Who would have thought that watching Angelina Jolie in Namibia would have taught me an important life lesson? Among all the wonderful things she is doing in third world countries, she has managed to stay rooted and she left me with one important message. "The people in these poor areas are just like us...they have dreams, they want to send their children to school, they want a better life..." or something to that effect! For me, although I knew the impoverished people of Africa, Chiapas, MX, and other parts of the world were suffering and wanted a better life, it struck me that particular day when I realized they want to be educated and empowered just like we are. I know, it may seem petty that I have "just realized" this. You can imagine that I felt pretty moved by this simple discernment. I guess, for a long time, I felt like I needed to "help these people" with respect to health care and socioeconomic factors...very broad and abstract topics. But, when there is a face and someone puts it into perspective, in this case Angelina Jolie, and relates the idea in a way I can understand in my heart of hearts...my own visions become clear to me.
This was further elucidated today, as I watched the required class video on the Grameen Foundation. I saw these lovely women, who came from destitution and morphed into entrepreneurship! Amazing! We have something in common, them and I, to be successful. To create, develop, plan, collaborate, and work hard. All they needed was a chance. The answer was simple, of course, microloans to create a foundation. I always knew simplicity (Occam's Razor) provided the answers to complex problems. This was testament to that.
4 comments:
Hey Andrea! I remember feeling the same thing when I was talking to a friend who was very close with a man from Northern Uganda. The man had contacted my friend in order to ask for monetary assistance so that he could be able to afford to go to a University there. It struck me as odd that this man who can barely afford to pay for food everyday, or a place to live, would be worried about schooling. And I remember thinking to myself that that was such a de-humanized way of looking at the man's situation. Of course he wants to be able to go to school, because that could help lift him out of the poverty that he is now stuck in. People don't just want to survive, they want to succeed and advance and accomplish things. I am really glad that I realized this, because it has truly changed my outlook on issues pertaining to poverty and health. It is not enough that we help people to live, but we need to help empower people to be able to accomplish things so that they have hope.
Things like this really put perspective on how priviledged we are. It also shows how ingenuitive these people are.. that you can give them just a little bit of money and they can thrive.
Andrea I really like how you related media, celebrity to public health challenges. You mentioned “All they needed is a chance.” I wish the system and world that we are living in would have implicated this fact. If just underprivileged people, could have given the opportunity to live their life and obtain education like us!
It is amazing how sometimes we forget people that are facing hunger, lack of edification are the same as others. They have dreams, they want to live a happy, healthy life. It is our responsibility to collaborate with each other and come up with plans to better their life. Because they are not in this situation by choice!
I personally hope that one day I will be able to do my best in providing the underprivileged people, specially kids, with what ever is within my ability, to improve their life. Seeing some one is smiling at me can be better than $1000.00 to me!
While so many put down celebrities like Audrey Hepburn, Oprah, Madonna and Angelina Jolie for any number of reasons, I think they have all done such a wonderful job
brining public attention abroad to global disparities. With all the paparazzi they attract, the world has seen them travel and do humanitarian efforts because of the attntion they receive. I'm glad you commented on this, because I think that we can all learn from their actions and experiences as well as those all around us.
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