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Aside from talking about birth control

June 28th, 2017 by msb3

I have also been exploring Quito and travelling a lot on the weekends, Ecuador is beautiful!

La Basilica, a huge Roman Catholic Church in the historic center of Quito. It’s construction was technically never completed and some people say that if it were to be completed it would be the end of the world.

One of many Quito signs that I have taken pictures with.

Futbol!! We went to a soccer game between the Quito team and the Guayaquil team. It was crazy! I have never seen so many police officers in my life there were upwards of 400 inside the stadium, about half of them wearing full riot gear, and probably another few hundred outside. They even had a tank there! Our friend was wearing the Guayaquil jersey and he had to take it off before entering the stadium so as to not start fights. It was crazy but really fun and really cool!

Laguna Cuicocha (or lake of the guinea pigs in Quechua, named because the island in the middle looks like a guinea pig) This lake is a caldera of an active volcano. You can see gas bubbles rising in the water from volcanic emissions.

View of el Panecillo and the historic center from La Basilica

El Santuario de las Cascadas in Mindo, a small town in the cloud forest. We did a hike with 7 different waterfalls all of which you could swim in!

The Panecillo, a huge statue of the Virgin Mary overlooking the city. The highest nativity in the world!

Laguna Quilotoa, a volcanic crater now filled with water at about 12,000 feet. The locals say that it has no bottom, we hiked to the bottom which was fine but coming back up was one of the hardest hikes of my life.

7 weeks later….

June 27th, 2017 by msb3

I’ve been really bad about posting, kind of because I’ve been busy but mostly because I’m just lazy. These past 7 weeks have gone by in a blur. It’s hard to believe I only have 2 weeks left.

In these past few weeks I’ve seen a lot of amazing places in Ecuador and met lots of really cool people that also love to talk about birth control. I know so much about all the different kinds of birth control that I could probably talk for hours about it and I’ve gotten really good at making happy  condoms out of foam paper with fun messages! My favorite one is “tener sexo sin usar condon es magico, aparece un bebe y desaparece el papa” or “having sex without a condom is magical, a baby appears and the father disappears.”

While I have definitely learned a lot, this program has been REALLY different from my expectations. I had to spend a lot of time in Spanish classes that weren’t super helpful and made me lose time at Cemoplaf. I also spend a significant part of each day sitting around waiting and doing nothing. It’s also hard because June and July are the months where most kids are about to get out of school so they’re taking exams and the teachers are busy so it’s harder to visit the schools and do workshops. But we have gone to a few schools. I also had to switch host families and internship sites because of this other CFHI program so that was kind of stressful as I had to start all over again 5 weeks into my program.

An evangelical school where we discussed adolescent pregnancy. We weren’t allowed to talk about contraceptives as the students have to make a promise that they won’t have sex until marriage. It was interesting to compare this school with the other non-religious schools and I was impressed that they still let us talk about teen pregnancy despite how conservative the school is.

The “Colegio Militar,” which used to be only for sons of military personnel but is now a public school. They are considered to be a problem school as students start sexual relations at a very young age without knowing how to protect themselves. Here we talked about different contraceptives and especially how to correctly use a condom.

We had a “mesa informativa” where we sold homemade penis-shaped chocolates and condoms and talked about Cemoplaf’s services with people on the street.

The girls in the picture are “promotores” of Cemoplaf which means they go to Cemoplaf once a week to be trained on sexual and reproductive health. They are then able to talk to their friends and family about those topics and can bring free condoms to their friends when they need them.

All of the birth control methods Cemoplaf offers! When we go to school we talk about all of them and explain the pros and cons of each one to the students.

Educational materials. I’ve gotten really really good at cutting out letters from foam paper.

 

 

First week in Quito!

May 18th, 2017 by msb3

I arrived in Quito about a week and a half ago! I’m living with a very sweet host mom and three other girls doing different programs here. Quito is about 9000 feet above sea level so adjusting to the altitude has been interesting. During my first few days doing normal things like making my bed or walking up a flight of stairs would leave me out of breath and walking up hills is a nightmare but I’m adjusting and when I get home I’m going to be in great shape! It’s been very rainy and cold every day but yesterday I finally saw the sun for about three hours before a torrential downpour started. There was so much that I was stuck on a bus for over an hour. It was rush hour and the bus was completely full and it started to get so hot and uncomfortable that people started yelling at the bus driver to just let us jump out onto the street. We ended up taking a huge detour to the Centro Historico. When they finally let us off the bus it was time to go home for dinner. We didn’t want to get back on another bus so we walked four miles in the rain to get back home, but it felt much better than being on a cramped, sweaty bus!

