Leigh Matthews’
new podcast series on “Doing Good” gets off to a great start with Karen
Flanagan, whose fascinating life-story is a worthwhile listen in its own right.
She does of
course endorse the premise behind these podcats powerfully and with passion.
That premise is
“to do good you must first learn how to do good.” Doing good is not a God-given talent, at
least not for most of us. Good
intentions are simply not enough. Great
efforts and money are too easily squandered. Things can even go badly wrong as Leigh, Karen
and I can all testify when talking about the scourge of “Orphanage Tourism”
that has swept the world.
Let me
therefore declare we are kindred spirits.
The challenge we face is to take our messages to the rest of the
population. These podcasts will help as will the recent book Leigh and Karen as
contributors talk about in this
conversation – “Modern Day
Slavery and Orphanage Tourism”. They explain the drawbacks of "#voluntourism" more studiously than in my website.
Now this
podcast is quite a long listen but please set aside
the time. It is well-worth it. Karen comes out with some pearls of wisdom and
some excellent tips. Two of her stories strike
resonance with me.
Leigh invited
me many years ago to do a guest blog for her. It was about “Care-in-the-Community” an argument against
institutionalised places like orphanages.
I started it with some Glasgow graffiti that Karen might say could come
from the Falls Road in Belfast. ”If I am working class and I have a problem
I get a social worker. If I am
middle-class and I have a problem, I become a social worker”. You will hear how relevant this is beyond
the wit. Karen explains why
motivation must be correct for everyone to be able do good and to be wary of
your own experiences. They can be
impediments.
Later on in the
talk, when asked about what great social problem currently afflicts society,
Karen refers to today’s easy access to pornography. Literally a few hours earlier today I tweeted
about this in Cambodia and the hypocrisy.
People aren’t supposed to talk about sex but many download and watch
pornography. Even worse is many young
children are doing this. Even poor ones these days have smart-phones. Great harm can only ensue.
Karen refers to
motivation a lot. Perhaps wisely she did
not refer to vocation or a “sense of vocation” yet that sums up precisely what
the best people in every profession have in abundance. Social workers need it more than most. A vocational commitment may not be compulsory
“to do good” but it definitely helps as does great resilience as she
recounts. Often the trouble with many
people who want “to do good” – I have in mind “voluntourists” here – their
timeframes are far too short; their expectations too high, and they and their
“beneficiaries” end up disappointed or worse.
When I said
that it was wise to avoid “vocation” it was because this word is used in
“Residential Vocational Centres”. They
have been part of the problem in Cambodia.
For a long time they were regarded as the right way to deal with
disabled people, herding them away from home, to undertake training in just a
few pre-arranged skills. The folly of
residential care did not begin with orphanages to cater for tourists wanting
something else to do once they were bored with the wonders of Angkor Wat. Yet both forms of institutionalised care have
been funded by official foreign aid and private donations by well-meaning
folks. Australians have been among the
most generous and therefore the most misguided.
Let’s hope these podcasts wise them up.
Let me end this
piece by one more of Karen’s pearls of wisdom.
We often refer to “discipline” when talking about a job and even as
guidance in personal lives. Karen
implores you to “Steer in a disciplined way”. That’s a pretty good tip for “doing good”
in any walk-of-life.
My personal
website is: https://www.johnlowrie.uk
"Steering is a disciplined way" goes aptly with my old "Good Governance" Teaching poster.
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