Job Discussion Forums

[Phil_K]

[MELEE]

Politics is not the only way to be envolved.

Here is an example
Mexico is a country with a water crisis.
Oaxaca is a state with an even bigger water crisis.
The Mixteca is semi-desert and has a much bigger water crisis still.
Huajuapan, as the largest city in the Mixteca frequently suffers from water shortages. The development I live in is worse still because the well the developer built turned out to be a dud. Most of my neighbors complain amongst themselves and buy water from the tankers. Others have threatend lawsuits and strikes (those particular neighbors are all public school teachers so have a lot of experience with strikes) Me? I bought a couple of barrels, some pipe and gutters and set up a rainwater harvesting and greywater recycling. Thanks to that and the low water use appliences I put in when the house was built I've never had to go one day without water and I haven't bought a drop of the stuff (not counting drinking water in this equation). The next step was to start talking. Tell the neighbor's how much we spent to set it up (just a little more than what one of those tanker truck load of water is going for in our city) It's the rainy season now so we give surplus water away to our neighbors on the weekends and three more houses have set up similar systems. I can't wait till the day when EVERY house in town has one.

[Phil_K]

A bit off the point, though. I know it is only an example, and you will say water is a fundamental, but that's not what I'm talking about. I am referring to the infrastructure that means that the country is prosperous, and problems like these are solved with tax payers money without any problem by building reservoirs, pumping systems, recycling plants or whatever is needed.

We can all "do our bit" but honestly, does it really add up to much in terms of the whole country? We know that there are the complainers and the doers, but unfortunately there are more of the first. That is why I believe the government has the responsibility, and once again, it all comes down to a fair tax system and eradication of informal trade.

[notamiss]

Yes, the country can change from each person doing his or her bit and organizing from the bottom up. It has been suggested that the political sea change over the past decade has its roots in 1985. When people saw that the government and infrastructure was not coping with the earthquake aftermath in spite of their claims that they were, they began to organize spontaneously and apolitically, and their efforts were more effective than the official efforts. Previously the people had thought they were impotent against the political structure, and this event showed them that they were not.

In the case of water, large infrastructure projects are also not necessarily the most effective; in fact they can be destructive in dry regions where water is available only in low density over large areas. It can be truly more effective to have individual families and villages making efforts as MELEE described; other examples (for rural areas) include small-scale watershed regeneration and slope retention structures.

[MELEE]

In the case of water, resevoirs and pumping systems are part of what has created the problem, not the solution to the problem.

[Phil_K]

As David Cameron (UK�s next Prime Minister ) said in an online Q&A session, "I probably won't be able to say anything to convince you to think in a different way" (or something like that).

That's the fun of politics. I hate discussing politics if the other person agrees with me!!!

[Samantha]

Personally, I would quite enjoy a good old fashioned 'spelling bee' here rather than a political discussion.

[cangringo]

First of all I love political discussion but nevermind that.

Ok I am sorry Melee, you are right, I should not have said stupid and I agree completely with your reply to me. I�m sure that suprises you as you seem to think that I was born with a silver spoon or something. I can assure that I was not and I don�t expect things to be ready made. I would love to help and that�s why I am here teaching English. As I said in another post I realize that my students are trying to better themselves and it makes me very happy and I try to do my best by them. They do have television though and they do have access to the outside world and the garbage problem is a major major thing. Maybe you don�t have it where you are but here it�s disgusting. Cabo, which is two hours from us does not suffer the same fate because it�s a tourist town.

On the one hand they are actively saving whales and on the other they are discarding all kinds of crap that marine life is dying from....I have travelled and my husband has travelled and his parents have lived all over and we have never encountered garbage like this. His parents lived in Venezuela for a few years and there wasn�t the garbage problem. There are many poor people but they don�t throw their garbage all over, they take some pride in their hovels. I�m not saying they don�t do it at all but not like this.

I�m not saying that anywhere in Latin America will be perfect but I do know enough to know that the rest of Latin America is a far different world than Mexico. I may not like it those places either but I will find that out later on.

I guess I thought this was a forum for us to express opinions, I didn�t realize that expressing unfavorable opinions means that I don�t care and am not trying to change things. The best I can do here is teach the people that I have access to. I am one of those people who believes everyone can make a difference. Just because I don�t choose to spend the rest of my days here does mean I don�t care.

[M@tt]

even prescription meds aren't a problem in mexico. if you walk from one pharmacy to another, you'll eventually find one that will sell you controlled medications without a prescription. depending on the alignment of the stars, this could take 10 minutes to two hours. of course, there is no way of knowing where these drugs really came from but that's what makes life so fun, right?
i extremely love george bush AND jesus.

[MELEE]

cangringo,
I do think this forum is or should be safe place to vent. Everybody needs to vent every once in a while, it is better we do it here then with the locals.

[Samantha]

Cangringo wrote:

[MELEE]

Those are some great ideas Sam.
In my area the Rotary Club organizes river bank clean ups AND they are always looking for bilingual people to help them when US Rotarians visit or to help write up proposals for joint projects with Clubs in the US. So if anyone wants to break out of that "all I can do is teach English" mode and get involved, I recommend you contact the local Rotary Club. In our are they also have lots of doctors who are members so they do a lot of public health projects as well if anyone is more interested in that than enviromental concers. They are probably also looking for people with business expertise.

[cangringo]

Those are great ideas Samantha...

I think however, that you might want to get off your pedestal for a minute or two and listen to what other people say and instead of jumping to conclusions...think first and ask questions. I do lead by example. Every time I go to the beach instead of yelling at them for throwing garbage around I am the first one to run around cleaning it all up. The next thing I know, they are picking up their garbage as well. As for your ideas, they are fantastic and maybe I will try some of those. I have only started teaching kids recently (btw, on another note does anyone have ideas for this...I play games and things like that but they can't be too noisy because of the teacher next door) so that could be a project for them.

I don't preach to them and I don't believe I said that either. Anyway I thought that this was the place to vent these sorts of things...ah....look at the name of the topic. I vented here because I assumed that we all came from similar cultures where certain levels of ignorance are not as tolerable and we could talk openly. It doesn't mean that I don't try to do my part while I'm here. Also on that note, we have rescued three dogs so far and I'm sure there will be more.

[Samantha]

Cangringo, sorry but you did post you think Mexicans should be shamed into learning (the ways of the world as you see it). Reread your back posts. Since moving from Monterrey to Baja the wheels seem to have fallen off your happy wagon and you seem to feel that this is a forum to b i t c h out Mexicans, the culture, and whatever else you don't like here all of a sudden.

Yes, venting does go on from time to time here but it really is a job discussion forum. There are lots of Mexican members of this forum, FYI, and I can only imagine how they felt reading some of your recent posts. I know how it made me feel what with being married to a Mexican and living here for several years. I can say that you likely won't find a Mexican teacher online on a forum in the USA or Canada saying these culturally insensitive things, and how people should be shamed into doing things differently.

I gather from one of your recent posts that you had a 'deportation experience'. Is that why you are so angry at Mexico? The fact that someone thought you should be working legally? Go figure.

[Mr. Kalgukshi]

I suggest everyone get back on topic and address the message and not the messenger. Venting here is permitted only to the extent that it stays within board guidelines and focuses on the message and not the messenger.