On relieving the current flow of people in need

In this post, I'm sharing a few articles that provide a more critical reflection on the recent humanitarian crisis and how it is being framed in the media and online. They voice the troubled gut feeling I've had so far when watching the www overflow with emotional cries and impromptu calls for semi-coordinated citizen relief efforts. This is going to be Band Aid all over again and in a few years, practitioner experts and academia alike will be writing on how this huge amount of goodwill achieved so little.

Simply sharing shocking images of a little boy that had drowned, actually reinforces the divide between us, westerners, and our privileges, and them, refugees, and their hard-wrought plights. It won't bring us any nearer to the solution. I hadn't read the article linked into the Vox one about the white-saviour industrial complex but it definitely complements and deepens that line of thought. Also, as Hans Rosling pointed out, it also is another opportunity for media and politicians alike to present Africa and the Middle East as places of pure horror and chaos, whereas tremendous improvements in peoples' lives have been occuring too and there are many positive stories to be told as well. By depicting them as victims you deprive them of their capacity to contribute to society and be part of positive change.

In case you were wondering why refugees pay so much money to risk their lives in shabby rubber boats instead of buying a much cheaper plane ride

Lest we forget, there is much more to all those people fleeing than just war or conflicts. There are often many reasons why that conflict has come about, and most of them involve us, consumers, or our governments, in multiple ways. (Think climate change; arms trade; resource-linked foreign policies; business interest trumping human rights; to name but a few.)

Rather than discussing the height of barbed-wired fences or the pros and cons of a EU-wide quota system, one of the debates to be had is how to implement the Refugee Convention that our nations have subscribed, more in particular, what to do once the countries of origin do no longer pose a threat to the lives of those we have hosted as refugees. Unfortunately, many of those countries of origin are bound to be in upheaval for many years to come. Refugee children will be born here and will grow up in our societies. Do we simply ship them back, as Tanzania did with hundreds of thousands of Burundese families after ten, twenty or in some cases even thirty years, or do we already think of how to integrate them as of today? Is the latter option practically, not to mention politically, feasible?

All this is not to say that we should not help those thousands of refugees marching through in search of a safe haven. Of course we should. But, leave the relief support to professionals. All those citizen-led initiatives inspired by the inaction and incapacity of our governments in hosting this sudden influx of people are no doubt well-intentioned, but good intentions can sometimes have horrible consequences. Already many stories are to be heard of donated clothes that have to be thrown away because they're dirty or wet or too big; that there is not enough space for all the food to be stored; etc. The only effect this will have is that, in two-three months from now, people won't be there anymore to provide warm clothes or other supplies, because they were turned down today for lack of storage capacity. You want to do something now? Ask professional relief organisations (such as the Red Cross or established refugee organisations) what you can do. And beware that most often it will be by simply donating money, even though that may not be as gratifying as feeding a hungry person yourself.

You can't have it all

2012 has been a year filled with new experiences, new friends and lots of new fruits. Applying my last year's wishes, I would like to share with you one of the most valuable lessons I learnt in 2012. I'll never forget the moment: a friend of mine came over for a visit, so I was showing her around the historical centre. We decided to have a beer on the Plaza de San Francisco, which has one of the only outside terraces on which you can enjoy a drink or a bite in the open air.

As we were updating each other on our lives, I was telling her how I was enjoying myself on a personal level in my new habitat, yet felt rather unsatisfied with my professional environment. I had just come up to speed rambling, when my friend interrupted me to say: if there's one lesson I've come to learn over the years, it is that you cannot have it all. No matter how hard you try, there will always be something that is missing from the picture. So you better learn to live with the fact that you cannot have it all: appreciate all the good you have instead of focusing on what you do not have!

It took me a while to absorb the message and, most of all, to accept its ramifications. Not an easy feat, especially when society surrounds you with images of success, glamour and glitter, where the sky is the limit and life seems burdenless. As soon as I accepted my friend's advice, however, I cannot count the times that I saw, read or lived the proof of that valuable lesson. Be it a volcano that didn't let me ascend to her summit, women who still cannot match a high fly job with nurturing their families, or simply a clash of agendas, life abounds with examples that you simply cannot have it all, nor should you try to.

Appreciate all the good things around you, do not abandon ship at the first sight of stormy clouds. Just give the sun some time to break through. Of course, if you still feel you're on the wrong track, you can always change direction. Just don't give up too soon, keep patient and enjoy the good company while it lasts!

As for me, the sky has cleared: not long after my friend left, work has become a lot more interesting up to the point that I am more than happy to extend my stay here. And, besides professional reasons, there are still some mountains left to climb... But for now, I wish you all the best for the new year, and don't forget to smile!

Merry Christmas

A Merry Christmas to you all!

Music credit: Alt-J, Something good

We are Q

Nope, this is not an obituary in memory of "Q" who passed away in the last James Bond movie. "We are Q" is the new slogan that the city of Quito has launched a few months ago, and now features many billboards, bus stops and several big public events. For some weird reason, it just occurred to me recently how this slogan contrasts with the well-known city-phrase of Amsterdam: I amsterdam. At first sight, it clearly epitomises the contrast between the 'traditional' individualism of modern, Western society, and the socially-oriented, inclusive society the Ecuadorian government is constructing with its vision of the Good Living.

With all the benefits of the new Quito, why would you loose your sense of humour when they rob you on the bus?

