Teaching Them to Fish

I'm going again. It's been too long since I've gone. Kenya in 2007. Greece in 2008. 2010? Cambodia.

To be honest, I have had little desire to ever travel to Asia. I'm sure that is because my perception of Asia has been tarnished by the neon sign populated streets of Tokyo, the oddly decorated karaoke bars in Beijing, and the factories branding teddy bears and wind up jewelry boxes with “Made in China” stickers. In my narrow mind, that seemed to be all there was to Asia. But Cambodia challenges me with its lush mountains and sleepy villages on stilts – an image thankfully different from those over produced by my minds eye. Cambodia presents me with a new kind of Asia – one that is actually alluring.

Even more alluring than the geography of Cambodia is what I will be doing there. And the job description is the real selling point. Working with the International Relief and Development Fund, I will be partnering in their efforts to improve the lives and build the livelihoods of the world's most deprived. IRD strives to reduce the needs of the worlds most vulnerable groups by providing them with the necessary resources to increase their self-sufficiency. While IRD was only founded in 1998, they have projects in over 40 countries and provides 500 million annually in humanitarian aid. The specialize in community stabilization, governance, health, and sustainable food and agriculture systems.

In Cambodia, specifically, IRD focuses on increasing and maintaining health and creating sustainable food options. They have implemented the Child Survival Program which seeks to reduce infant mortality and morbidity rates. To eliminate malnutrition of these children, IRD pairs mothers of healthy children with mothers of unhealthy children in order to provide peer-to-peer training on proper feeding techniques. They also have begun marketing nutritionally fortified foods, oral rehydration techniques, and soap. This program officially ends in September after a four year run. Thus, my responsibility is to now analyze the effects of this program in the community. By conducting interviews, writing briefs, and producing proposals for new projects, my job this summer is to see if the project was implemented well and brought about positive change within the community.

I am excited to see what I find and excited to see how I will be challenged. Since IRD is not religiously affiliated, it will be interesting to see how my religious convictions intersect with the people I meet and the work that I do. With that considered, check out this article on IRD in TIME aptly titled “Teaching Them to Fish.” This is what I hope to do.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1840577,00.html