So after that nice break in Semuc Champey, I refocused upon the reasons I am here. I've found that because Antigua feels so much like home now, it is actually more difficult now to do the more tedious jobs associated with my work. As I have mentioned earlier in this blog, I have three projects here: Santiago Zamora Tour, a personal business idea, and Los Patojos (I nixed Los Patojos). The tour is very easy, straight-forward work and to be honest, I've done about all I can do at this point. So I am now shifting focus to a business idea I am working on with a couple partners from school. I had an interview today with our microfinance wizz here at Casasito, and the outcome was hardly what I was expecting, but nonetheless very helpful. The woman I was interviewing expressed her views that donation-based NGO work is not particularly sustainable. This is a thought that has crossed my mind before, but I figured I would not worry about it until I was done working for one. So much for that.
The philosophical conclusion to our meeting was that if countries are ever going to get on the right path, it has to be from the people and the government. NGO's like Casasito definitely relieve some of the pain caused by poverty and corruption, but it is most often only temporary until the next war or genocide swings around, and actually makes it harder for the people and government to see that there is a great need for solutions to problems. It makes me question whether my work on the Tour is simply putting makeup on a zit that would otherwise be so hideous it couldn't be avoided. Obviously it's on a much larger scale than just one person, or even one organization, but still, it's by no means a new idea and is worth consideration.
No comments:
Post a Comment