Nevertheless, she persisted.
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The biggest question on my mind this week has been: how can I be most useful? How can I be part of making a positive difference in the world? I know that (like Elizabeth Warren) I must persist — but how, and where, and to what end?
I know that many readers of The Development Set are struggling with the same questions. To that end, we’d love to hear from you, either on Medium or on Facebook. Where are you putting your energies these days?
Our five curated stories this week are variations on this theme. Enjoy!
‘I was really needed’: How an Iraqi cardiologist won trust deep in Trump country
By Max Blau in Stat News
Fascinating profile from West Virginia. Talk about persisting in an environment that, on the surface, feels unwelcoming.
Smith said he had never considered that Berzingi was Iraqi. Or Muslim. Or a refugee like the ones now unable to seek asylum in America….
Smith said he felt badly that good doctors like Berzingi might get swept up in Trump’s temporary travel ban. Berzingi, for instance, had wanted to bring his father to the US for glaucoma surgery. That’s now off the table. “I feel for people like him,” Smith said. “That makes me feel bad his family can’t come over here.”
But Smith said he still backs travel ban as perhaps the only practical way to protect America. “I know they’re not all terrorists,” he said. Then he added, “I don’t know how we can weed out the bad from the good. That’s our problem.”
Obsession with ending poverty is where development is going wrong
By Efosa Ojomo in The Guardian
For those of us who work in international development: should we shift our focus away from alleviating poverty to creating prosperity? Would our energy be better spent helping create better employment opportunities for young adults — thereby incenting parents to send their children to school — than pushing for education reform for its own sake?
Is It Time to Put Travel on Hold and Make America A Better Place?
By Sarika Bansal in The Development Set
Inspired by a dinner I attended this week, I posted this open thread — which has some fascinating responses already, such as this from Brian O'Donnell and this from Melody Schreiber. Please add your thoughts!
Hans Rosling: The Best Stats You’ve Ever Seen
By Hans Rosling at TED
Sadly, this week saw the loss of an international development superstar — Danish statistician Hans Rosling. This is one of his most famous TED talks, which might make you have some optimism for the world.
How Filipinos Abroad Can Give More Than Their Money
By Rexy Josh Dorado in The Development Set
If you’re part of a diaspora, you might have more power than you think to make a difference in your home country.
Diasporas can play a unique role in the social sector. Our lives are rooted in a common history. Our identities are painted by the same palette of food, culture, and language. Our futures are in many ways bound together.
Bring these together and they form the foundation of solidarity and common humanity on which all development work should be built. How, then, do we start building?
