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March 30, 2007
Grandpa, I heard you're going to get a desk again, after a period not having one. That might seem like a little thing, but I feel like it's significant. Because when one has a desk, one can sit at it and write - one can write in a journal, one can write books, one can write letters to one's grandchildren who live far away.
And writing feels different if one has a good desk to sit at. There's a certain official quality about working at a desk that one can't get writing sitting in a rocking chair, for example. So I'm glad you're getting a desk again, because that to me says you're healthy enough to sit at it, and that your mind is sharp.
Still thinking about desks. I wonder if you're like me. I haven't seen your desks in awhile, but I would hazard a guess that we have some similarities in terms of what we use our desks for. I'm not talking now about reading or writing. I'm talking about the desk as a depository for superhuman quantities of papers and books.
Take my desk here in Santo Domingo, at which I'm sitting now after a massive effort to clear an eight-and-a-half-by-eleven-inch space amid my piles of things. I think piles are an inheritance from your side of the family. I don't remember a Smucker ever making a pile unless it was a pile of firewood or a pile of mashed potatoes.
The phenomenon of piling, where we stack up books and articles and newspapers with half-done crossword puzzles, scraps of paper with phone numbers on them or notes not to forget to call so-and-so, and lay them all in piles on most every flat surface that presents itself - I'm actually kind of proud of that. To me it represents a voracious appetite for reading and writing and processing information, an appetite for understanding the world in order to better it.
Whether we actually read ALL of the material we have stacked on our desks is another matter. I'll just say again I'm excited, Grandpa, that you'll be getting your desk back - for whatever purposes you use it for.
Happy birthday!
March 26, 2007
Creativity and technical know-how come in real handy when you're up to social critique.
Dominican President Leonel Fernandez is running for re-election, and the primaries are happening in May. His advertising campaign uses a guy in black spray painting political slogans supporting the President. The principal message is "No inventen."
No inventen -- don't invent -- is a Dominicanism most often told to children. No inventes, muchacho! You'll break something or hurt yourself! It's kind of like, don't try anything new, don't screw around. Leonel is directing this no inventen to the Dominican people, as in, let's not try another President, let's leave Leonel there, it's for your own good.
In this case, Leonel is trying to co-opt the graffiti image, an avenue of popular critique for those who don't have the resources to make their voices heard any other way. (See my January 5 post on graffiti.) Leonel has spent millions of dollars buying TV and billboard space for his graffitied message. The media is saying, "Yes! This is the way to do graffiti! Nice and orderly, and this way you don't dirty up the city."
Of course, Justicia Global has a response. The organization made a short video, about the same length as one of Leonel's TV commercials, with the same guy in black, the same spray painting theme.
The Justicia Global message is, Inventemos -- "let's invent." Then, Sólo el pueblo salva el pueblo. "Only the people save the people."
The video is on YouTube now, and in the week it's been online, almost 4,000 people have seen it. Check out Inventemos!
And Happy Birthday, Alicia!
March 5, 2007
Good morning and welcome once again to our program, "Ask a Physician," the longest-running call-in radio show on 92.5 The Bear. Today we have with us the internationally renowned anesthesiologist, Dr. Cafta. Welcome, Doctor.
[Applause track]
Thank you very much, I'm glad to be here.
So, Doctor, you're a busy man. Tell us what you've been up to.
Well, Dale, I have been busy. Let's just say I've been eating a lot of airline peanuts lately. But before we go too much further, perhaps now would be the appropriate time to point out that I am not a man, but rather an international free trade agreement. Specifically, the one concerning the United States, several countries in Central America and the Dominican Republic. Though I officially "went into effect" in the DR on March 1, I don't actually exist except in documents and through the results of the policies enacted on my behalf. That's why I can only appear on radio programs like this one. For the record, "Cafta" is not actually my last name; it's an acronym. And I'm not really a doctor.
Very good, Doctor. Thank you for those important clarifications. Now we have our first caller on the line. Hello, "Ask a Physician"; you're on the air.
Good morning, Dale. Good morning, Dr. Cafta.
Good morning – who are we speaking with?
Dale, I love your program. I listen to you every day on my drive to work. I have a question for Dr. Cafta. Doctor, I'm what you would call "moderately overweight." I've done every diet, and I try to excercise regularly, but I just can't seem to shed any pounds.
Your problem is one we see all the time. We've had fairly good success treating it with a program we call Structural Adjustment. It's a diet where you basically just deprive your body of calories. That will allow you to do a lot of tightening of the belt without too much discomfort. It's often tough to stomach in the short run, but in the end you can guarantee the results you want.
Thank you, Doctor. Next caller, you're on the air.
Good morning. My name's Donna, and I'm calling from my child's bedside – he's got a terrible headache and a high fever. I don't get paid until next Friday and I can't afford any expensive medicines. Dr. Cafta, I was wondering if you can suggest a home remedy.
Donna, first I would like to congratulate you for being such a hard-working mother. It's the people like you who make this country great. My advice to you is to let the market dictate your course of action. In democratic societies like ours, the free market is fundamental to the ordering of society. "Home remedies," as you call them, have gone the way of the Model T Ford and the one-income family. They're outdated and frankly unpatriotic. They do nothing to contribute to the economy or betterment of our society. I suggest you ask the free market for the products you need. The market will respond.
Thank you, Doctor. Now we have James from Hillsdale on the line. Go ahead, James.
