To see my personal reflections on this class as a whole please see the following link to my University Honors Portfolio page for this class: http://mylifethroughlearning.weebly.com/humanitarianism-design-thinking-across-the-disciplines.html
WHAT IS HUMANITARIANISM?
BEFORE THE TRIP
Humanitarianism has been an evolving concept in action, but its definition has remained the same throughout the centuries. At its core, it is the thought of selflessness for the betterment of others. The basic thought of humanitarianism centers on selflessness; the goal is to help something other than oneself, and this humanitarian action can focus on individuals or on entire populations. However, for humanitarianism, there has to be the correct intent. For instance, much of the US government’s military efforts around the Middle East are claimed to be “for humanitarian purposes” to rid the civilians of terrorizing rulers. However, there is a double-purpose that is often not stated publicly, and that is the protection of the valuable resource the Middle East offers—oil. Consequently, in my opinion, the US’s actions in the Middle East are not humanitarian in the true sense of the word because there is a selfish interest. This is exactly why areas of the world that have no benefit to the US are so rarely addressed by the government. For instance, Myanmar, a country east of India and west of Thailand in East Asia, is currently experiencing civilian unrest and cruelty from the hands of a militaristic, tyrannical government, is the single country with the worst healthcare system in the world, and is one of the largest centers of human trafficking. However, there are little “humanitarian” governmental efforts directed there because there is nothing to gain from putting efforts there. Consequently, majority of the aid this country receives are from non-governmental organizations with true humanitarian goals. Historically, humanitarianism began with the evolution of ethics. In the 17th and 18th centuries, western civilization began to identify some common practices as unethical. These included things like torture, slavery, child labor, and religious intolerance. Reforms were proposed and gradually implemented in the form of child labor laws, illegalizing slavery, religious freedom, and the humanization of criminal punishment. Documents such as the Bill of Rights—the first ten amendments to the US Constitution—became standards that focused on the new concept of human rights. In the 19th century, humanitarian efforts further evolved to focus on even more violations of the cod of ethics that had yet to be addressed. A huge milestone movement of the late 19th century and early 20th century were women’s rights to personal property and voting influence. Toward the late 20th century, when a majority of the code of ethics had been addressed, efforts of western civilizations began to look outward at developing areas of the world where these ethics were still being violated. However, the ethical code has continued to evolve with time, so even today, there are still many issues that are yet to be addressed. Today, a much larger proportion of humanitarian efforts are focused in developing regions of the world. The majority of ethical violations considered in these developing regions are based off of the ethics code from the past. However, today, the ethics code is evolving and in western nations, the humanitarian efforts in developed nations are focusing on these newer codes. The differences between humanitarian efforts on the home-front and humanitarian efforts in developing areas are quite striking. For example, in the last decade, attention to issues such as LGBT rights have skyrocketed in the home-front, but most efforts abroad are directed at issues such as curbing tyrannical rule and gender-based violence. In the future, my hope is that humanitarian efforts will culminate in a balance throughout the world where all nations have freedom of expression, human rights, and for every individual to have equal opportunity to further their own progress in the world. Obviously, these are very idea goals and are far from being reached. On the home front, we need to quell party divides that curb progress in discussion about the needs of vulnerable populations and unite under a common goal. On the outer front, we need to hone in on the basis of the issues, as many small issues are often caused by one or few large, core issues. Humanitarianism holds very personal meaning to my life. I am a pre-med student and will enter medical school in 1 ½ years. As a future physician, I hope to immerse myself in humanitarian goals centered around improve healthcare for vulnerable populations. Consequently, I am pursuing a Masters in Public Health (MPH) after completing my undergraduate education. I am very interested in global health, and ultimately, I’d love to work for MSF as traveling physician serving vulnerable populations. I specifically would like to focus my career on the rural parts of Southern India, where my own heritage lies. My roots are incredibly important to me, having come from a family who have excelled in both musical art and science. At some point, I would love to do research on the linkage between music and medicine and their effects on mental health, which I would then apply to my career. At the core, my involvement humanitarianism allows me to stay grounded to my personal values and helps maintain my humility, both essential characteristics necessary for truly serving others. |
AFTER THE TRIP
Humanitarianism is an immensely complex word to define and many scholars, all equally qualified, have come up with entirely different definitions. While I am definitely no scholar, because of this class, I have gained some insight through reading the works of other scholars on the subject. Thus I will briefly go through how humanitarianism and ethics intersect and have influenced each other in the past, appear in the present, and what the future of this practice could be, and then move on to talking about my personal experience with humanitarianism. Ethics and humanitarianism closely intersect with each other. In the past, once there were some moral standards built, which were largely results of various religious beliefs, these moral standards were analyzed deeply by philosophers, who looked closely at their merits. However, during the industrial revolution of the US, the French revolution in Europe, and the Russian revolution of the USSR, the countries we would identify as “developed” began to move toward a rule apart from just the elite classes of the societies. In fact, rule of the common person became a standard which these countries strove to achieve, with varying degrees of success, and with this immense global change came concepts of human rights—things such as health, opportunity, equality, and many others—which today still stand as the basis for humanitarianism. This whole concept of “developed” versus “underdeveloped” brought about a hierarchy, those of the “helpers” and “receivers”. The “helpers” thus stood at the higher ground more most of the 19th and 20th centuries, and until the latter half of the 20th century and into the 21st century, few ever really questioned this. However, after awhile some people began to question whether this great endeavor of humanitarianism was actually working. Without knowing the people who we are aiming to help, how do we know what to do to help them? These were questions that began to change the whole definition of humanitarianism to one of collaboration rather than giving and receiving. Today, we still see both kinds of humanitarianism in practice, old and new. Specifically in Africa, billions of dollars are donated toward humanitarian projects in the continent every year, while at the same time, partnerships are formed between western NGOs and local NGOs that involve community input and collaboration between both parties. In the future, we will hopefully move away from the old and toward the new. This change begins with the millennial generation, the ones who are the future of humanitarianism, to spread the new thought of equality between two parties rather than the donor-receiver mentality. This intersects closely with my experience of humanitarianism. I have gained so much perspective on the value of community input into humanitarian projects from seeing the village committee members in Burere talk about their frustrations with the latrine as well as the village committee members in Nyambogo praising VLOP and EWB for working with them to complete the latrine. What was especially striking to me was that the three communities have a very personal input into the projects. The people that staff the projects after their completion are all local staff from the village. Another example of an experience that really struck me as spectacular was working with Daniel in Roche to build the cook-stove. On the first day I was there, Thaddaeus, Mary Kate, Bri, Michael F., Daniel, and Whitney and myself were all there together collecting sand, making mortar, and laying down bricks. This is exactly the kind of collaboration that is necessary to maintain a good relationship with the communities and accomplish a common goal. This summer, I will be involved in an HIV education project in Chennai, working with a hospital that focuses on care for HIV+ individuals. This experience will directly contribute toward my practicum experience for my MPH. I will gain skills, which I will try to use even in my career in the future. |