That's one screwed up little cat. It doesn't look at all happy. I wonder if it's worried about marriage being 'redefined.'

Is this working?

No No No Cat

hey !   

Also Youth Day in Fiji, and the Feast Day of Saint Florian, patron saint of soapmakers. 

slightly belated Grettings !

May the 4th Be with you !!!

There is, of course, a motivating pleasure to be gained from doing real good, and knowing it.   I'm not convinced that finding or being motivated by that pleasure is what I'd want to call 'selfishness'.  For me, the word selfishness is more about wanting for oneself at the expense of others.

I agree about the dubious nature of rich western children 'helping' to build a school or something in Africa.  Their air fares alone would be enough to provide materials and employ locals to build ten schools.  It would be far more effective if they were to spend the money that way, but they won't.  I think it may give those kids a different and better perspective, so any benefit it's pretty much about those kids' development.  But I suppose, if this experience replaces another equally expensive holiday that they would have been going on, that it could be a more worthwhile experience.

What I reckon is that there are very few of us, if the truth is laid bare, who allow the plight of poor people to get to us in the way we perhaps should, and life experiences that bring us into contact with real need, whether at home or abroad, are quite often avoided.  Probably, those experiences are the only possible starting point for worthwhile action, whether it's via a charity or simply direct help. 

My school used to have gap year English kids to mind us when the teachers had better things to do. We used to call them RentaPoms. They also had a feeling of helplessness, I'm sure, especially when we had finished with them.

Later on at university, I would get into (and always lose) these sorts of conversations in which everyone would one up each other on where they had travelled. You've been to London? Well, *I've* been to outer Uzbekistan and helped disadvantaged families rebuild their yurts.

Perhaps there is always something selfish at the heart of love? Ah, Nadine, becoming a calvinist on us?  

Good thoughts, Nadine.

good and eloquent stream Nadine, very interested in what you say 

Interesting, I watched that yesterday as well, it was linked from a BBC article. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22294205

I think there is a lot of sense in it. I'm sure there is much to be done that is not exploitative and imperialist, but I don't think shipping kids overseas en masse to do tasks that are beyond their understanding, or that should be performed by local people who get paid for it, is helpful at all. Such schemes need to be devised with great carefulness. There is far too much tinkering going on in some of these places, where many of the answers lie in big picture regional and international politics and market philosophies.

I am in the process of identifying just a few NGOs I can trust in some of the places I have visited recently around SE Asia, to support financially and maybe in other ways if that seems appropriate, though it is hard to imagine yet what that would involve. It feels so so strange sometimes, visiting remote communities, going into their factories and fields, to learn, seeing their homes, being welcomed and offered hospitality, standing white-faced in the local markets full of the buzz of humanity, buying and selling and gossiping ... and wondering what on earth I am bloody doing there, what is the meaning of my presence and the label of 'tourist' to their economy and environment, to my life, what will be the consequence of all this effort, this hunger to understand, this feeling of helplessness in the face of big powers, what is an appropriate way to respond. Like so many things, it is easier to identify responses I don't like than to say 'this is right'. The longer I am here, the closer I see some stuff, the harder it becomes to be clear about what is right, my western imagination is so programmed into me but it is getting to feel rather grey and mushy. That's positive, I think. Reality is so slippery and interconnected. But I still want something concrete to offer, and not to be merely a taker in this unequal world. But even as I type that, it sounds like it is still about me. Perhaps there is always something selfish at the heart of love.

Sorry, this is a bit of a stream of consciousness post, it is on my mind a lot.