I’m so glad we learned about Global Voices. This site is such a great way to learn about people from other countries. As soon as I read our assignment, I was excited to dive in, but I didn’t imagine what I would find.
I had a choice between Republic of Congo, Romania, Russia and Rwanda. By looking at the cloud, I could tell Russia was, by far, the most popular choice, so I automatically crossed that off the list (I have to take the road less traveled). Then I just picked between the remaining three arbitrarily; I chose Rwanda.
The main issue people were talking about there was the uncommonly good (for the area) living accommodation of foreign aid workers. Contributors seemed to be in agreement that the foreign aid workers were too far removed from the real lives of the people they were trying to help.
I read through a string of comments on the subject, but then my mind started to wander…or wonder actually. I started to think about the origins of the people whose inputs I was reading. Were they Rwandans or were they people who were commenting on, but not necessarily from, the country? How many Rwandans have computers? How many have access to the Internet? Of those, how many write or comment on blogs about the state of things around them? Does any of this really matter?
As these questions crowded in, I started to get turned off to the site, thinking it might be mostly by people who were interested, but not effected by, the country.
I decided that before I passed judgment I would wade through all the R countries to see if it was maybe just my take on the Rwanda part. I visited Russia next, and then Republic of Congo and then Romania…and then it hit me. I had just visited those countries. I had just learned something new about those countries that I otherwise wouldn’t have known, but I wasn’t quite to my ah ha moment yet.
I decided to return to the Rwanda site and learn some of the background information about the person who facilitates the information there. Her name is Jennifer Brea. And she’s a fascinating person. I read up on her, and clicked on a link to another blog, and then another and then another until I forgot how it had started. As I explored life through her eyes (which incidentally took my to three continents and spanned several languages), I was learning and aggregating and distilling information for myself (sort of). That was my ah ha moment.
This site offers you a door to the rest of the world. And I, for one, think it’s worth stepping through.
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