A crash course in changing the world.
Sometimes, when we are asked to help somebody, the issue to be solved is one in which we are not very used to. This is a problem because we don't know the real magnitude of the problem and what exactly the other part needs from us.
If we don't experience by ourselves the true nature of the problem, we won't be able to help in the correct way. Moreover, if we go and and try to solve it with the tools we know, and that we think are the best, we could make a big mistake and aggravate the issue.
I think this is one of the problems with volunteer programs in my country. Their participants usually get together, and without any knowledge of the situation, go and give food and gifts for poor families. I think that the intention is good, but most of the time, they don't get to know the persons they help. Their histories. Their needs.
Another examples of this happened last year in my country, when the Government decided to give away OLPC for poor kids in the Andean zone. They gave the laptops, but three months later everybody saw that they forgot somthing very important. These laptops needed electricity for recharging, and in the homes of these kids, there wasn't electric supply. They didn't understand the problem.
For all these, I think that a very important topic when we decide to make a social innovation is to look at the problem and understand it. Talk to people, Get involved. Be part of the problem.
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