"James Curts" wrote in message
news:RUWRa.79200$GL4.20189@rwcrnsc53...

"Michael Saunby" wrote in message
...

"Jim Webster" wrote in message
...

"Oz" wrote in message
...
Oz writes

The sad thing is not just that it is completely denigrating of
women -
they sit there for hours stringing tiny beads onto fishing line and
just
about go crazy, and then they will just loose their money- but that
it
has consequences for whole families and communities. People here
only
take loans from within their family or maybe from neighbours. What
happens when the money goes missing and people can't pay their
family
members back? What happens when people start to blame their
friends
and
neighbours who told them how wonderful the scheme was? This scheme
is
not just thievery but a community destroyer creating anger and
destroying trust.


didn't something very similar happen in Albania not long after that
overthrew the communists?

and wasn't there something that took off in the SW of England over
some
sort
of culture in milk?


And of course those weird American folk had that Enron thing.

Michael Saunby


Yes, Michael, I noticed. No conversation is really complete without
knocking
the yanks irregardless they are always there when needed.

And some are oh, so sensistive! I don't always mock Americans, honestly.
Sometimes I take the **** out of white folks, men, or even Protestants!!!
But in truth many of my best friends are white male protestants - for all
their faults :-)


Enron was an eye opener for many. I feel government is remiss in allowing
such immense wealth to be miss used in such cavalier manner. But as in
the
case of your own government the greed entices then entraps those who
could
stop the wrong doings.

But it's just like the bead thing. It might seem amazing to us that poor
folks will try and cheat each other, but it seems equally absurd that
people with almost unimaginable wealth will risk prison (or even death) to
cheat less wealthy people. What this ought to tell us is that such
behavoiur is entirely natural for many people.


Helping people as those in some of the 3rd world countries is often
almost
impossible or very difficult. Due a fragile or inept infrastructure
there
is often no workable line of communications to a centralized
organization.
Often these people have less than the basic tribal structure. Dealing
with
individuals is fruitless of course due to being a different looking
intruder
with every move being suspect.

Perhaps, though as African friends have told me there is also the "wise
white man effect" where apparently wealthy whites are trusted to run
businesses in Africa simply because they're white. It come as quite a
revelation to many that there are actually many really stupid whites.


Dealing in food products and especially when offering to establish
efficient
hydroponics systems in arid areas we find that many governments, such as
they are, toss up every imaginable roadblock to prevent the project from
being started or, if started, followed through to completion.


Part of your problem may be that hydroponics aren't particularly highly
regarded in the west either. I reckon that roughly 0% of my food is
produced in this way.

One instance in a South American involved nothing more than a rather
simple
chemical compound they refused to be imported into their country for
some.
After much scurrying around they "discover" a source from within their
own
country. So we smiled broadly and bought the product at 300% of our
supplier's price and all were happy. The containers were from our
original
suppliers. But that is life when dealing with these folks.

They are 3rd world countries for reasons which are very difficult to
combat
at times.

We have actually failed in a few instances because of local situations
ranging from the above example to direct refusal to accept help for an
area
or community.

So, regardless how pious or righteous your intentions, reality can slap
it
all down with a word. That does not mean we must ease the pressure on
these
groups but we certainly have much home work to have well in hand before
making the commitment.

James Curts

If it was easy it everyone would be doing it.

Michael Saunby