When you work in development, you will come across so many terms/words/phrases to the point where after a while becomes part of your daily standard vocabulary. The development world is certainly infamous for coming up with the new jargons. These are some of the words/terms we use and sometimes we know they mean absolutely nothing and everything. I confessed I used them every so often that I have lost most respect for its meaning and I keep telling myself I falling down into a deep deep hole...
1) capacity building - seriously, this phrase is overused and overused. It means everything and yet sometimes I feel it really encapsulates nothing. The standard definition used by UNDP goes something like creating an enabling environment with appropriate policies and institutional framework ... inclusion of women and community participation... and that it recognises that this is a continuous long-term process. Each time I read this definition, I giggled because I imagined someone at UNDP must have spent a lot of time crafting this together.
2) beneficiaries - hmm, I cringed at this word. Having worked on donor reporting, I suspect donors love that term. It makes it look as though people in poor country are mere recipients of aid/development whatever else. Seriously let's stop being so arrogant.
3) empowerment - I never really quite understood the use of this word or how I ought to use it. If I give you a sewing machine so you can make crafts and clothes to earn a living and thus improve your life, was that an act of empowement? That could have been called a handout too, no? Or if I give you the opportunity to express your concerns and thoughts, is that empowerment? That was just creating the space so they can safely express themselves, no? Hmm.. you see, this terms baffles me a fair bit and will likely continue to do so.
4) Asia/Africa - I am Asian, actually, let me correct that. I am South East Asian and that is quite different from someone from East Asia. Just because we all eat rice in that part of the world doesn't mean we are all homogenous. Afghans do consider themselves as Asians and yet they are different from someone say from Timor Leste. The same with Africa. Benin is not Somalia and Kenya is not Congo. Seriously Africa is not one country. It's also seriously annoying when you don't read the news and still believe that there is a civil war going on in Sierra Leone and arms and legs are still being hacked off or that Darfur equates Sudan. Come on.
Friday 10 December 2010
Monday 6 December 2010
Turning older again
Today, well in a few minutes I will turn 29. I don't how I ought to feel about it because it doesn't bother me that much - just a number factor and being me with my size and what I call my sometimes whiny voice, I don't pass off as more then 22 (some have pushed it down further thinking that I am perhaps only 19, fresh wide-eyed girl braving the world for the first time). So what happened to me this year that would warrant a new chapter? I thought I come up with 29 things/events/anything-else that happened this year, to this day that have brought me to where I am right now but that would be very silly. Instead I came up with some of the things that have clearly affected me in one way of another. In random order obviously.
Living in cold, wintery Beijing across the magnificient Russian embassy. Learning Chinese - difficult and almost painful. Going through a necessary medical procedure on my own. London summer with friends, sitting around doing absolutely nothing. Going to Marrakesh for the second time and nearly getting into a fight with a man who jabbed me at my waist. Sleeping in the parks in the middle of the afternoon in Madrid and drinking wine and going to topless pools with friends basking in the sun. Breaking up - very impressive performance from my part. Waiting 3 months for my visa to Sudan. Moving to Kadugli and its pre-departure excitement
Spending New Year's alone in Seoul, where snow just keeps on falling and falling. Meeting people I haven't seen for ages. Building a life in Kadugli (and still is). Thrown into a pool in the first week in Kadugli and slowly falling in love with the Nuba Mountains. A new found love for old-school hip hop. Literally living out a suitcase
As I am writing this, the clock strucks 12 and so here I am - 29 years old, sitting in my room and Manu Chao singing 'Desaparecido' in the background. It's going to be fantastic year ahead. I can feel it in my fingers. You know when you get the tingle?
Living in cold, wintery Beijing across the magnificient Russian embassy. Learning Chinese - difficult and almost painful. Going through a necessary medical procedure on my own. London summer with friends, sitting around doing absolutely nothing. Going to Marrakesh for the second time and nearly getting into a fight with a man who jabbed me at my waist. Sleeping in the parks in the middle of the afternoon in Madrid and drinking wine and going to topless pools with friends basking in the sun. Breaking up - very impressive performance from my part. Waiting 3 months for my visa to Sudan. Moving to Kadugli and its pre-departure excitement
Spending New Year's alone in Seoul, where snow just keeps on falling and falling. Meeting people I haven't seen for ages. Building a life in Kadugli (and still is). Thrown into a pool in the first week in Kadugli and slowly falling in love with the Nuba Mountains. A new found love for old-school hip hop. Literally living out a suitcase
As I am writing this, the clock strucks 12 and so here I am - 29 years old, sitting in my room and Manu Chao singing 'Desaparecido' in the background. It's going to be fantastic year ahead. I can feel it in my fingers. You know when you get the tingle?
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