I started my internship last Wednesday at CEMOPLAF. It’s been really interesting so far. CEMOPLAF has a lot of different services. They provide maternal healthcare, gynecological check-ups, contraceptives, and much much more. I’m doing my internship with CEMOPLAF Adolescente, which primarily focuses on outreach and education for youth in Quito and other provinces of Ecuador. On Wednesday’s a group of young people come to train as promoters of CEMOPLAF. Each week they learn about new topics like sexuality, adolescent pregnancy, contraceptives, STIS, etc. The idea is that they will be able to teach their friends about these topics as young people are often more inclined to listen to their peers than to adults. On other days of the week we go to schools to give talks and prepare informational materials to pass out at fairs and other events. It’s already very clear to me how important the work CEMOPLAF does. 1 in 4 pregnancies in Ecuador is an adolescent pregnancies. There are also many myths here regarding sex and contraceptives. For example many people think that if you carry condoms with you or use other forms of contraception that you’ll be tempted to have sex. So, a lot of young people don’t use contraceptives or buy condoms, but they end up becoming sexually active anyways. Additionally, most schools don’t have any sort of sex ed and many young people are just told to be abstinent. These factors all illustrate why Ecuador has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in Latin America. I’m excited to keep working with CEMOPLAF this summer and learn more about what they do and get to know more people that are involved!

Aside from working at CEMOPLAF, I have also been taking Spanish classes and exploring Quito. I’ve been finding lots of cool coffee shops and restaurants. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day so you can go to a restaurant and an almuerzo, which is a three course meal; soup, the main dish, and dessert, along with a fresh natural juice, usually just for $2-3! Today I went to the Botanical Gardens which was really cool! Ecuador is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world; they have over 4000 species of orchids. They also had a bonsai exhibit which was really amazing. One of the trees was 80 years old! I’m really happy I get to spend two more months in this beautiful city!

Appendix

April 2nd, 2017 by msb3

Acknowledging Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Latin American Constitutions. (n.d.). Retrieved February 01, 2017, from https://rewire.news/article/2008/06/10/ackowledging-sexual-and-reproductive-rights-latin-american-constitutions/

“As Pope Francis Visits Ecuador, Women There Say They’re Losing Ground.” Public Radio International. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2017.

Collyns, Dan, and Jonathan Watts. “Ecuador Election: Moreno Facing Runoff as 40% Vote Looks out of Reach.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 20 Feb. 2017. Web. 08 Mar. 2017.

“Governments Step Up for Reproductive Rights.” Human Rights Watch. N.p., 28 Feb. 2017. Web. 08 Mar. 2017.

Guidi, Ruxandra. “Is Ecuador’s Correa Blurring the Lines between Religion and Politics?” The Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor, 05 Mar. 2015. Web. 08 Mar. 2017.

Mora, E. A. (1991). Ecuador since 1930. In L. Bethell (Ed.), The Cambridge History of Latin America: (pp. 687–726). Retrieved from https://www-cambridge-org.ezproxy.rice.edu/core/books/the-cambridge-history-of-latin-america/ecuador-since-1930/01470B5E4EB7A7420BA70DA25269B6D2

Sexual Health as a Human Right: Ecuador’s Unique Model. (n.d.). Retrieved February 01, 2017, from https://www.cfhi.org/sexual-health-as-a-human-right-ecuadors-unique-model

The Struggle for Abortion Rights in Ecuador. (n.d.). Retrieved February 01, 2017, from https://rewire.news/article/2013/04/04/the-struggle-for-abortion-rights-in-ecuador/

The World Factbook: ECUADOR. (2017, January 12). Retrieved January 30, 2017, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ec.html

 

Reflection

April 2nd, 2017 by msb3

When I was initially applying to the Loewenstern Fellowship and looking at the different programs I could do, I was immediately drawn to CFHI’s program in Quito, Ecuador: Sexual Health as a Human Right. Partially because when I in high school I had the opportunity to visit the Galapagos Islands and spent a few days in Quito, which I thought was a beautiful and interesting city. Ever since then I’ve wanted to go back to Ecuador and spend more time exploring the country and Quito. Additionally, since I came to Rice and started volunteering at the Women’s Resource Center, I’ve become very interested in women’s health and rights as well as topics like sexual education. I grew up in a pretty liberal town in Massachusetts so it has been interesting living in Texas where many people are much more conservative than I’m used to. I think the opportunity to work with CFHI in Ecuador will help me combine my interests in Spanish and Latin America with my interest in women’s health and sexual education.

