June 2009 Archives
Volunteering in Laos and Papua New Guinea for the entire decade of the '70s and traveling the globe since then have made me more aware of the urgent unmet basic needs—for food, water, housing, fuel, education, employment, and health care—of the poor and disadvantaged people around the world. Now, free time that comes with retirement has opened another opportunity for me to make a contribution, however small, to meet these basic needs.
The world is replete with examples of individuals and organizations attempting this: Habitat for Humanity, Mother Teresa, Peace Corps volunteers, Doctors Without Borders, Operation Smile, Heifer International, Marie Da Silva, and countless others, giving of themselves, often beyond the glare of the spotlight.
But before embarking on this new journey, I needed to decide in what direction I should head to ensure that, however small my impact, it does benefit the poor. Any resources (expertise, manpower, funding, and time) I might share with the poor should improve their quality of life, be sustainable by them, and serve as a jumping-off point for their continuing development. If this is not the case, I would then have to question whether I was achieving anything worthwhile and enduring under the pretext of "helping the poor".
