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Dr. Kathy Ward (University of Southern Illinois – Carbondale) on the roof of the Nari Jibon Project along with those involved with (and helped by) the project.

In this blog, I often mention Dr. Jeffrey Sachs. He was the inspiration that led me to start this project. But, as fate would have it, there has also been another brilliant American professor whose been an inspiration to me since I first heard of her. Her name is Dr. Kathy Ward and she’s a sociology professor at the University of Southern Illinois in Carbondale. I don’t talk about her often enough because… well… a grad student praising one of their favorite professors is just cliché now isn’t it?

But the fact of the matter is that there is a lot to laud about the work Dr. Ward has done here in Bangladesh through her non-profit called the Nari Jibon Project. And while more PR-savvy people in Dhaka seem to be able to market themselves as “the unsung hero of Dhaka” – I got a chance to meet the real McCoy.

All that and more after the jump.

Continue reading ‘What Would Kathy Do?’

Alright, here’s the latest episode on YouTu – oh no, no wait…

…. this might take a while.

I’ve mentioned before that trying to upload to YouTube from Bangladesh is an exercise in self-flaggelation. Especially for 100+ meg files, it usually takes a day or more to upload. Since the internet connection sometimes cuts out, that means I can’t upload my videos directly to YouTube (although, I always foolishly try). Usually what I do is FTP the videos to the uncultured.com webserver space and then have a friend upload the episode for me. To date, some of the episodes have been uploaded by friends and family from places like Seattle, Chicago, Toronto, and Denmark.

Unfortunately, slow internet speeds are just half the story. Before a video can be uploaded I have to edit, render, and compress it. The ever increasing power outages make that really hard. There are days when I’m just sitting around waiting for the power to return so I can get my laptop running again. It used to be the power outages would last no longer than the battery life on my laptop. Now, even with a backup UPS, my video editing is often cut abruptly short. I’m not the only one suffering. Kathy, at Nari Jibon, is finding the power outages tend to shut down most operations in the cyber cafe she runs as you can see in this video:

This video runs about 30 seconds. Which, given the internet speeds and power outages, is really all you can safely upload these days..

It’s very easy for blogs to be nothing more than words on a screen. It’s especially easy for a blog focused on important issues like global poverty to come off sounding like meaningless rhetoric. Paying it forward! Changing the conversation! These things are meaningless unless there is action, events, and changes attached to them. It’s thanks to Kathy Ward and her non-profit organization (Nari Jibon) that I’ve been able to see first hand the power of the words that I type on my computer screen.

A few months back, my video about the Young Hardworking Poor of Rural Bangladesh got featured on the YouTube.com global website. Thousands of people started looking at my site – some wondering how to get involved. I wrote a quick post and recommended a few places people could go (Nari Jibon being one of them). As much as I’d hoped that someone might be inspired to “pay it forward”, the pragmatist in me didn’t think it very likely.

Boy was I surprised.

That video eventually made its way to Shaina. Shaina is an undergrad at Florida State University. Little did I know that she had checked out my website, found the post about how to get involved, and got in touch with Kathy at Nari Jibon. Shaina came to Bangladesh on her own dime – and like me – is staying in Dhaka with help from her family in Bangladesh. Unlike me, her two month stay in Bangladesh is definitely a two month stay. FSU awaits her back in August.

The day I met Shaina and learned about how she was inspired to come to Bangladesh was also my opportunity to meet Kathy Ward for the first time. Kathy has been reading this blog for the longest time. I think she was reading this blog before there was even a single video up on YouTube. Meeting her was especially significant for me because not only has she been a long time supporter, but she’s also been able to see how this project and how I have changed over time.

It’s friends like Kathy that have made it possible to see how my blog can make a real difference. It’s also friends like Kathy that keep me honest and make sure – no matter how many YouTube honors, website hits, and video views I get – I never forget why I came here and started this project.

[And as a sidenote, there were also a lot of weird coincidences which kept reminding me of Matt during my meeting with Kathy. Kira (the lady in the far right in the picture) used to live in Uganda before coming to Bangladesh. She was delightfully surprised when she found out this blog was expanding to Uganda. And Shaina is from Florida just like Matt. Small world, eh?]

I just wanted to give a big hello to those students in Dr. Kathy Ward’s SOC 437 class. Kathy sent me a copy of her syllabus for her Sociology of Globalization & Development class and I was quite surprised (and deeply honored) to see my website and videos listed as assigned reading and viewing. It’s amazing to be listed alongside the likes of Philip McMichael and his book “Global Development and Change”. I wonder what my old globalization professor would say to all this?

Now, if you are anything like me, you probably get a lot of assigned readings (both online and in print) and barely have enough time to get the readings done for all your courses. Here are some tips I hope will make life easier:

• RSS is your friend: RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and it is your best tool to help you pick out what is most relevant or of interest to you. Virtually ever website (including this one and Kathy’s blog) has an RSS feed. With an RSS feed you can usually get the headlines plus either a summary or the full text article. This way, you can stay up-to-date and up-to-the-minute on many websites without having to go to each and everyone of them. It’s as simple as checking your email. You can either use a standalone RSS program or use something like Google Reader. The link to this website’s RSS feed is here.
• Search, Tags, and Categories Save You Time: The great thing about the web is that it takes you away from reading things in a linear fashion. Sure, you have a table of contents and an index in a book – but there is still the urge to read from start to finish and from beginning to end. Avoid that when it comes to the internet. Help save time by searching for what is relevant to you. This website has its own search engine and an archives page.
• Avoid Trying to Put People in a Box: My biggest problem whenever I would be reading someone’s work is that I would try and pin what their leanings were. Are they liberal? Conservative? Neo-liberal? Neo-conservative? It can get confusing and can sometimes be a waste of time. That’s especially true for me. Because the fact is…. umm… I don’t actually know what my leanings are. I like to think of myself as a centrist and moderate… but I suppose everyone likes to say that. One thing I agree though is what Dr. Sachs said once “Are we trying to prove a theory? Or are we trying to save lives?”. No theory should ever be more important than our humanitarian obligations.

Also, if you really do have a question or comment – feel free to speak up! This is especially true if you don’t agree with something I’ve said or written