Researching and writing this independent study project, I’ve learned so much about Ecuador and the history and current status of women’s health and sexual and reproductive rights in Ecuador. This project has also made me even more excited for my experience abroad working with CFHI in Quito. However, there are still a lot of questions I want to answer. Primarily I’m interested in seeing how the NGO I will be working with, CEMOPLAF is able to operate within such a strongly Catholic and conservative society and political environment. CEMOPLAF provides many services relating to women’s health and sexual and reproductive health, similar to Planned Parenthood in the United States. I think about all the backlash and controversy surrounding Planned Parenthood here in a generally much more liberal environment and wonder how CEMOPLAF is able to achieve its goals in a much more conservative setting. I’m looking forward to talking with employees and volunteers at the NGO to hear about their experiences and their thoughts on the conservative politics and society in Ecuador and how that relates to and affects the goals of the NGO.

I am also curious about the seeming contrast between official policy surrounding sexual and reproductive health in Ecuador and the actual reality women are facing there. Although Ecuador is the only Latin American country to have explicitly guaranteed the right to sexual and reproductive health in its constitution, from my research many of the actions of the president and other policies surrounding women’s health seem to go against the official policy. Many articles I read suggest that women are losing ground in the struggle for sexual and reproductive rights despite the constitutional guarantee. It will be interesting to hear people’s opinions on official policy surrounding these issues so that I can learn more about the actual situation.

Overall, this research project has definitely helped me prepare myself for my experience abroad and I’m more excited than ever for this new experience. I’m looking forward to getting firsthand experience at the NGO because I think I will be able to learn a lot more than I can from articles and online resources. I think that meeting with the employees and volunteers and hearing about their experiences will be very interesting and that I’m going to learn a lot more.

Journal 3

March 27th, 2017 by msb3

After completing the readings and class discussion, suggest 3 overarching key concepts or guidelines that will be important to ethical service engagement. List the principles and provide a rational as to why you chose each one.

While there is a lot that goes into ensuring that service is being conducted ethically, I think that the most important principle is to make sure that the service is reciprocally beneficial to both the host community and the service-providers or volunteers. It’s easy to see when a volunteer is benefiting from their service. Volunteers get to meet new people, travel and try to new things, all while learning and ideally doing something good for the community they are serving. I think it’s much more difficult to see benefits in a host community because often the effects of hosting volunteers manifest over a longer period of time. A volunteer is positively or negatively affected immediately, while the effects on a community are much less apparent. I think volunteer organizations often focus less on this side of their work than on the volunteer side as we could see in some of the case-studies. Even though it’s harder to see and quantify the effects of volunteer organizations on host-communities, this is perhaps the most important part of conducting ethical service. If the service is not mutually beneficial to both the volunteers and the host community then it’s not ethical.

The second most important thing in conducting ethical service is cooperation between the host community and the service organization. Both groups should work together to plan to determine what the host community wants and what they can take on. Members of the host community need to be actively involved in the entire process to ensure that they’re getting what they want out of the service and that the service is benefitting them.

The third important guideline would be to ensure that volunteers are educated about the place they will be serving. If they are going to be traveling to a foreign country, they need to know about the history and culture of that county. They should also be familiarized with common social practices and customs to make sure that they can be culturally sensitive and also to help them through their own culture shock. They also need to be very familiar with the specific issue they will be working with in country. Additionally, host communities should be educated about the volunteers they will be taking in to reduce cultural miscommunications and help the host community prepare so that they can get the most out of having the volunteers in their communities. Educating and preparing both the volunteers and the host community will make the experience more positive for everyone.

Journal 2: SMART Goals

March 14th, 2017 by msb3

Journal 2: What are your goals for your service experience? Develop SMART goals based on the following categories: Language, Country, Social Issue, Service/Research, Personal, Pre-Service, In-Country, and Post-Service

Language & Country: I’ve always wanted to speak Spanish so I’m really excited to be able to completely immerse myself in Spanish this summer. Although I won’t be fluent after just a few months in Ecuador, I hope to speak more confidently and fluidly by the end of my internship. Language classes will be a part of the program, but I think that I will learn more from just talking to people and using Spanish as much as I can. I also want to really explore and experience Quito and Ecuador this summer and see more than just the typical touristy things. I think that by making friends with locals and developing good relationships with friends and my host family I will be able to improve my Spanish and also see more of Quito.

