my journey contines

Most Mondays we have something called a development dialogue. A person from the field comes in and talks to us about different issues, different ways, they are involved, etc. Today, Jose Miguel De Angulo from MAP came. Click here for their website.

I found it incredibly interesting!! He talked about transformation ministry; their organization deals with poverty, promoting community development and for a more just society. We have to be careful in our attempts to construct models of intervention that we don’t just reflect the old ineffective and often harmful methods.

We had our 2nd class with Dr. Corbitt - It’s an applied research course; quantitative, qualitative and I know we’ll have a research paper. I did decide on something for my concept paper. I went with the idea of creating a health/wellness centre in San Francisco, Honduras (a little village that I was in last year during my time in Honduras). The reason I went with this is because while I was there I saw so many children whose teeth seemed to be rotting and falling out of their mouth. I asked Maria Elena (our translator/contact person) “Why?”. She said that they feed soda and candy to the children all the time.

My mattress isn’t the GREATEST. I mean I’m thankful of course! And it doesn’t seem to be a problem as I fall asleep pretty quickly ahahaha… But I’d still like to get a piece of plywood or a foam mattress thing for my bed. We’ll see.

I went to Trader Joe’s the other day. Did I mention that already? I can’t remember. Anyways it’s good. Organic, super healthy food and it’s not ridiculously expensive. It’s good prices. I haven’t cooked anything special lately because it’s been a busy week… but when I do I’ll snap a picture JUST FOR YOU!!! (yes you).

That’s all folks.
Thanks for reading!

Shannon

Hey!

And yes… laugh if you will, but I got a picture

Some of my friends tease/joke about me blogging everything but I have the counter at the bottom that shows how many people individually have seen the site. It doesn’t increase every time the page loads, but the counter keeps track of the number of individual people who are reading it (well ISP numbers…). So some people are enjoying it. Or at least care about me a lot and enough to check how I’m doing. hehe… Thanks. I feel SO loved

heuristic
: involving or serving as an aid to learning, discovery, or problem-solving by experimental and especially trial-and-error methods ; also : of or relating to exploratory problem-solving techniques that utilize self-educating techniques (as the evaluation of feedback) to improve performance

(I checked it on merriamwebster.com)
Click here to see more:

http://merriamwebster.com/dictionary/heuristic

As requested by my mom.

Cobb Salad

Salmon filet & Rice

guess what… i got 3 more books today. they just keep on coming. :S crazy. but they’re all so interesting! i hope some of you might be interested in reading some of them when i get home!!

today i ventured with Chris (from Toronto as well) to get a SSN (social security number). we had the form, our ID, letter confirming our status as students at Eastern and confirming our GA (graduate assistanceship - work). however, we got a details oriented lady (VERY nice, really…) but she wanted them on separate letters. we had them 2in1. soo…. Monday holds yet another adventure… SSN here we come. Take 2.

then we went to the school. i’m doing my GA with a man Stan LeQuire doing research on Ecotourism. i’m not sure of many/any details yet but more to come…i have a lot to do tomorrow - i.e. readings, critical questions, concept paper, more readings, laundry. fun fun!!

tonight, we went to the grog. an outing with people in the MBA cohort, living in Seminary doing MDiv, and then people from “my” cohort - MA. See pictures below.

For those of you in the program, if any of you are really reading this and you want the pics, just right click and save away!!!

Thanks for reading

Blessings,
Shannon

PICS BELOW (in no particular order)

Girls: Dawn, Me, Janell, Faith

… of sleep would be excellent. Or maybe even 9.

My roommate is awesome, lots of fun and lots of energy. She’s a morning person - I’m a night person. But so far no problems hehe… I slept a lot last night and am feeling much better, although I am not yet done my readings for class today (which were a little thick - a little heavy to get through).

So the last time I wrote was on Sunday… Since then:
MONDAY
- I went to my Monday class (which I hadn’t yet gone to because last week was a holiday and there was no class) It’s a research & analysis class. The teacher is very sarcastic, artsy kind of guy - a “hard” communicator, just says what he thinks. Interesting! He’s got long hair in a ponytail, an earring, and this funky bomber jacket. hehe… We have to do up a concept paper for Sunday where we have to write an outline document to propose a new activity, program or organization. It’s written to conceptualize a new program. So for this I need to do:
Title:
Concept Description:
Need:
Proposal:
Constituency:
Outcomes:
Next Steps:

I’m not sure what mine will be yet. I really enjoy microfinance, although he’d prefer it’s a new idea or developed based on a current idea or organization somewhere. I’m not sure how I’d develop those concepts anymore…

We also, on Monday have a Development Dialogue (we will be having these every Monday). The man who spoke was named Dan Wilkins, who has worked in microfinance (currently with Opportunity International), and is currently living in Guatemala.

