Win a Trip with Nick Kristof
I’m filing this away for tomorrow:
I’m hoping that you’ll be changed when you see a boy dying of malaria because his parents couldn’t afford a $5 mosquito net, or when you talk to a smart young girl who is at the top of her class but is forced to drop out of school because she can’t afford a school uniform. I’m not saying you’ll turn into an aid worker — but I’m hoping you’ll remember how much of the world lives and carry that memory through your life and let it affect your work and priorities. I began backpacking through Africa and Asia when I was in university, and the experiences changed me as I hope this trip will change you.
I’ve never been outside of North America except for a brief NAFTA visa run to the Mexico border a couple times when I used to live in Phoenix and before my greencard came. I’ve never pumped gas, worked theatre popcorn, or mopped floors, let alone done hard, bluecollar labour. My skill with computers has mostly isolated me from the hard, gritty parts of life. Even our American bums make enough to eat every day–where do I go on this continent to find the truly poor? I’ve travelled extensively and never seen anything shocking enough to change my life. Perhaps travelling to a third-world developing nation would let me experience life’s struggle instead the American dream.
This entry was posted on Sunday, March 26th, 2006 at 3:26 am and is tagged with smart young girl, mosquito net, nick kristof, mexico border, greencard, aid worker, school uniform, couple times, bums, nafta, american dream, malaria, third world, mosquito, popcorn, continent, labour, priorities, visa, phoenix. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback.
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