Social Issue: While I’ve done a lot of research on sexual and reproductive health in Ecuador, I hope to get a fuller understanding of the issue while I’m in Ecuador. I’m interested in learning more about how the NGO I will be working with operates in such a conservative climate. I also hope to learn strategies for discussing sensitive issues like sexual and reproductive health while being respectful of culture and traditions and at the same time helping to change people’s attitudes and making a difference.

Pre-Service: I want to be as prepared as I can be before I go to Quito. I know that there’s a lot I can’t prepare for, but I do want to make sure I know as much about my social issue as possible and about Ecuador in order to be a more effective volunteer and be more useful to the NGO I’ll be working with. I will continue to research Ecuador and read news from Ecuador to make sure I stay up to date and aware.

Service/In-Country: I’m not quite sure what I’ll be doing for the NGO this summer, but no matter what it is, I hope to do meaningful and useful work, while keeping in mind what we learned in class this semester about the ethics of service and different models for service. I also hope to learn a lot from the NGO and get as much out of this experience as possible by developing good relationships with the people working with the NGO and talking with them and getting to know them.

Post-Service: I want to be able to bring what I learn during this experience back home. While the United States is much more open about topics like sexual and reproductive health, it’s still an extremely important issue and a lot of people here aren’t getting access to the health services they need. I want to take what I learn in Ecuador and use it as a student at Rice and as a future doctor. During the summer, I also want to think about how to describe my experience effectively when I come home so that I’m prepared to effectively share my experience with others when I get home.

Personal: I’ve been thinking about possibly working abroad or working in international service after I graduate from Rice and go to medical school. I think this experience will be a great opportunity for me to get a better idea of what that would be like. I have also recently been thinking that I might want to focus on women’s health and topics such as sexual and reproductive health as a doctor. I hope this internship can help me get a better idea of what kind of job I want and what I want to do long-term. I also want to have fun, make friends, be adventurous and challenge myself to step outside my comfort zone during my internship. I think this will help me learn more about myself and help me have the best experience possible.

Faculty & Community Connection

March 11th, 2017 by msb3

Faculty Connection

For my faculty connection, I spoke with Dr. Leslie Schwindt-Bayer. She is a political science professor and researches women’s representation in Latin America as well as political institutions in Latin America. My conversation with Dr. Schwindt-Bayer was very interesting. We discussed how the Catholic Church influences political institutions in Ecuador as well as the current presidential election.

As Ecuador is one of the most Catholic countries in Latin America, with over 70% of the population practicing Roman Catholicism, Ecuador’s politics are heavily influenced by the church. Dr. Schwindt-Bayer discussed how in very Catholic countries in Latin America, like Ecuador, the political institutions really just follow the practices and beliefs of the Catholic Church. This has a lot of implications for women’s rights, especially women’s right to access sexual and reproductive health, as the church tends to promote a more abstinence-only method of contraception and is very unfavorable towards pro-choice abortion policies. For this reason, many politicians are very hostile to the promotion of women’s sexual and reproductive health. This has been very evident in the research I’ve done on Ecuador so far so it was interesting to hear Dr. Schwindt-Bayer’s comments.

Dr. Schwindt-Bayer also studies elections in Latin America. We talked about how the current President, Rafael Correa, has been the first president to serve a complete term of 10 years in a very long time. Ecuador has a lot of small, divided political parties. For the past few decades, few presidents have remained in office for very long, and different political parties have held different offices. This has caused significant political instability; however, these past 10 years in Ecuador with President Correa have marked a distinctly more stable period for Ecuador. Dr. Schwindt-Bayer suggested that it might be best if the candidate and vice-president under Correa, Lenin Moreno, wins the election. This would continue this period of political continuity for Ecuador as the political party in power will stay the same. This unprecedented continuity could improve political stability in Ecuador and possibly relieve some current issues like the rising debt and corruption.

