the light and dark sides of Earth
I saw this picture in one of the classes I attended. The dark side of Earth correlates with the limited access to health services, low access to education, high child mortality rate, and other poverty-related-problems, you name it. This side is where many international organizations stay for a certain time and work for a change. These organizations try many approaches in order to enhance the community life quality. One of the approaches is participatory approach. There are many studies have shown that the community participation does have a big part in making the development works and sustains. However, it is not easy to get the community participation happened. There are many developments in the low income countries stopped when the organizations phased out.
I have stayed in a dark side of Earth for couple of years. In that dark side of Earth I worked with my friends and the community to provide a better life for the children. The community themselves should make it happen, otherwise it would be useless. We have tried to involve the community even from the planning phase. Then many things happened, and I thought that community participation is non sense. Which part of community would be involved if not get paid? Even for a training that would bring knowledge to the community, we were asked to pay for the community attendance. That was not the way we worked. On the other hand, the organization has time frame for implementation, target to be achieved and measured, and promise to the donors to be responsible of. That was the time when I thought that community participation would never be exist.
Then I met a community that has willingness to build a water reservoir without any incentive, and now they can have access to clean water. Then I met a community that voluntary cooked the meals for an event that we held. Then I met a village head who voluntary delivered me to the other village just to ensure that I arrived safely at that night. Then I met the fathers and mothers who routinely give money to their children to be saved in a school-saving-activity. Then I met the teachers who voluntary collect the students’ savings every week, and now the children and families start to save money for the children future.
That dark side of Earth taught me many things. That dark side showed me that they can improve their lives, neither because of the incentives nor the equipments they got. It will take time, but they can improve their lives when they have an ear to hear their problems, a time to sit together, and a hand to work together.
From that dark side of Earth I see that community participation is real. That dark side of Earth is called Papua.
