“Author Archive”
Stories written by Tom MurphyI started the blog "A view from the cave" to record the year I spent in Kenya (2009). While most of my time was spent sharing my daily thoughts and experiences, I often wrote about various issues such as development, aid and healthcare reform. I have decided to continue this as a way to educate both myself and others when it comes to good and responsible aid. I might throw in a few things that are not entirely related, but I get to do that because I can.
I am not an expert in anything being that I am only 25. Everything that I say is purely my opinion and not that of my employer or anyone else unless noted. Please comment and correct anything that I may have said that is wrong. I feel that discussion is the best avenue of discourse. This is a way for myself to learn as well, so I am looking to continue through this.
Contact me at murph AT aviewfromthecave.com
By Tom Murphy
Gallup sharesthe results of a new poll measuring the approval of Africa’s leaders in their home countries. Almost all have positive approval ratings. Of those at the bottom, Wade, Mutharika and Banda are now out of office. The findings in some countries are not likelyindicativeof true sentiments. Obama and Cameron sitting at around 50%, plus the more democratic African nations moving closer to the same middle range may indicate that the extreme highs are hiding the truth.
May 16th, 2012 | Posted in Aid & Development | Read More »
By Tom Murphy
The World Bank continues to be one of the leaders in open data and the visualization of that data. I recently came upon the World Bank eAtlas. It takes the data made available and maps the indicators in order to compare countries around the world. In the screen grab above, I searched for the average age at first marriage for women. The user can hover over each of the countries to see the specific data
May 15th, 2012 | Posted in Aid & Development | Read More »
By Tom Murphy
By Julianna Davies. The term “business sustainability” has become a popular buzzword in contemporary MBA programs. Today business graduates are exploring the various methods by which corporate entities can become more lucrative and less wasteful. These strategies are especially needed in Africa – a continent whose valuable resources are far outweighed by human poverty and corporate irresponsibility. The response to the demand has been a drastic increase of programs offering MBA courses and on campus that focus on Africa and the struggles unique to developing countries
May 12th, 2012 | Posted in Aid & Development | Read More »
By Tom Murphy
Ed note: I invited Weh Yeoh of Why Dev, a friend to AVFTC, to write a post sharing a project that he and his colleague Brendan Rigby started. Have a read. – Tom International development work is often difficult, exhausting, and isolating. Many people who seek to serve and live abroad often become burned out by the overwhelming nature of their work. In isolated places, often the only people you can turn to for support are your boss or your partner.
May 10th, 2012 | Posted in Aid & Development | Read More »
By Tom Murphy
By Lauren Kervian KONY 2012 epitomizes the extreme evolution of paternalism through a means that is less explicit and even more detrimental to the future of the people it aims to help. The world falls for images that operate under the umbrella of genuineness without inquiry or investigation. Africa, in both documentaries, is seen as more of a backdrop for the heroism and self-serving ends of the West than a focus. Jason Russell, in the first video, almost demands an American intervention in Uganda in order to stop Joesph Kony and the actions of Lord’s Resistance Army.
May 10th, 2012 | Posted in Aid & Development | Read More »
By Tom Murphy
Guest post by Jaclyn Schiff It happens multiple times a day. A nonprofit uploads a video to YouTube hoping to attract some attention for its cause. The result? A few hundred, perhaps even a couple thousand views. But these videos rarely attract much attention from people who aren’t already involved with the cause
May 10th, 2012 | Posted in Featured videos and pod casts | Read More »
By Tom Murphy
The ongoing drought in the Sahel has taken the back seat in the news as of late to the various happenings in Mali. Not that the drought was getting much attention in the first place. On Friday, Iparticipationin a Google+ Hangout with World Food Programme staff who are supporting Malian refugees inMauritania. People from Mali began crossing into Mauritania in late January and the flow of refugees has continued at a steady pace every since. A woman fills containers from a well in Natriguel, in the drought-stricken south
May 7th, 2012 | Posted in Aid & Development,Nutrition & Food Security | Read More »
By Tom Murphy
The official announcement of famine was declared in the Horn of Africa last July. A year earlier, theUSAID Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET)warned of low rainfall in the region due to La Nina which historically is associated with a low rainfall in the Horn from October to December. FEWS NET issued another warning in June, but mobilization for support did not pick up until the famine declaration. The warnings succeeded, but the actions were a bit too late. Fortunately, nations like Kenya and Ethiopia learned from the past droughts
May 2nd, 2012 | Posted in Aid & Development,Nutrition & Food Security | Read More »
By Tom Murphy
ESPN assess the state of the world with a headline that could have come straight out of The Onion: “World Peace is Suspended 7.” The mobile site is even better: “NBA suspends World Peace 7 games for elbow.” The levels of irony are too great not to share. Maybe the NBA can have a chat with Syria, the Sudans, Mali, the DRC, and the United States to return world peace. Background: Metta World Peace is the name of a basketball player on the LA Lakers whoviciouslyelbowed another player in a game over the weekend. The same man, when he was called Ron Artest, was suspended for an NBA record 86 games (including playoffs) for his role in an on court brawl that spilled over into the stands.