Of course, this Good Living society is work in progress. As recent as 2008 the Ecuadorians overwhelmingly approved a new constitution, embracing the foundations of a new society that is to include all cultures and nations, as well as grant rights to nature (the first and only constitution in the world to do so). This implies a whole new change in the lives of the Ecuadorians, contrasting firmly with decades of political chaos and social instability. Hence the need to accompany all these changes towards the good living with big campaigns nudging people into a different kind of behaviour. No more encouraging street children to beg by giving them money, no more hopping on and off buses wherever you feel like, no more speeding (or you risk a hefty fine and three days in jail).

In a similar vein, the municipality of Quito is accompanying its city revival projects with a campaign to promote ownership of the revamped Quito. As the billboards go, being "quiteño" equals humour, respect, public spaces, culture, courtesy and living together. After all, we all are Quito! Are we really? All of us? Benign though the rationale for this campaign may be, it can also have very far-reaching unintended consequences, ending up excluding the very people who are most in need of inclusion.

The goal of the "We are Q"-campaign is clearly to create a new collective imaginary, that unites all the citizens of the city and encourages them to embrace their renewed urban environment, treat it and its citizens with respect, and elevate their urban life to a new, more cultured level. After all, the municipality has been investing a lot to make this new life possible. However, this kind of campaign smells a lot like the "Asian values" debates, where a created vision of united and harmonious society is imposed onto an ethnically mixed constituency, aspiring to undo diversity for the benefit of social order. The people identifying themselves with Quito, will be the middle class and those segments of the lower class that have access to the new services offered by the city. They will make the new collective imaginary their own, moving up to a new level of urban experience facilitated by the city's mayor and his crew.

In fact, the auto-identification with this new life-style will strongly induce them not to pay attention to all that goes wrong and all those excluded from this new society, for whatever reason that may be. The same goes of course to the national societal project, which deliberately uses the we-tense on its billboards ("Avanzamos patria" - We are moving forward, motherland) over a general declaration of the country's progress. In so doing, it adds to the creation of a new collective imaginary that makes citizens associate the governmental efforts with a better, more harmonious and prosperous life. At the same time, it helps the government to justify the exclusion of groups and individuals that do not fit the new Ecuadorian dream and model society, be it for wanting to express critical opinions or for living atop of vast oil and mineral reserves. The majority, however, will not take notice of these political inconsistencies, enjoying the Good Living at the deliberately marginalised cost of those 'dissidents' and 'outcasts'. Ecuadorian public opinion, shaken not stirred.

Lessons from the mountains

Following a break of two months after an intensive period of mountain climbing, I have picked it up again. After all, you have to make the most out of living in another country; with so many impressive mountains and volcanoes so close by, I cannot resist the perfect escape from Quito's busy, CO2-emitting traffic into the crispy, fresh air of the páramo and beyond. Not only are the mountains home to such pristine nature that it makes you instantly forget about your daily sorrows, they also teach you valuable lessons for most big endeavours you may undertake in life, be they personal or professional.

The most obvious ingredient for success is no doubt passion. If you don't believe in your project, if you don't have a deep drive or if you don't feel passionate about what you are doing, it will be difficult to overcome the rough bumps on the road that leads to your final goal.

Second of all, a sound preparation is essential. You cannot reach the top of Ecuador's second highest volcano (Cotopaxi, 5894m) without a decent training - believe me, I have tried (and failed). That is, unless you are very lucky and external circumstances allow you to make it. No, before attempting to sweep away the big prize, you should start climbing some lower peaks to train you physically, and learn the basics of glacier climbing to train you technically. This way you get to learn your own body, how it behaves in different circumstances, and you grow confidence not only in your physical abilities, but at least as important, also in the technical gear that you carry with you. All this preparation gives you the confidence necessary to react pertinently in adverse situations and maintain your cool when you're staring into a seemingly bottomless crevasse.

Furthermore, this preparation gives you the intuition that allows you to identify people to guide you. Most likely, you're not the first to walk the road you're on. Rather than reinventing the wheel, you should learn to accept the guidance of others and trust them to lead the way. Experience and training help you to identify the various elements needed to reach your goal, and to recognize when people are skilled in those aspects.

Unless you are going it alone, there are more people involved in your endeavour. Some of them are literally tied to you, while others are walking just in front or behind you. You won't reach the summit if you don't learn to tolerate each other's characters. You're all on the same path, headed for the same goal, and you shouldn't let frustration and each other's deficiencies come in between of reaching that shared objective. Whenever you're having trouble with someone, spit it out in a clear and respectful way rather than bursting out. Suggest how you could make it work differently, instead of growing a grudge against the other person: you need to be able to trust each other, that you will do all it takes when one of you falls into a crevasse or lacks the energy to grab some hot tea. Only when you open yourself up for the people around you, can you learn about their motivations and their behaviour; understanding each other is the best way to team up your efforts and maximise your results. In short: tolerance, compassion and constructive communication are essential for a team to make it work.

Finally, it is hard to overstate the importance of having a support network of people who stand by you and your endeavour, whoever and wherever they may be. They will give you that little extra push in the back when you need it most, it's as simple as that.

On top of the Cayambe, Ecuador's third highest volcano (5790m); during the ascent in the night of All Soul's Day, I just felt lifted up by my three deceased grandparents who had my back and provided the perfect weather conditions to reach the summit.