Into the World:
The Random Thoughts in My Mind

Two years in the depth of rural Tanzania working for an NGO gives one a perspective on poverty in action. Our clients, a group of farmers scattered across a series of remote villages, struggles to make ends meet as changing rain patterns and a dearth of high-quality fertilizers keep their farms unproductive. After a tough two years working to reverse these struggles, idealism turned into cynicism, hope into disillusionment. NGO workers, in the face of continued poverty, find themselves becoming too quick to blame others, whether it be government absence, unmotivated staff, or refusal for organizations, including their own, to prioritize projects that are realistically feasible rather than glamorous for publicity. 

What is the most visual sign of an intellectual?  For many people, the answer may be an obvious one.  The person must be well-read.  And what better proof is there of a person being well-read than having a study full of bookshelves, completely filled up with good books?  It is unsurprising than, whenever the average media outlet go conduct a face-to-face interview with scholars, professors, and experts, they are often conducted in their offices, flanked by bookshelves full of books related to the topics at hand and the person's field of expertise.  Having many books has become equated with knowledge.

There is no doubt that that rural Tanzania is not a desirable destination for food-lovers. So, logically speaking, someone who loves food but has not had the chance to enjoy many different kinds of it should make every effort to enjoy that great variety after leaving rural Tanzania. Without going to excess, the person should be finding the most delicious spots around town, so that s/he can make up lost times of eating rice and beans every day in rural Tanzania. And the person would absolutely enjoy that exercise.

Surfing the Internet around the world is often an exercise in homogeneity.  With the exception of China and a few other countries restricting Internet access to certain sites, every country in the world popularizes the same website and Internet services.  Facebook is used by people around the world in dozens of different languages to connect with friends, while Google and Wikipedia are nearly unanimous as the first sources of knowledge.  On the mobile phone, the likes of Uber and Tinder have provided people in all countries with similar services, despite different on-the-ground conditions.

Today’s students ought to be anxious.  As technology develops, many cushy jobs are in the process of disappearing and being replaced by robots and computer algorithms.  Government policies, from increased tariffs to fickle visa regimes, make employment in an increasingly interconnected world volatile and unpredictable.  To counter these constant changes in the overall economic environment, Educational institutions need to restructure their curriculums and mindset to help students develop a diverse set of knowledge base.  Only with varied set of skills will students, upon graduation, be able to weather changing employment patterns as well as rise and fall of particular industries.