Long and winding road! (Thailand, Sept 2007)
I got a call from a Korean guy, who used to be one of my co-workers. He wanted to know the contact numbers of some staff, to send English books to establish a library in a Burmese refugee camp in Thailand.
I tried to be polite listening to his story… He already got fund from UN people and NGOs in his country. And I simply wondered if he really knows about aid, human rights and development.
Why getting fund before consulting the refugees themselves?
Why English books to a Burmese refugee camp? Why not Burmese?
Will he also send fund to build the library? A refugee camp middle of nowhere, with an excellent English library? How about that. Does he want the people there to stay there forever and ever?
I know books enrich people’s wisdom. But with all the money he’s got, can’t he do something else? Does he want to promote resettlement in English-speaking countries? Why not urging his country to accept more refugees? I do not understand.
Well, he’s a man with an official passport of his country, representing its government. Blessed is he, who comes in the name of a government… Just like ODA (Official Development Assistance), there’s no logic and analysis in his thought: South Korea’s ODA today: fragmented, no philosophy, no framework