April 25th, 2012 | Posted in Aid & Development | Read More »
By Tom Murphy
These jeers about upholstered seating, like so many ad hominem attacks, ignore the substance of the critiques. No one is saying that the Kony 2012 campaign is flawed because Joseph Kony is an awesome guy who should be left in peace to maim and murder as he pleases. Rather, the critics — including us — have pointed out that the campaign’s shortcomings may lead to real harm. For the most part, critics of the campaign were not “armchair” anything.
April 24th, 2012 | Posted in Aid & Development | Read More »
By Tom Murphy
Young activists in South Africa are taking to the streets with cameras to document what they see and tell their own stories. Check out this short report from Al Jazeera on this great initiative.
April 23rd, 2012 | Posted in Aid & Development | Read More »
By Tom Murphy
A new e-book is out today that is worth your time to read. Amanda Taub of Wronging Rights fame edits Beyond #Kony2012: Atrocity, Awareness, & Activism in the Internet Age. Today also happens to be the day that Invisible Children supporters will go out and “Take Back the Night.” Aimed at new activists, the book features an all star cast of contributors including Bec Hamilton, Jina Moore, Taub with her blogging partner Kate Cronin-Furman, Laura Seay, TMS Ruge, and more. The hope is that people who were engaged in the issue of Joseph Kony through the IC video will want to learn more.
April 20th, 2012 | Posted in Aid & Development | Read More »
By Tom Murphy
Gregory Mann bemoans the poor press coverage of the Mali crisis in Africa is a Country. Take al Jazeera. A few years ago, the Qatari-based chain was the thing, and I hear aspiring movers and shakers still try to publish there. Yet in spite of the fact that al Jazeera was said to be devoting more attention to African stories, its site has not been the place to go for Mali coverage. It has been the place not to go for Mali coverage.
April 19th, 2012 | Posted in Aid & Development | Read More »
By Tom Murphy
The following poem is byDr Claudette Carr. It is reprinted with her permission and originally appeared in a Facebook post with the image that is also included. Do not preach to me your sermons on women’s empowerment,adorned in the drag of patriarchal survival of the fittest,whilst you strip me of my right to speak of my own suffering.Just as Jannes and Jambres, this folly shall also be revealed.How beastly the bourgeois is,especially the fe/male of the species.Like Peninnah you taunt the barreness of my land,Yet dark am I and lovely,O daughters of African soildark like the tents of Kedarlike the tent curtains of Solomon.Do not stare at me because I am dark,because I am darkened by the sun.My mothers sons were angry with me,and made me take care of the vineyards;My own vineyard I have neglected.I have cried the bitter tears of Mara,because more are the childrenof the desolate woman,than of her who has a husband.A voice is heard in Somalia,Mourning and great weeping,Hagar weeping for her children,and refusing to be comforted,because her children are no more.Daughters of Africado not be afraid:You will not suffer shame.Do not fear disgrace;you will not be humiliated.You will forget the shame of your youthand remember no morethe reproach of your widowhood.Refrain your voice from weepingand your eyes from tears,for your work shall be rewarded.Why should I be like a veiled woman?beside the flocks of your friends?Who is this coming up from the wildernessleaning on her lover?I will sing for the one I lovea song about his vineyard.My loved one had a vineyardon a fertile hillside,He dug it up and cleared it of stones,and planted it with the choicest vines.He built a watch tower in it,and cut out the wine press as well.Then he looked for a crop of good grapesbut it yielded only bad fruit….The earth eagerly awaits the manifestationof the sons and daughters of righteousness. copyright 2012, Dr Claudette Carr
April 18th, 2012 | Posted in Aid & Development | Read More »
