40 Chances by Buffett Howard G

Author:Buffett, Howard G [Buffett, Howard G]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Story 23: What Does Doing Better Look Like? 215

ies and difficult sanitary conditions, although thankfully widespread

disease largely did not materialize. Huge shipments of food aid were

sent to the region through disaster relief efforts that fed over a mil-

lion people in Thailand alone.

The program in which I’d enrolled was trying to understand the

lessons of the last fifteen months. We took a number of field visits

to villages that had been rebuilt by NGOs. People were working

diligently; the landscape was humming with activity. There I saw

hardworking, sincere, devoted relief workers and NGO staffers still

on the job. Their stated goal was a good one: to help the nation

rebuild, and to protect the health and well-being of those who had

survived that terrible disaster. There were some touching stories, and

I heard about people who had showed great bravery during the crisis.

I met a young woman from the United States who had been visit-

ing Thailand with her fiancé over Christmas 2004. They were asleep

in their hut when the waters hit. He was swept out to sea, and she

never saw him again. She decided to stay in Thailand to help with

the reconstruction; when I met her, she was serving as a counselor

to those who lost loved ones, and I remain in awe of her courage and

compassion.

And yet I also had some disheartening conversations with local

experts about the use of the resources that came pouring into Thai-

land. To me, the most troubling signs, literally, were the actual signs erected all over the villages we visited that promoted the involvement of different NGOs. In some towns, there were twenty-five or

thirty homes, each one bearing a large, billboard-style sign or shiny

plaque promoting the NGO that had helped reconstruct that vil-

lage. There were more signs on the road on the way in and in public

areas. I couldn’t help but think, “Really? They have so thoroughly

restored this community that there are resources left over to advertise that? Couldn’t the money and the effort to erect signs have funded

more resources for a clinic, or vaccines, or some agricultural assis-

tance that ensured enough food for those who had been wiped out?”

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8/2/13 3:42 PM

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