After talking to Dr. Schwindt-Bayer, I’m very interested to see how the NGO I will be working with, CEMOPLAF, operates in the political and religious climate in Ecuador. The work of CEMOPLAF seems to directly contradict a lot of policy and opinion towards women’s sexual and reproductive health in Ecuador. I’m curious to see how such a progressive organization is able to function within this context. It will also be interesting to see what happens after the election is complete and what changes the new president will make.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/)

Community Connection

When I’m in Ecuador the community organization I will be working with is the NGO, CEMOPLAF, which is part of the worldwide organization Center for Health Market Innovations. CEMOPLAF was founded in 1974 and is located in Quito and focuses on promoting family planning and reproductive health services primarily to young women from underprivileged backgrounds.  They hope to improve education on sexual and reproductive health and provide low-cost sexual and reproductive healthcare to people in need.

This organization addresses the need for better sexual and reproductive education and health services in Ecuador, especially among lower-income populations. Many people in Ecuador have little exposure to this kind of education or these health services due to religious values and stigmas surrounding the topic. CEMOPLAF tries to combat this need by creating outreach and education programs and also by helping people who cannot afford the health services they need.  They work with several other NGOs and the Ecuadorian Ministry of Health to provide these services and outreach programs.

I still haven’t received much information about what I will be doing with the organization. I will be volunteering with them, probably working with them on their outreach programs or counselling services. I’m really looking forward to working with the organization and learn more about what kind of services they offer. I think I will learn a lot that I can bring back home. Although, sexual and reproductive health is generally a more open topic here in the United States. It is still certainly controversial and difficult for some people to talk about. I think my time with CEMOPLAF will teach me strategies and ideas for how to discuss these important topics even in conservative environments.

Breaking News

March 8th, 2017 by msb3

2017 Presidential Election

Presidential Candidate Lenin Moreno (www.theguardian.com)

Since I wrote my Background and Analysis, Ecuador began their 2017 presidential elections. The article “Ecuador election: Moreno facing runoff as 40% vote looks out of reach,” describes the election that will replace President Rafael Correa who has been in office since 2007. In this election, the two frontrunners are the leftist vice-president under Correa, Lenín Moreno and the right-wing candidate Guillermo Lasso. In the election, Moreno fell just short of the necessary 40% of the votes required to win the presidency. The runoff elections will take place in the beginning of April. The new president will inherit an increasing national debt and corruption as well as a variety of other issues.

As Correa has been president for 10 years now, a change in presidency could cause some upheaval in Ecuador. While Moreno would be likely to continue with policies similar to Correa, a win by Lasso or any of the other candidates could cause some serious change in Ecuadorian policy. It will be interesting to see how the new president handles topics such as women’s equality and women’s rights.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/19/ecuadorian-ruling-party-candidate-ahead-in-exit-polls

U.S. Mexico City Policy

Just a few weeks ago, Trump reinstated the U.S. Mexico City Policy as described in the article “Governments Step Up for Reproductive Rights.” This policy ends U.S. funding going towards NGOs around the world that provide abortion services or give information about abortions, even though these NGOs do not use the U.S. government funding from for abortions, rather that money goes to services such as family planning programs, contraception, and gynecological checkups. It is estimated that there are over 225 million women around the world who are unable to access affordable contraception. This policy is likely to increase unplanned pregnancies and prevent millions of women from using contraceptives. In Ecuador, where abortion is severely restricted, women are driven to unsafe abortions and doctors are unable to do anything to help due to the severe laws.

While I don’t think this U.S. policy will affect the NGO I will be working with this summer, it will likely affect many NGOs around Latin America that provide important health services for many women and also educate youth about sexual and reproductive health. Ecuadorian women already face many struggles in accessing adequate healthcare and contraception. This policy will have a serious impact on women around the world and in Ecuador as fewer women are able to access the healthcare they need. When women are unable to access contraception and maternal care, maternal deaths increase due to unplanned pregnancies and complications. I think this policy will only exacerbate the issues women face around the world and in Ecuador.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/02/28/governments-step-reproductive-rights

President Correa: Religion and Politics

The article “Is Ecuador’s Correa blurring the lines between religion and politics?” discusses how President Correa’s policies often seem to come from his catholic background. Religion has influenced Correa’s healthcare, poverty reduction, and education policies during his time in office. While Ecuador has decreased teen pregnancies during Correa’s term it still has the highest teen pregnancy rate in all of Latin America. Correa has also appointed a pro-life, abstinence-only advocate, Monica Hernandez, as the head of the National Interagency Strategy for Family Planning and the Prevention of Teen Pregnancies.

