Giving thanks for the gift and re-gift of thinking

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, it is time to give thanks for something in a less traditional manner than other people might.  I realize the holiday is about appreciating what you have and showing gratitude, but I don't believe I've ever heard of it being associated with taking action to pay that gratitude forward.

I know someone who used to work with USAID maybe 30-40 years ago and spent a chunk of time in Ethiopia.  When he was there, he saw such a dire need for help that he told the people there that he wanted to stay.  They told him no, that they didn't want him to stay.  "Why not?"  Well, because they said he would be able to do more to help their cause from the U.S. than he could by staying there with them.

Now, it's my turn to do my part.  There are organizations that ask for money and infomercials that shamelessly plug their causes, but the most important element that goes largely unpublicized is that of awareness.  Someone can very easily write a check and never really know what it's going toward or whom it will help.  Awareness of the surrounding issues, however, ends up becoming a currency of its own, one that is much more powerful and far-reaching than the value of a dollar (or its equivalent).  You might be thinking, "Well, awareness doesn't exactly put food on the table, now does it?" And, technically, I guess no, it doesn't directly do that.  However, consider a poor village where food is not plentiful.  An informercial advertises, "Send $20 to our organization and you can feed a family."  Truth be told, the money would, indeed, help.  But after those $20 are spent, then what?  What's the family to do?  What awareness would do, on the other hand, would be to teach the family how to survive past those $20.  You know, in a "You give a man a fish, you feed him for a day; you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime" kind of way.

I can assert with confidence that the people in these communities do not have fewer resources for lack of trying.  In fact, they work harder on a day-to-day basis than many people do in high-paying jobs in the U.S.  The difference isn't even necessarily a "poor" vs. "rich" mentality.  While some people may have fewer material resources, that does not automatically translate to poverty.  Especially in what many people might consider to be "poor communities," there exists a certain richness that comes out of such simplicity, of not having all of the material wealth that often clouds people's ideas of what is important in life.

What these people do lack, though, is awareness.  Living in an isolated community does not suggest a lower quality of life but it does make it more difficult to have access to information, services, and more.  For example, in a village in El Salvador, it is unusual for people to continue past 9th grade, if they make it even that far.  (One reason is that it becomes expensive, having to take the bus to school, which would cost $0.50 round trip.)  Kids also have to go to work to help support the family.  In my host family there, the father works at a milpa and has done so all his life.  He has never attended school and, thus, is unable to read or write.  He has four children and one of them dropped out of school a few years ago because it just wasn't for him.  That child, who must be 11 or so, now spends his time going to work with his dad, a machete being his tool of choice (not uncommon).  When I found out that he wasn't in school and wasn't planning to go back, my instinct told me to try to convince him otherwise.  Something stopped me, though, and upon further reflection, I decided that I couldn't justifiably persuade him to do it.  His attendance at school wouldn't earn the family any money, he wouldn't push himself in academics, and really, he wouldn't be working toward a tangible goal.  Even if he did finish school, what job prospects would there be?  The answer is few, if any.  And so, working at the milpa becomes the obvious default, and attending school would actually be a time waster in this case.  After all, when it comes to providing for the family, knowing about the process of metamorphosis or how to do geometry doesn't really rake in a day's wages (which would, at best, total around $5 for a full-day's work).


In this community, a trash service comes once a year.  The nearest post office is in a town 20 minutes away.  The local river (used for swimming and for laundering clothes) is connected to the septic system.  Despite these inevitable frustrations, though, the community is making progress.  Nearly one year ago, a bunch of us (in a study-abroad program) brought the community three computers and Internet, replete with online encyclopedias and learning games.  Besides the actual information contained in those programs, what we gave them was the gift of access.  Access to education, access to knowledge, and access to the rest of the world, whose exchanges and experiences would open the doors to a whole new realm of thinking.  Most importantly, this technology would give them the power to make decisions based on what they want and need (higher-level thinking), as opposed to not even knowing there were alternatives to their age-old processes.  In other words, we gave them the power to think for themselves and to be able to broaden their own horizons (and that of others), an asset that is truly priceless (more so than those Mastercard commercials).

I Skyped with the community today and, in doing so, I learned that the kids are on vacation now, as their school year runs from January-November.  That means that the kids have found out if they were promoted to the next grade or if they were held back.  It makes me happy to know that the two girls whose education I sponsor were both promoted.  Looks like next year, I'm gonna have an 8th grader and a 3rd grader on my hands!  But just knowing that every day they are expanding their minds and accumulating experiences in all aspects of life (both inside and outside the classroom) is rewarding...and honestly, the gift of thinking goes much farther than that $20 check.

Happy Thanksgiving to all -- may you all realize how lucky you are to have whatever you have and to be able to know how to appreciate it.  Here's to hoping that you take your gift of thinking and re-gift it.