Another post… a short one.
Today was officially the first full week of classes. The first class was intro to public policy, and I thought, to my surprise, the lecture was great. Prof. Lejano is one of the authors of our textbooks, and I really thought what he was talking about. But anyhow, he really reminded me of why I chose to get into public policy.
He asked: Who knows what the number one cause for child mortality in the world?
People had many different answers, but I knew what it was: diarrhea. The disease that can get cured with simple medicine along with clean water and decent nutrition that doesn’t have to be a 5-course meal at a fancy restaurant.
Diarrhea is really painful (oh, don’t I know after this summer in Ghana…), even to a fully grown adult, and the degree of suffering for this simple sickness is probably a thousand times worse for children.
And here’s some more to think about. According to Newsweek (Jul.27th 09):
* 1/6 of humanity: undernourished as a result of the financial crisis.
* 11% increase: in people who will go hungry in 2009 to 1.02 billion, a record high.
* 71%: the world’s extremely poor (who live on less than $1.25 a day) who depend upon farming for their livelihood.
* 60% of a poor consumer’s income that is spent buying staple foods.
* 24% higher food prices were by the end of 2008 than they were in 2006.
I copied down the information when I was in the library, so I don’t know if this makes sense to you, but you get the essence.
What I’m trying to say is that the degree of human suffering that I have witnessed whether it was in inner city Durham or Port-au-Prince, Haiti, really breaks my heart, and although I know there are a lot of theoretical learning experiences involved in public policy education, I know for fact that this will only make me stronger as a more effective policy maker who can really connect with people, not with a piece of paper that is separated from the reality of suffering. And that's where my anthropologist instinct will come in.
Anyhow, yeah, it was a tiring day, but really awesome. Some of my friends found that it was so weird that I was doing masters in public policy instead of Ph.D in Anthropology. Don’t’ worry, I still have the intention, but for now, I think I made the right choice ☺. Good night my kin, and I’ll write more when I can. Now, back to South East Asian politics and policy.
PS: I just found out that a little girl named Midlene, who was a darling when I visited Fondwa (Haiti) last year, was adopted to an awesome family. Please be happy for her, although you don’t know her ☺
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That's great that you are enjoying your classes so far in public policy. It's always satisfying to know that you've made the right decision. I think what makes your field so unique is that you can relate to people outside of your daily experiences - like people from the other side of the planet whom you may never meet. I think it's very hard for me to care passionately about things that I don't see happening every day.
ReplyDeletethanks for your input shawny and sorry for the late reply. i've been so busy with school stuff, you know :p being in school certainly makes you a more ideologically passionate about what you "want" to do, but what you're doing -teaching in DC- is something that's action oriented, instead of just talking about it. for that matter, i envy and admire your field, and i wish i could be doing the same thing. sometimes, there's a little bit too much of theory stuff, but i guess it's part of the greater scheme. AND i'm glad that i can give you an update on my life through this way to you. gosh, i miss dc!
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