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Your First Foreign Culinary Experience and the Initiation of a Basic "Global Mind"

Having foreign foods for the very first time can be a scary thing.  With foreign ingredients and condiments cooked in completely unfamiliar ways, their strange visual presentations is more than just a matter of curiosity.  When put in the stomach that is just as unfamiliar with digesting them as the eyes that see them, it could seriously do some serious bodily harm in matter of hours.  And as far as foreign foods go, Indian foods can be especially hard for first time introduction.  Their heavy use of exotic spices rarely seen in other cuisines are bound to make some react rather negatively after they hit the stomach.

"A Cup of Tea, Sir?"

The other day, the author found himself at the street food market of the little highlands town that he calls home. Severe downpours drowned out the streets while he was going for his brunch on the streets. Thankfully, the market is covered by a thatched roof, leaving a whole group of locals stranded under it for a couple of hours. There was some dismay, but little tension among the crowds. All sat down in the food markets' various stalls, picking up cups of tea, a few pastries, and some newspapers, whiling away the rainy hours with a few chats.

Revisiting the Issue of Trust in Rural Tanzania: The Prevalence of Its Fickle Fragility

When the author was still working in an ecommerce startup in Southeast Asia , he was surrounded by a highly optimistic environment for new online businesses there.  The logic goes that people who are going online for the very first time are much more open to new technologies that they have not seen before, becoming first adopters of concepts that conservative consumers in the developed world would shun because such technologies goes against their established norms.  Emerging markets, through open-mindedness toward new businesses, will make "technological leap" that puts them ahead of the developed world in no time.

How Fidel Castro Illustrates the Continuing Inclusiveness of Democracy Despite Recent Troubles

It is rather perplexing that so many countries around the world is mourning the death of Fidel Castro.  Yes, it is indeed true that he looms large as a political personality, with an oversized role on the frontline of Cold War-era, pan-Latin American, and even global anti-Americanism disproportionate to the small size of the island country he governed.  But that oversized role cannot compensate for the dismal conditions of modern-day Cuba, a country mired in economic crises despite strong performance on the social welfare, healthcare, and educational fronts.

Why Would Anyone Think That Monopolies Based on Trust Can Breed Economic Optimum?

"You know, after you guys delivered the inputs out here to your shop.  Another big NGO came to the village officials asking if they can open a shop here to sell inputs like you guys," the local agricultural officer nonchalantly mentioned as he chatted away with the program staff on a rather not-so-busy afternoon, "apparently the village officials told them they already have your shop, so they can go somewhere else for their own shop-opening."  With that, the agricultural officer threw a sly smile at the program staff, not willing to explain further the process of the village officials' decision-making.

“中華軟實力”之在非洲農村看抗日神劇

在著者爲組織運營的小店旁邊有一個販賣盜版DVD的商家。每天從清晨到傍晚,門前的一個巨型音響會將店内正在播放的任何DVD傳播到整個村裏。在這裏,這種DVD店非常常見。 若干月前,著者也談到它們正成爲把韓劇帶入當地人民的視野 。它們巨大的聲音給平靜的農村生活帶來一些色彩,也同時讓無電視、無網絡的農民間接的瞭解外面的世界。甚至可以説,當地農民的世界觀被這些店面銷售的DVD決定,而在他們無法走出農村的現實下,對外面世界的好奇心在某種意義上被滿足。

Is a President Trump the Proof of a Fundamentally Biased and Elitist American Mainstream Media?

People surround themselves with other people who have similar views and opinions.  And people of certain views and opinions tend to refer to similar sources for information.  So when one looks for certain information, and go to their regular sources (whether it be friends' posts on SNS or news outlets), they see only one side of the story that they agree with.  Given the universally unanimous opinion expressed in their social cycles, they falsely believe that the views they agree with are shared by intelligent people and are definitely in the majority, while the radical fringe has some extremist perspectives.

"Computer? I Can't Understand English..."

For many rural Tanzanians, coming face to face with pieces of modern technology for the very first time is more than simply learning about its various functionalities. The personal computer, the internet, and various websites are more likely than not, written completely in English , or to a lesser extent, another foreign language, and the prevalence of foreign languages is all the more comprehensive when the subject becomes more technical, such as manuals for troubleshooting software problems, guidelines on network configuration, FAQs on how to use an online system.

Lack of Street Addresses as a Bottleneck for Urbanization

There are many things provided as public goods that people in other parts of the world take for granted.  Many of those public goods simply do not exist out here in Tanzania, and the importance of those public goods are not realized until they are found to be non-existent.  One of these public goods is street addresses.  Even in the largest and most developed cities of the country, most streets have no names, there is no such thing as house numbering even on the streets that do have names.  Partially given the woeful state of the postal system , no systematic effort is undertaken to change this reality.