TUESDAY
We went to something called ProSem at 10am in the morning with Connie who is awesome. Here we will be doing personality tests, spirtual inventory/gifting, fellowship… it’s an open, bounce things off of each other, off the record type community thing and it will be happening with my cohert every 2-3 weeks. I really enjoyed it.

Then I went to my Biblical Faith & Economics. This is the class that I had to read “Road to Hell”…. It looks like we’ll have about a book a week for that class as we’ve been assigned another one… But it was a good discussion. A girl in my class, Faith did a devotional to start it off based on noise and being quiet so that we can hear God and what He’s telling us. It was good.

Today I’m going to hear Tony Campolo speak in about an hour and a half. Should be interesting…

That’s all for now folks!
Thanks for reading

Shannon

There’s nothing bad about being here… Don’t let the title mislead you. That’s the name from the first book I was assigned to read, for my Biblical Faith & Economics class… Wow talk about starting off on a downer. This book is really discouraging. Mind you REALLY eye-opening. Totally. But it makes you wonder - why bother. I trust we have more uplifting books ahead.

The book talks about the “ravaging effects of foreign aid and international charity.” Definitely eye-opening, in that I had no idea that there was such a horrible lack of measurement, assessment, and any type of follow up for major foreign aid and the UN. Basically they were revealed to be just like the big banks and insurance companies that we all despise - the bottom line always coming back to being able to send foreign aid, appealing to donors for more cash, and always the bottom line - a business where it comes back to the dollars. Does anybody follow up? No. Make sure that the money which is given for specific purposes is used for those same purposes? No.

The light that is shed on Foreign Aid really exposes it as an industry manipulated and used by governments to strengthen their holds and reputations in other countries. It is as a means to an end. What end and whose?

In one section of the book I read about one woman’s criticims that “fell into two broad and related categories, developmental and operational.” p( 143)
- “the actual amount and proportion of each sponsorship dollar that reached the children is ‘woefully inadequate.’ While sponsorship is an effective tool for raised money, it requires a tremendous amount of administration to track all the individual children, which Miller pointed out in her report…” (p 143) Many organizations lack the scientific understanding of childhood development. Just saying you are helping is not enough.

There are several parties involved, not limited to, but including: donors, NGOs, governments, foreign aid workers. Now that doesn’t mean each party is equally to blame, but I don’t feel any party is guilt-free either. As donors we too have a responsibility to dig deeper. Take a look into the organization to which you are giving to. Don’t just pick up the phone, give $1 a day to “change a child’s life” for the purpose of getting rid of that guilty feeling in your gut. If you really want to help, do a little research into the organization and make sure that the money you give is going to the child.

I mean realistically, consider that these things can’t be done without using funds for transportation of staff, salaries, implementation of programs. How much of YOUR money is going to YOUR child. If it isn’t going towards “your” child, where is it going? Who is it helping? Make sure it’s not lining somebody’s pocket.

I really hope that the other reading we have coming up will have more of a positive perspective, however I do think this book is an important read and would recommend it.

Now, I begin my readings for tomorrow’s research class…. *joy*

*NOTE*
Oh, sidenote? Mom, dad? Guess what I made for dinner tonight. Rice and beans. hahaha…

Thanks for reading!
Shannon

ok, so I kinda fell behind with my postings. oops! but that’s because i’m determined not to fall behind in my readings!!!

Applied Research & Evaluation (Mondays)
Biblical Faith & Economics (Tuesdays)
Research & Issues in International Development (Wednesdays)
Economic Development in Developing Countries (Thursdays)

So…. this week I have due:
- Monday:
61 pages (3 different books) for Applied Research & Evaluation
(I haven’t had this class yet because it was a holiday this past Monday…. so I have no sense of what that class will be like yet…)

-Tuesday:
1 whole book “The Road to Hell: The Ravaging Effects of Foreign Aid and International Charity” (278 pages)…. personally I’ve found this book to be very disheartening and a total downer. Although it’s eye-opening to many issues, it’s written by a total pessimist who sees the half full cup as empty.
AND
First 4 chapters of “Walking with the Poor: Principles and Practices of Transformational Development” - 110 pgs;

- Wednesday
“Development Projects for a New Millenium” (Chapters 1-2)
AND
“Development Methods and Approaches” (Chapters 1-3)

Also Tony Campolo is preaching on Wednesday in Chapel.

- Thursday
“Reflections on Human Development” article by Mahbub ul Haq (pp. vii-66)
AND
“The Concept of Development” article by Amartya Sen (pp. 9-26)
AND
“The Rise & Fall of Community Development in Developing Countries” by Lane E. Holdcroft (pp. ?)

So anyways I have a little bit of reading to do. Off I go….