The Questions I Ask
Americans are weirdly private people. Nearly every other culture I’ve experienced involved sharing more personal information with strangers than your average American wants to provide. It used to feel really uncomfortable. (Okay, it stills tends to feel uncomfortable.) But I have a technique now – I lean in. I counter intrusive-feeling personal questions with nosy… Read More »
Blog Posts I Will Apparently Never Write
1. Jargon is generally accused of being 1) a sign of fuzzy thinking and 2) a tool for oppression and exclusion. Sometimes even by me. It has struck me lately, though, that jargon is also a sign of people who care so much about a particular topic that they want to get their vocabulary exactly… Read More »
Five fast facts about Bishkek
I moved to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan a little more than two months ago. It’s always hard to start a new posting in the winter, but I have been coming here on and off since 2001. I am very pleased to have a good long stay. Some notes: 1) It’s been snowing since December. It blows… Read More »
China’s labor migration
Last week, the Washington Post ran a great article about economic growth in China, and its impact on one young couple who migrated from their rural village. It starts out telling us that: More than 61 million children — about one-fifth of the kids in China — live in villages without their parents. Most are the offspring of… Read More »
The Easy Answers
Sometimes people ask me what they should know about international development. Sometimes they’re new professionals in this field, or people who want to be educated donors. Sometimes they’re health care professionals interested in international work. And sometimes they’re my mom. (Hi Mom!) It’s a hard question to answer. This work is not easily summed up,… Read More »
Humanitarian Response, Complexity, and UHC: My High Hopes for 2014
These aren’t predictions, exactly, or New Year’s wishes. More like positive signs I am hoping will occur. Clues that we’re getting our act together as an international system.[1] The good omens I would like to see. 1. Better response to complex humanitarian emergencies. Every single year, complex humanitarian emergencies get worse. Refugee and displaced persons… Read More »
The Child Catchers – A Book Review
Back when I traveled to Almaty for work, I used to see the adoptive parents. They accumulated in all the hotels that spoke English, looking haggard, holding hands with confused-looking little kids. Once, someone’s Kazakh adoption fell through and they ended up being referred to me through six-degrees-of-separation. I was in Uzbekistan at the time.… Read More »