OMG THATS SOOO INDEV!

   Meet INDEVOURS, a group of international development students preparing for an eight month field placement in Ghana, Malawi, Burkina Faso, Vietnam, Peru and Botswana.  Fundraising initiatives are underway... Stay posted for upcoming news and events!

Blog: INDEVOURS.blogspot.com
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Email: indevours@gmail.com

Found in the archives: Statement from a first year International Development Student

THE CALL TO ADVENTURE

                 
      Ever since I began my studies at the University of Waterloo in the Environmental International Development Program, I have seen my passions mould into obligations.  I have personally been dedicated to sustainable living for a some time now, however, since I have developed a knowledge in the field of international development, and sustainable living in lesser developed countries, I feel obliged to follow my passion through to these destinations.  This is essentially, where my personal and professional goals collide: on the quest to promote sustainable living with a high quality of life everywhere.  My enthusiasm for the environment and the natural world begins with the work I do in the summers.  I am a canoe/wilderness guide for students aged ten to eighteen years of age.  Being a part of the transformation these students undergo just through experiencing the world in its purest, most natural state is enchanting.  The lessons I have learned from the natural world are numerous, and it saddens me to see this meaningful teacher dissipating before our eyes.  My goals for my life, my field placement, and for my professional career, stem from this passion, and my aspirations to preserve it for the well being of future generations.  

                  I have long dreamed of travel, with a specific infatuation with the continent of Asia.  The fact that Asian people and their culture differ so much from the culture I have grown up with, and am accustomed to is exciting to me; with the hopes of exploring new terrain and associated environmental and social issues.  Within Asia, my hopes are to work within the sector of sustainable rural or agricultural development.  Harmonization between developing communities and the natural environment is something I have an immense amount of interest in.  It is a sector of international development that I am extremely passionate about, and therefore feel I could be dedicated to.

                  In the past, I have had the opportunity to travel to South Africa with friends, and around Europe through the international high school I attended.  These travel opportunities taught me lessons about the world that no amount of time spent in a classroom could ever teach me.  I was enlightened to the call of adventure and the desire to experience how people live in all the different corners of the earth.  By moving away from the city, country, people and lifestyle I am acclimated to, I hope to be pushed out of my comfort zone and into a place of learning.  When you are not accustomed to anything around you, everything is a lesson, and an opportunity to learn.  In my field placement overseas, I hope to learn first hand the issues that affect people living in rural communities in lesser-developed countries, and as a result, how this has affected the natural environment and their quality of living.  By living in Asia, however, I wish to learn everything I can of differing cultures and lifestyles to my own. 

                  Throughout the work that I do over the summers, leading youth through the wilderness, I have reflected a lot of what being a leader is, and how I can embody a leadership position by incorporating my personality, goals and values into it.  Being a leader, and having some sort of responsibility allotted to me is something I strive for and react well upon.  In instances where there is some form of pressure, I often do my best work.  In the field of international development where most aspects of the subject of study are unpredictable, flexibility is something that is valued—I consider myself very flexible in this manner, and eager perform under time constraints.  Communication comes naturally to me, and is something I thoroughly enjoy, in hopes of gaining new perspectives on matters.  I love doing field-work, and being put into situations where I can communicate and learn in a hands on way—experiencing what I am learning or working on personally.  Learning of sustainable international development in Waterloo, has excited me for experiencing development in real situations first-hand. 

                  The entire notion that I am going to be thrust into a foreign environment, working with an organization that works on the things, and explores the same development territory that I am passionate about, is exciting all together. I look towards my field placement as an adventure, where I will learn as much as I can, and work as hard as I can to build a platform of knowledge of which to build my future career.  This field placement is the experience of lifetime, and something I will embrace with the importance of such.  I look forward to working with knowledgeable and influential people, who can teach me a lot about their field of work and past experiences. I am excited to meet mentors in the field of social development and environmental sustainability, for I am sure they will influence my perspective of this field of work. 

                  As you can see, I am very passionate about adventure and experiencing new cultures, countries lifestyles and living environments.  This passion may also be my greatest challenge during my field placement abroad.  With so much excitement of being in a new environment, I will need to pay close attention to the organization of my time, and to the focus of my attention.  I am, without doubt, very interested in the field work I will be doing, however it will require a conscious effort on my part, to organize my time when there is opportunity for new adventures, outside of my workplace.  I often get so absorbed in new experiences that my focus can divert from the task at hand and onto new escapades and adventures.  

                 

                  

MDG'S: goals or proof of statistic?

     As North Americans, when we hear of issues arising in the field of international aid, our go-to solution, (should we choose to react) is to give more, and donate more, in hopes of making a difference.  Although commendable; the amount of aid given by Canadians to Latin America through government and NGO’s, the pertinent issue is not how much money is being given, but where the money is being distributed upon its donation.  The Millennium Development Goals are a set of goals to be used as guidelines for the social development of lesser-developed countries.  These goals are used to measure success, but also to guide donor countries to where they should target their international aid dollars. Initialized at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000, one of the MDG’s is to halve the number of people living in absolute poverty (living on less than a dollar a day) by the year 2015. International aid needs to be scrutinized under the public eye in order to ensure it is going towards where it is needed the most.  Using the Millennium Development Goals as a guideline, we should be able to see equal distribution of aid in the realization of every goal—not just the ones that are easiest used to ameliorate statistics.

Critical thinking leads to innovation

Critical thinking or “thinking critically,” as I perceive it, is about filtering information and reacting accordingly.  It is the active process of interpreting information for its value—and utilizing it.  Critical thinking is an important skill to acquire and to practice at every possible opportunity—it sets one apart from the common stream of thought and on track to interpreting every conversation, every thought and every bit of information as a resource. 

            A character trait that I value as one of my primary inspirations to be in the field of international development is innovation.  Having the creativity to see and interpret things the way most would not, and acting upon these interpretations it is something I strive to succeed at throughout my lifetime. Being able to approach a topic, keeping in mind everyone and everything this topic affects and relates to is an important factor of thinking critically. The key to innovation is critical thinking. 

            My first year of university I enrolled in an elective course in the philosophy department titled “critical thinking.”  This class taught me a lot more about the theory of thinking critically, (being able to detect biases, fallacies etc…) as opposed to teaching me about critical thinkers themselves.  At first I was slightly let down, however found by the end of the semester to be thinking more critically myself.  On a day-to-day basis, I found myself often getting into small debates with friends and looking at topics of interest from many different perspectives and points of view—using everything and everyone I interacted with as a resource. As I began exploring different viewpoints and interpretations of things, I found my creativity evolved, and I am now able to discuss topics from an innovative standpoint. Learning about the world around me, and acting and reacting in innovative ways to help the evolution of development in lesser developped countries is essentially what I would like to do with my life—thinking critically about everything I can is the only means of getting there.