UP | uncultured project

Children in Barguna, Bangaldesh watch YouTube video responses of people who told me to provide this village with clean & safe drinking water. Clean water project implemented with Save the Children.

You can see the full video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJubQzKYMGg

Country Director for Save the Children USA in Bangladesh

“This is development work,” he said to me as I sat across from him. I was in the offices of Save the Children USA with Kelly Stevenson – the country director. I had lost count of how many meetings I’ve had with him – though I was grateful for every single one.

My view of development work and fighting poverty has certainly changed a lot since I first started this project. For one thing, I had come into this project with an overly consumerist attitude to fighting poverty.

Having started by using my money saved for an Xbox 360 to help the poor, I foolishly assumed that helping the poor would be as easy as buying an Xbox 360. That is, I thought if you had the money, you should just be able to do it.

But it’s never that easy. And, if anyone tells you it is, they’re lying.

The first thing I learned is that non-profit organizations don’t run like for-profit organizations. “Duh!” some of you are no doubt saying right now. I always assumed that non-profits would be as eager to take my money to help the poor the same way Best Buy would be eager to take my money and give me an Xbox 360.

But it’s never that easy.

Staff in Barisal - Working on My Project Means Other (Bigger Funded) Projects Go Temporarily on the Backburner

One thing I learned with Save the Children USA is that every level of their staff plays a fine balancing act. They work in a world where the need is so great and the resources are so very finite. Every time they give their attention to one project (or one person), it comes at the cost of ignoring something else.

In such a reality, you can’t help but feel a bit guilty. Every meeting I have with Save the Children was coming at the cost of something else. I also realized that – if they were purely utilitarian or doing it by the numbers – they’d never give me the time of day. I mean, when you have multi-million dollar grants to deal with, who would have time for a kid with a couple of grand?

Then there are emergencies.

Meeting to Discuss "Challenge Poverty" Projects

Emergencies in Bangladesh are like a giant reset button. No matter what progress you make or what you have scheduled – it can all go down the drain when an emergency comes. Whether it’s violence that delays a trip or a cyclone (like yesterday’s Cyclone Alia) – when an emergency comes, everything stops. No matter how important.

Over 100 days ago, I flew to Bangladesh in order to complete Challenge Poverty. The goal was to complete a Pond Sand Filter for a rural village & to help repair a school damaged by Cyclone Sidr. Although I know Save the Children is doing their best, there are a lot of hurdles and a lot of things to take care of before any of this is complete. I still don’t know when it will all be done.

It’s never as easy as it looks.

During these Christmas Holidays, there is one person in particular who will never be too far from my thoughts and prayers. His name is Adam and he’s one of the many people from within the YouTube community that have been supporting this little project that I’m doing.

Here’s the video where he talked about and votes for a Pond Sand Filter in Challenge Poverty:

Unfortunately and tragically, recent events in Adam’s life have shown me he is a far stronger person than I will ever be. This holiday season has brought a lot of bad news to Adam and his family. During the Thanksgiving Holidays, he learned his parents were getting a divorce. This sad event was compounded by the tragic and sudden loss of his mother who recently died in a car crash.

I can’t even type this without getting a knot in the pit of my stomach. I can’t imagine what Adam and his family is going through right now. Some people think I’m pretty strong to have endured the kinds of challenges and sacrifices this project has demanded. But quite honestly? I don’t think I would have had the strength or composure that Adam is clearly demonstrating during this trying time.

If you’d like to convey your condolences to Adam and his family, you can see his YouTube channel (where many in the YouTube community are leaving their condolences and prayers).

Save the Children does amazing work – that’s why I love using this project to highlight the good work that they do. One of the reasons for this is because they are very much on the same wavelength as me on a lot of issues.

If you’ve been following this project for a while, you know I want to change the conversation about global poverty. Coming back home I’ve found charity-related commercials full of sad images, sad music, and guilt-inducing please for donations.

What I admire about Save the Children is they haven’t resorted to those kinds of tactics. I’ve seen a lot of commercials and promo materials from Save the Children and I have yet to find a single one that is a guilt-trip or portrays the poor as objects of pity.

Save the Children is also willing to try new things when it comes to interacting with people over the internet. I’m really thrilled that when I came up with Challenge Poverty – Save the Children jumped on board and even made a video response:

This project is less about me and more about the online community that is supporting this journey every step of the way. Here’s a new video from a friend of mine by the name of Matt. He votes for the pond sand filter part of Challenge Poverty in a really creative and passionate way. I have to admit I never thought of the issue like that until I saw Matt’s video.