Books

Here is my booklist of items related to global society, poverty, international development, or Africa, in no particular order:

a long way gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

ishmael beah

Pretty wild account of experiences as a child soldier. The brutality and horrors in Sierra Leone of the 90's is described with a blunt honesty that really drew me in.

Out of Poverty, What Works When Traditional Approaches Fail

Paul Polak

This book is written by the founder of IDE - when I bought the book from Paul, I had no idea I'd be working for that NGO! The author describes the formation of "development as a business" with the initial hurdles and successes, and offers reasons for the success of technologies like treadle pumps throughout Bangladesh. His philosophy seems to be that all development should be economically sustainable for some technology or service that improves livelihoods. He also offers some advice for marketing and sales to high volume, low profit enterprises like eyeglasses.

Africa Unchained: The Blueprint for Africa's Future

George B.N. Ayittey

On my to-be-read list! Written by a Ghanaian economist - based on the first couple chapters, it's an explanation of why Africa is where it is now, and suggestions of what is required to get out of the mess.

The Fate of Africa: From the Hopes of Freedom to the Heart of Despair

Martin Meredith

On my to-be-read list! I've only read the first few chapters, and skimmed a few more (it's a big book!). Offers an extremely detailed yet succinct account for every African country during the transition from colonialism to present day (~2005).

Things Fall Apart

Chinua Achebe

One of the first books written by an African that was successful worldwide. Describes a fictional village in Nigeria, around the beginning of the twentieth century, when christian missionaries penetrated the traditional tribal life. Very good account of how different beliefs, culture, and societies can interact (negatively).

The Poisonwood Bible

Barbara Kingsolver

On my to-be-read list! Fictional account of events in Congo during the 50's and 60's.

First post!

Hi there! Welcome to my first foray into the blogosphere!

I've dabbled with a few personal websites for previous interests - a few remnants exist at http://mangospoon.com. I guess I was keeping a weblog before they were cool, but there wasn't much content, enthusiasm, purpose, or interest. Kinda like what I've seen of Twitter..

You can see my profile in the page for more details about me. Right now, I've been a member of EWB for 8 months, and the ideals and approaches resonate with me. At the University of Victoria, BC, I am the Junior Fellow for 2009; I will be partnering with IDE in Zambia. In the coming weeks before my pre-departure, I'll be posting more thoughts and opinions I've been recording in a journal. As a warning, I can be blunt to the point of insult, in a freely expressed rant...

So who and what is EWB? There are Engineers Without Borders/Ingénieurs Sans Frontières groups throughout the world - some are part of EWB-International, and some are not. EWB-Canada is not a member, but we share many of the same goals and approaches to other non-members such as the UK or Australia.

How are we similar? We leverage the asset of engineering students and professionals within non-profit societies. We dedicate our resources to poverty reduction, generally in the Global South. Appropriate technology and sustainability are typical constraints.

How are we different than EWB-I? We focus on finding the root causes of poverty, and provide long-term solutions, whether its focus is technological or not. We focus on championing leaders in Canada among university students (especially engineering students), and engage the public about domestic policies regarding international issues - ie, our role as Canadians in the world. From what I've seen, EWB-I focuses on short term, technical projects that are extremely engineering-specific. With our current state of education, that means strongly technical projects. The overseas component of EWB-USA is typically a 2 to 3 week project, where faculty or P.Engs lead a group of student engineers in constructing some project.

EWB-Canada has a very dedicated team of LTOVS - Long Term Overseas Staff - who spend 1-2 years in Africa. In addition, roughly 40 JFs - Junior Fellows - spend the summer (May to August) overseas. There, individuals live and integrate as much as possible into a community, and partner with an existing NGO for capacity building. This could be improving Monitoring and Evaluation within the NGO, Operations and Maintenance of water points, or Behaviour Change for sanitation/hygiene.

The token statement of EWB-Canada, from the official site (www.ewb.ca):

Who We Are

Poverty is not about weakness. For the 800 million people who go hungry each day and the one billion who lack access to clean water, poverty is an absence of opportunity.

Engineers Without Borders is responding to this urgent need, helping people in developing communities gain access to technologies that will improve their lives. We believe that technology, when appropriately incorporated into each community's social, cultural, economic and political context, can drive extraordinary change.

We promote human development through access to technology by:

• Partnering with developing communities to help build the capacity of their technical sector
• Raising awareness among Canadians about how they can make decisions that positively impact communities overseas
• Encouraging the Canadian government to become a model global citizen by taking on a leadership role in poverty alleviation

What does this mean? Well, I'd suggest taking a look at ewb.ca and exploring. For now, I invite all comments, constructive or critical! Challenge me!