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I remember listening to an interview by an Italian man who did lot of volunteer work in Africa. He said when he was young, he went to Africa (I forgot which cou
by akudha 5y ago
I remember listening to an interview by an Italian man who did lot of volunteer work in Africa. He said when he was young, he went to Africa (I forgot which country) - he saw very fertile soil and thought "why aren't the locals planting anything here?". Acting smug, he went ahead and planted some stuff, the locals raised eyebrows but said nothing. One morning he goes to the field, the entire place is trashed, like a warzone. The night before, wild pigs had had a good time partying in his beloved field! If he had asked the locals first, they would've told him to take care of the wild pigs problem before planting anything.
He said that was the last time he assumed he knew more than locals because of his fancy degrees and elite upbringing.
This is also my main complaint with organizations like the Gates foundation. They do a lot of good, but they also act on the firm belief (arrogance?) that they know more than anyone else in the room, especially the locals. Examples below
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/africans-speak-out-against-the-mass-circumcision-campaign-300370353.html https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/africans-speak-out-...
https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-melinda-gates-foundation-education-initiative-failure-2018-6 https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-melinda-gates-foundatio...
- nceqs3 5y agoI have many family members who work in the development world. The Gates Foundation is a punchline of sorts and many people do not like them. Melinda is very christian and refused for years to fund contraception or abortions. Meanwhile melinda travels the world being fawned over as a feminist queen. The other valid criticism of these development nonprofits is that they are propping up dictators. People won't rise up against their terrible governments if they have free everything from the US/Europe. Looking at you USAID.
- WaltPurvis 5y ago>Melinda is very christian and refused for years to fund contraception or abortions. Melinda Gates has called expanding access to contraception the cause of her life and has funded it to the tune of more than $1 billion. https://www.cnn.com/2012/07/06/health/melinda-gates-contraception/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2012/07/06/health/melinda-gates-contrace... https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/01/health/melinda-gates-birth-control-poverty.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/01/health/melinda-gates-birt... https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/opinion-melinda-gates-contraceptive-global https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/opinion-m...
- sumedh 5y ago> they would've told him to take care of the wild pigs problem Why cant the locals take care of the pigs problems themselves? Just hunt them or dig a ditch around the farm so that they cant cross it.
- yakshaving_jgt 5y agoThey probably can, but solving that problem is not the point of the anecdote.
- raincom 5y agoit is not as easy as it sounds. When your farming land is next to forests, you get these wild pigs. You can't hunt them at nights every day. And your digging option or building a 6 foot wall is not profitable. In India, people just set up a thick aluminum wire around their farms, then energize around 6 pm. You end up seeing many pigs getting electrocuted. This has other affects: sometimes, even humans get electrocuted. I know someone, whose mom and whose sister got electrocuted by such a wire when these women went to collect some hay. Now people are afraid to walk around these lands after sunset.
- zozbot234 5y ago> You end up seeing many pigs getting electrocuted. ... Hey, at least those farmers are getting some free bacon out of the deal. Must be worth the risks once you take that into account.
- sumedh 5y ago> your digging option or building a 6 foot wall is not profitable. If the other option is to not use the farmland then I dont see why you wont invest the time to dig a ditch or build a wall.
- kthejoker2 5y agoWow, you read that post about not being smug and not assuming you know better than the experts on the ground ... and decided to throw in a couple of 3%-baked (at best) "solutions" complete with a "Just" to let everyone know how dumb they are not to see this obvious thing? Hubris doesn't do it justice ...