tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773175694027086382.post3398799152549406097..comments2024-01-30T17:48:03.547-06:00Comments on South Kansas City Observer: Blowing Up the Virtuous Poor MythThe Observerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17696168395133075354noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773175694027086382.post-88822956797734459592010-06-02T15:22:57.732-05:002010-06-02T15:22:57.732-05:00I am writing from Conversations for a Better World...I am writing from Conversations for a Better World , a social platform for raising global issues and finding solutions and am contacting you because you re-blogged the New York Times Article “Moonshine or the Kids?” <br /><br />Next week we’ll have a question up for discussion:<br /><br />*"What evidence do we have that development dollars go further if placed <br />in the hands of women?" *<br /><br />Because of your interest in investing in this article, we would like to invite you to submit a short blog-post of about one page to our website. Just go to www.conversationsforabetterworld.com to participate, or email me at dar@unfpa.org for more information.<br /><br /><br />We are exploring different aspects of female entrepreneurship, courage and empowerment. Increasingly women's contribution as workers, entrepreneurs and managers of family and communities is recognized as central to development. They are building schools and spearheading micro-credit projects. They are planting and harvesting crops, buying and selling goods. They are setting up small businesses and doing it for themselves and their communities. We want to create a discussion that is forward-looking and highlights projects and best practices around the world with women as the main drivers.<br /><br />Thank you for your time and effort,<br /><br />Mahnaz<br /><br />Conversations for a Better World is a social platform for raising global issues and finding solutions. Tell us how you want to better your community. We're looking for people, organizations, researchers, activists and businesses with ideas for a better world. www.conversationsforabetterworld.com.Mahnazhttp://www.conversationsforabetterworld.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773175694027086382.post-63471837006105750442010-06-01T20:25:28.751-05:002010-06-01T20:25:28.751-05:00Bob:
Thanks for the visit and kudos. I do try ar...Bob:<br /><br />Thanks for the visit and kudos. I do try around here to keep it interesting.<br /><br />Here I must say that believing DOES NOT exclude THINKING as a matter of course. Sometimes I don't know if God brought me to faith through the feelings or through the thinkings, but since I've come to faith in Christ, I both FEEL and THINK.<br /><br />Just trying to keep up around here, the ObserverThe Observerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17696168395133075354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773175694027086382.post-7813762420461723812010-06-01T19:38:44.030-05:002010-06-01T19:38:44.030-05:00...ANd I'm just sitting back with a BIG smile ......ANd I'm just sitting back with a BIG smile on my face for having been in the same (virtual) room with people of such brilliant thought and clarity.<br /><br />Kudos to you both...nice to see this old world isn't as beat up as many think.<br /><br />THINKING is the keystone to almost everything else we do in life. <br />It even allows the birth of BELIEFS!<br />And we all know where "believing" can lead.<br />Right?Bob G.https://www.blogger.com/profile/09222203353717749897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773175694027086382.post-91811781268860317282010-05-26T21:21:01.292-05:002010-05-26T21:21:01.292-05:00Oh, yeah, this is a great discussion!
Thanks for a...Oh, yeah, this is a great discussion!<br />Thanks for a long reply back.<br /><br />It makes me wonder what would happen if we took some of this foreign knowledge and applied it at home . . . I think about that all the time. For instance, the IMF and the World Bank would probably have advised against the housing bubble.<br /><br />Phew! We could write ten dissertations on this one. I love that story about the road-grading.<br />Ann T.Ann T.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11128699035211561119noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773175694027086382.post-66750049965142459562010-05-26T15:39:43.711-05:002010-05-26T15:39:43.711-05:00Ann T:
Thanks for reading this rather dense post. ...Ann T:<br />Thanks for reading this rather dense post. Kristof's column provided a lot of food for thought. To be truthful, after the quoting and summerizing, I went several different directions, sometimes in the same paragraph! (Needless to say, the editor got ahold of that mess.) <br /><br />You are right, I do believe in transformation by God, and I had to chose about how I would express that. I didn't want to deny that God can work through what Baptists call "common grace"; the efforts of people to sensitively try to reach and teach a better way to people. In the end, the work of God in a person's life, to me, can make the most impact.<br /><br />I agree with condoms, smaller families, and routes for women to be able to free themselves from cruel and stupid men. Buried in the 300+ comments is a story about women in another African country who were hired en masse to do road grading. (They actually sent the heavy equipement away, in exchange for 1000 ladies with hand tools) The ladies were all paid, and almost none shared their monies with hubbin. They were put to the household. It's a cool story if you can find it in there.<br /><br />Finally, re: culture. I think America has finally got it about relations with other cultures. The irony is that our "culture" is self spreading all over the world, being adapted by every world group. It's amazing to watch.<br /><br />A rather long reply! Thanks for reading it, and visiting.<br />The ObserverThe Observerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17696168395133075354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773175694027086382.post-68241925177199114772010-05-25T22:09:25.762-05:002010-05-25T22:09:25.762-05:00Dear The Observer,
In my opinion, the choices you ...Dear The Observer,<br />In my opinion, the choices you have on the ground in foreign aid are dictated by necessity and by custom--Theirs, plus the side effects of Ours. <br /><br />I'm not sure we can change the world without a healthy dose of active cynicism and also acceptance, first, that our virtues in proper order are not the same as theirs in proper order.<br /><br />Spending on liquor and prostitutes is short-term thinking. It's the kind of thinking you do when you don't expect to live very long. Until the environment improves, the people don't change. But people are the major factor in the environment, and on and on. <br /><br />Your point on disenfranchising the male head of household is Very well-taken. Good point!!! I wish I had thought of it myself!<br /><br />I would say that screwing with the basic social organization, no matter how idiotically run, is a recipe for disaster. However, microfinance works great. Many women, if loaned sixteen or a hundred dollars, start businesses of their own. Most of them know how to hide money and the rate of repayment on microfinance loans is stupendously good.<br /><br />Eventually the woman has options but they grow out naturally from buying power and entrepreneurship. So does long-term thinking. Some of her kids have an opportunity to learn it, too. Not all of them will.<br /><br />I would venture to guess that most of these women are not going to make their husband's infidelity their first point of concern. Life-threatening brutality, if any, or his substance abuse, probably, b/c it sucks away the money for the children. These women are already saints, if you want to look at it like that. <br /><br />So she needs condoms to go w/ that microfinance, and a good dose of luck. The luck, in my opinion, is where the prayer comes in the hardest. Most of the rest is economics and how it is driven by custom. <br /><br />But you believe in transformation far more than I do, so take this with that grain or shaker of salt!<br /><br />Whoa, how long a comment is this,<br />and it was way longer, too,<br />Ann T.Ann T.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11128699035211561119noreply@blogger.com