pangaea said:
Maybe its the guilty liberal in me, but I feel like we as tourists get the most of these cultural exchanges, even though I try to go to great lengths to even it out. Of course I don't want to be the "ugly american" and throw money at them, since that's probably just as bad (if not worse).
Jonathan and I have been leading backcountry adventure trips for nearly 20 years - sea kayaking in the Sea of Cortez, guiding in the Sierra Madre/Copper Canyon, and in Africa - and the cultural interface is something we're always confronting with guests. Sometimes it's one-sided, but not always. Many times it's a challenge, though! Like the American ladies on one trip in Seri Indian country who wore (despite our request for them not to do so) their teenie bikinis when visiting the villages, and the people on our Africa trip who wanted to give money to the Maasai kids.
Far from being "guilty liberal" it's just human caring - we've got a lot, they have very little.
Those very feelings are why jonathan and I are involved now in community-based conservation in the southwestern US and in Africa. In the recent past I ran conservation organizations that work with local people to protect their ways of life and the natural areas on which they depend - ranchers, and African pastoralists - and i'm about to leap back into the fray running a new African Conservation Fund.
On the projects that we're working on, if the communities want to do so, we get involved in helping to build capacity to deal with issues such as education, health, and environmental quality. These projects are anything from locally owned/operated tourist camps, to guide services, to bush-craft products like basketry or carvings, or art like jewelry. It's always at the behest of the community - we only do so if invited, and only after lots and lots and lots of community meetings to make sure all parties reach consensus on issues.
Then, when we bring groups and guests to a village, the opportunities to help the community center on a specific project rather than individucal handouts - money goes to a community fund, and is spread around more equally. We might help with the school, buy gifts from the new women's coop, or help build a water cachement.
And you're right about handouts for sure: they are not the way to help people. The community leaders for the most part really discourage it. They don't want their community members to become dependent on any type of charity; they'd much rather see sustainable resource-based economic development.
Community-based conservation is a passion of ours - if you're interested in learning more, especially in Africa, we'll be building up the website and other information for the
African Conservation Fund in the next 6 months. I'll be based in Nairobi and the US - and likely will be coming to Colorado for some fundraising!
Roseann
, named Chile del Mar. It was nearly brand new and when the pilot strapped it onto the pontoon for the ride back, and he put his foot on the deck and yanked the strap til the fiberglass creaked, boy did i have to stifle a shriek!
