Like every travel experience I've had, living and working in St. Kitts over the summer gave me some insight into my conceptions of travel, aid, culture, and our connections as people living in different international settings. My time at the BNTF was the first tangible experience I've had in the career that I hope to soon begin. It was both a motivating and humbling experience. I fully support the work we did and that the BNTF continues to do, but I was made aware of the darker sides of aid, things like intergovernmental conflicts, less standardized practices, and limits in communication.
I am a strong advocate for giving countries or communities the tools to develop themselves, and I was challenged by the complexities that cultural differences and political tension bring to this process. I'm not discouraged by any means, but have more insight into how things work - and perhaps more importantly, how they don't.
I've also had some time to reflect on what aid is, how it is perceived domestically and abroad. The suggestion that "white" people (which I was considered) aren't really helping by participating in volunteer trips (or internships). This article is one such example. Where I agree that there are some detrimental aspects of aid, the pros outweigh the cons; the benefits and the potential for knowledge sharing, and reciprocity can enhance the lives of both the community and the volunteer but also extend to a wider understanding of culture that these people will hopefully share. I might be a little optimistic, but its in my nature and I won't accept that teaching someone a skill or supporting a community meeting can be detrimental to the people who are able to find work or given a platform to voice their opinions.
I guess as a student, advocate and volunteer I've become stronger in my convictions about collaboration, especially in terms of aid and development. There are no straight answers and every situation is different, but I think the process through which questions are developed and answered speaks to our abilities as members of the international community to come together, learn and collaborate.
I am a strong advocate for giving countries or communities the tools to develop themselves, and I was challenged by the complexities that cultural differences and political tension bring to this process. I'm not discouraged by any means, but have more insight into how things work - and perhaps more importantly, how they don't.
I've also had some time to reflect on what aid is, how it is perceived domestically and abroad. The suggestion that "white" people (which I was considered) aren't really helping by participating in volunteer trips (or internships). This article is one such example. Where I agree that there are some detrimental aspects of aid, the pros outweigh the cons; the benefits and the potential for knowledge sharing, and reciprocity can enhance the lives of both the community and the volunteer but also extend to a wider understanding of culture that these people will hopefully share. I might be a little optimistic, but its in my nature and I won't accept that teaching someone a skill or supporting a community meeting can be detrimental to the people who are able to find work or given a platform to voice their opinions.
I guess as a student, advocate and volunteer I've become stronger in my convictions about collaboration, especially in terms of aid and development. There are no straight answers and every situation is different, but I think the process through which questions are developed and answered speaks to our abilities as members of the international community to come together, learn and collaborate.
Good morning, how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because through them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately, it is impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are very small countries with very few population, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this, I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from St Kitts? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in St Kitts in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Calle Valencia, 39
28903 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally, I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez
Hello Emilio,
DeleteI love your idea and your blog. Unfortunately I am no longer in St. Kitts. I reside in Canada and was on an internship in St.Kitts last summer. If you'd like a letter from Canada please let me know as I'd be happy to send one. I noticed you already have quite a few from our country though. Let me know, and good luck with your project :)
Karla