia. She aims to write posts that will make her cringe in ten years on this blog.