While Correa has publicly supported the use of contraception, he has also made a case for an abstinence-only approach and is strongly opposed to abortion on the basis of his Catholicism. These contradictions indicate how women’s health and access to these kinds of health services are still an extremely controversial and difficult topic in Ecuador. Religion clearly has a huge impact on women’s ability to access necessary health services and also affects many aspects of the nation’s policies.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2015/0305/Is-Ecuador-s-Correa-blurring-the-lines-between-religion-and-politics

Losing Ground in the Fight for Women’s Rights

Graffiti painted by pro-choice advocates in Quito (www.pri.org/stories)

While Ecuador does guarantee access to sexual and reproductive healthcare to all in their constitution, the article “As Pope Francis visits Ecuador, women there say they’re losing ground,” describes how women are continuing to struggle to obtain equal rights and are losing some of the progress they have made. Correa is considered to have some of the strictest policies towards women’s rights and health. Correa and his policies suggest a rise in conservatism that may undermine much of the progress women have made within the last few decades.

This article makes me wonder about how the NGO I will be working with deals with this kind of environment that is so hostile to what they are doing. This article also talked about how it’s very difficult to find birth control commercially. Most pharmacies don’t carry birth control and it’s often necessary to find it on the streets which can be very expensive. It seems like NGOs like the one I will be working with are probably the only way for low-income women to get access to birth control. Reading these articles has really shown me how essential these NGOs are for women in Ecuador.

https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-07-04/pope-francis-visits-ecuador-women-there-say-theyre-losing-ground

Sources:

“As Pope Francis Visits Ecuador, Women There Say They’re Losing Ground.” Public Radio International. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2017.

Collyns, Dan, and Jonathan Watts. “Ecuador Election: Moreno Facing Runoff as 40% Vote Looks out of Reach.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 20 Feb. 2017. Web. 08 Mar. 2017.

“Governments Step Up for Reproductive Rights.” Human Rights Watch. N.p., 28 Feb. 2017. Web. 08 Mar. 2017.

Guidi, Ruxandra. “Is Ecuador’s Correa Blurring the Lines between Religion and Politics?” The Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor, 05 Mar. 2015. Web. 08 Mar. 2017.

Journal 1

February 1st, 2017 by msb3

Journal 1: Reflecting on week 1 and week 2 classes and readings, please articulate your own arguments (for and/or against) international development work. What are your recommendations for conducting service in a manner which is respectful to the host community?

I have had mixed feelings about international development and volunteering in general for the past few years. On the one hand, I have had great experiences volunteering where I felt like I was useful and actually made a difference and I have also had experiences where I felt useless and in the way. This is something I worry about when I think about international service as well. There seem to be a lot of cases where volunteers or international development workers from developed countries go to a developing nation, but don’t actually achieve anything and even negatively affect the community. As Ivan Illich articulated in “To Hell with Good Intentions,” just having good intentions really isn’t enough. I think this is a huge issue and something to be extremely mindful of in international development work, but I also think that if people go about international development in the right way, it can be very successful.

The first two classes this semester have helped me to reflect on my feelings about international development and service. I’ve come to the conclusion that I support international development work but I think it needs to be conducted in a certain way. For starters, volunteers and international development workers should not go into their service thinking that they are there to help. I think saying that you are “helping” creates a sense of superiority and condescension, and also focuses your development work on the negative aspects of the community you are working with. As described by asset-based community development theory, if development workers focus too much on the needs or deficiencies of a community, that community may start to view itself negatively and be less motivated to work towards social change. I think that when asset-based community development is applicable, it is the best way to go about development. By focusing on the resources and capabilities of the community itself, the community will be more inspired to work towards change and progress. I also agree with the Amigos community-based initiative approach. Nobody knows a community better than those who are living in it; the community members are the people that know what changes they want to see in their community. An outsider has no place to go to a different place and tell them how to change. Long-lasting, sustainable changes must come from the community itself.

I think it’s important for volunteers and international service workers to see themselves as facilitators of change, not bringers of change. They must also be culturally sensitive and open-minded, as different cultures and societies operate in different ways. International development workers must be flexible because what works in one country may or may not work in another. A volunteer or international development worker has the important ability to empower community members to make changes and should focus on the assets and strengths of the community to create sustainable, positive changes.