Eiston and I did our last workshop today. The topic was Teamwork and Management of Employees. We had only 8 students today because there was a community performance and many of the youths were in the performance or went to watch it. But the small group unfolded quite well as we turned the workshop into a discussion format and it really helped me so that I don't have to speak on top of my throat, as I was totally losing my voice after an entire day of teaching. Sarah and Alia will take on the last two workshops next week.
This afternoon Sarah and I had a long talk about business vs. development. I have always been skeptical about mega MNCs making billions of dollars and just dishing a percentage out to aid developing countries because the aid money often almost never make it down the system to people who need it the most. As an IR student, I should really embrace globalization as the formula to solve development problems, but as we talk about power and privilege in our own country in social justice issues (racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism etc.), globalization just extends the power dichotomy to a global basis. The developed countries being the privileged and always controlling the world system to keep the developing countries underdeveloped.
Well, anyway, that's just my personal take on development and world issues.
Sarah was telling me how she wants to study medicine and use that as a tool to come back to Africa and do development work. I think that is very admirable, because the majority of medical students want to become a doctor for the prestige, social status and money. Our entire team is full of passion and I am very proud of that. I have met many friends/students when I first entered university who did have a lot of passion about changing the world and helping the less privileged, although recognizing that it may take baby steps at a time. But after two years of university, I find the passion of the same people changed, because we are so consumed with the materalisitic lifestyle we pursue. University education often suffocates and blinds us instead of enlighten us because of the consumerist and materialist world we live in.
In here, I can wear the same t-shirt everyday (of course washed and cleaned) and when I have a bad day, I don't have to look in the mirror for 60 minutes before I am confident enough to step out of my house. I can care about things that really matter and I feel like I can be confident in who I am without spending a ridiculous amount of time to make myself look presentable. As much as we all want to live a comfortable and confident lifestyle modestly, it is almost impossible to extricate ourselves from the materialist system in the West.
I am so glad to have worked with such a tight and passionate team because it reminds me of where my own passion lies and that it can be sustained. I really need to meet more people like them for me to appreciate and reaffirm my own values.
Posted by Josephine Wong
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