Broken Timelines, Broken Trucks, Broken "Laws," Broken Roads, Broken Arms, Broken Wallets...

For those who knows, the author works in a job where the main responsibility is providing agricultural inputs to farmers on loan .  The method by which it is done is through a series of retail outlets in the remotes villages where farmers can visit to purchase those inputs on loan.  So naturally, preparing to open the shops requires transport of the said inputs from a central warehouse to the locations of the shops.  As the coming agricultural season approaches, the team here is beginning those "truck runs."  Unfortunately bottlenecks are everywhere, and some of them experienced recently could be considered novel for the inexperienced.

"What is a Pet?"

The house that I resided in rural Tanzania was also inhabited by a 4-month-old kitten, a sort of pet that my roommate was looking to acquire for some time. So far one of the most interesting thing about the experience is to observe how the Tanzanian housekeeper who showed up thrice a week interact with (or, more accurately, behaves toward) the kitten. To put concisely, it is almost one of bipolarity, petting the animal and giving her attention one moment, but loudly (and rather harshly) shooing it away whenever the kitten gets jumpy and playful enough to interrupt her housework.

"I Have No Interest in Money"

Working in rural Tanzania, I have many people who tend not to have much money, but do not work simply because they "do not like to work." No, these are not people who are falsely called "lazy." Real lazy people like money, but simply do not want to put in the effort to earn it. These people, however, simply have no interest in earning money. Perhaps if they are more motivated to earn money, they would work very hard and persistently. But I simply cannot tell because they show not enough desire to earn money in order to work hard.

Reconciling Religious and Traditional Pieties: Buganda Way of Taking in Christianity without Diluting and Losing Their Social Identity

“The great-grandfather of the current King is probably the most honored one of all the recent kings of Buganda,” the smiling young man kindly showing the author around the great halls of the Buganda Parliament proudly noted as they passed under a gigantic portrait of the young-looking king sitting on his throne at the turn of the 20 th century.  “After all, he is the one who wrote a letter of Queen Elizabeth, asking her to specifically send Christian missionaries to the Buganda Kingdom so that the people can be taught of the great religion.”  He was quick to add as explanation.

Is Sensationalized Focus on Individuals in Poverty Crowding out Efforts to Build Sustainable Systems to Eradicate Poverty?

Anyone would have seen the tear-jerking photo: a malnourished African child, dressed in torn rags that can barely be defined as "clothing" and sitting on barren red dirt, tears and nasal mucus freely following down her earth-crested face.  It is a poster child for the likes of UNICEF, so well-utilized to help part the sympathetic rich folks of the First World with their cash.  Itis a strategy used prevalently even among the less fortunate in more well-off places : give a visual representation of misfortune, and the many people who feel sorry will mindlessly donate to "end the misfortune."

How Modern-Day Liberal Internationalism is Fundamentally Neocolonialist

In a world where political labelling is rife, it is not easy to precisely define a set of values that constitute a political ideology.  "Liberalism" is a particularly tough one at that.   People speak of certain values being universal, especially when it comes to the field of human rights .  For such people, those who dare to oppose such values are not only barbaric and uncivilized, but also on the right side of history, sure to be perceived in the negative light in the history books of the future.  To them, it is simply unfortunate that these barbarians do not see their own barbarism and make self-motivated efforts to correct themselves.

"Why Pay Tax? We Get No Services"

Farmers in rural Tanzania do not pay taxes today. The reason is rather obvious. On one hand, it is just too logistically difficult to collect taxes on millions of farmers who live far apart from one another. If attempted, the cost of collecting taxes (walking around villages asking for cash) probably would exceed the collected amount many times. Only systematic usage of mobile money can resolve this problem. Without a scalable way to have farmers themselves hand over money for fear of credible threats of punishment, everyone will just evade tax.

"You Can't Buy Land Here"

The rural Tanzanian town that I resided in is a classic truck-stop kind of town. Sitting on a top of a hill, it nonetheless serves as a transport hub where two of the country's major cross-country highways intersect. An east-west highway connects the country's main port at Dar es Salaam with Zambia, providing ocean access for trucks coming from the landlocked interior of the continent. And spurring off that east-west highway is a north-south highway leading north to the country's new showcase capital of Dodoma , where MPs and other political types from across the country congregate when the legislature is in session.

チャリティーの感覚 VS ビジネスの感覚

以前このブログをご覧になっていらっしゃる方はご存知かもしれないが、筆者が今務める組織はタンザニアの農民に対してローン方式でメイズの種や肥料を販売している。販売相手となる農民の中で、このような世界どこかの工場で大量生産された種や肥料を見たこともなく、その効果を心から疑っている人は少なくない。彼らが持つその根本的な疑いを収めるため、農村でこれらの商品を紹介する際、常にこのような言葉を使う:「私たちはこれらの商品を通じてあなたたちを 助けに参りました !」