Good morning, gentlemen. Glad to be on the show. I'm a boxing coach at the Y here in Hillsdale, and as you might imagine, we run into a lot of bloody noses. Any suggestions, Doctor?
Great question. James, bloody noses are natural in this world. What can we do? Man is violent by nature. All we can hope for is to limit the damage. What you need to do is democratize your boxing tournaments. It's 2007, James, and you have to give everyone an equal chance. Do away with the weight class system and let all of your boxers compete in an environment free of external constraints. This will benefit primarily your smaller boxers, as it will teach them to become much more creative and efficient.
Let's take one more caller before we pause for a word from our sponsors. Go ahead, Josefina from Santiago.
Good morning. Doctor, I've appreciated your comments thus far. I have somewhat of an emergency here, and I would be glad for your professional opinion.
Of course.
I work in a free trade zone in the Dominican Republic in a Haggar pants factory. To meet new competitivity standards, last week they increased my piece rate again at the cutting machine. A few minutes ago in my haste to reach my quota, I severed two fingers in the machine. What should I do?
Josefina, my dear, I commend you for thinking of us at this difficult moment in your life. And what excellent English! You are truly preparing yourself for the global labor market. Don't you think, Dale? Doesn't she speak excellent English?
I'm very impressed, Doctor. [Applause track]
Josefina, dear, try to stick it out there at your station until your lunch break – you can get your cut bandaged then without slowing down production. I know modern machinery is a new thing in your country, and you people are not accustomed to the technological advances that make all of our lives easier. I suggest writing your representative in Congress – you do have a legislative body in your country, don't you? Yes, write your representative and tell him to support a new loan from the World Bank. This is necessary for your safety. The loan will fund technicians from the United States to teach you how to use this complicated machinery correctly so you don't cut yourself anymore. God bless you, my dear.
Thanks once again to Dr. Cafta, our guest this morning on "Ask a Physician." We'll be right back with more callers and more professional medical advice ... right after this.
*Part I in the "Best Medicine" series was a July 2006 post on laughter. Part II is designed to make you laugh as well, though as far as laughing is concerned, Part I takes the proverbial cake. (Wow, I could really go for some cake right now. When you live in a house with no oven, you get to wanting cake a great deal.)
March 2, 2007
It's been awhile since I've written at any length about what I actually do here. In the month of February, as far as this narrative of my life is concerned, I 1) watched the Super Bowl, and 2) took a ride in a public car. February is a short month, true, but that's kind of pushing it.
Part of what I've been up to is helping facilitate workshops on medicinal plants. My Biology-major housemates from school will get a kick out of my new interest in hemoglobin and bromeliads.
My Spanish professors will note that I'm also making daily use of my Spanish courses. It's amazing how many people here are starved for a good analysis of the third-person narrative style in the 1948 novel, El Cuarto de Atrás.
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So why medicinal plants? We’re an organization working for social transformation. We’re convinced transformation will be led by
– is being led by – people who are able to cut the puppet strings of corporate culture and take charge of our own lives.
Health is one of the biggest concerns of rural Dominicans, who have neither access to proper medical facilities nor money to pay for care. In the face of the international pharmaceutical industry, teaching people to value and utilize the power of the medicines growing in their backyards is downright radical. |
We break the pattern of development agencies who go to communities and give handouts, such as food, pills or school supplies. The Handout Method is such an ingrained way of conceptualizing "community work" here that people's first reaction when they hear about a meeting of Justicia Global is usually, ¿Qué están dando? What are they giving out?
Do people need food, pills and school supplies? Yes - but handing them out is no great favor to a community in the long run. You create relationships based on inequality and dependency by treating symptoms without doing anything about the root causes. In the process you end up demobilizing the people you're meaning to help - you kill human creativity and ingenuity by teaching people to wait for you come back with another handout.
This is not a tough concept. We even have this great analogy about giving a man a fish versus teaching him to fish.
It's clear that teaching people to fish is the right and responsible way to go about making true, lasting, positive change. So why is it so hard to put into practice?
I was talking recently to the director of an off-campus program based in the United States. He's closing the Dominican Republic program this year because "we've realized we're being more of a burden than a help." His solution? He's moving the program to Nicaragua. Instead of modifying the methodology so healthier north-south relationships can occur, he's following the well-blazed trail of colonizers and transnational corporations in simply closing up shop and moving to a new market.
There is enough analysis out there showing the problematic nature of this kind of relationship that you start to wonder about organizations that work this way. What are they really after by using their resources to create situations of dependency? Does it turn out they have a lot to gain by talking about "helping the poor" while leaving the status quo intact? Is that perhaps why they get big government grants in the first place, because they're absolutely no risk to the system that makes "poverty alleviation" programs necessary?
In Justicia Global we do things differently. Our model trains teams of "multipliers" who teach the natural medicine techniques to others. Our model shows that when people get together, we can accomplish more than when we're all fending for ourselves.
Tomorrow I go to the campo to help make a syrup that stops colds and flus in their sniffly tracks. Here are some other tricks:
- Juice of carrot and garlic gets rid of parasites
- Eating bananas (slowly, chewing thoroughly) helps with heartburn, fights anemia and enriches breast milk
- Chewing on a mango leaf cures a toothache before you can count to ten
- Lemon juice prevents infection in cuts
- Rubbing onion juice on your scalp slows hair loss
- Drinking a tea of orange leaves while reading El Cuarto de Atrás is a sure-fire remedy for insomnia.
Isn't Mother Nature great? She sure has a sense of humor. ("Let's see if I can get them to rub an onion on their heads...") |
