A decade ago, I took part in a community service project to deliver shoes and books to villagers in a remote mountain village in the North of a neighboring country.
Reflecting on the experience, I feel that the volunteers got more out of it than the beneficiaries but I suppose that is the same with most one-off community projects of this sort.
We stayed in the village for 7 days, helping out with the physical labor and also did some teaching.
What was really interesting about this place was that they had no electricity / power. It felt like a step back in time.
Power begets power
Over the seven days in the village, we shared rice wine and traded stories of life in the city and the village through our interpreter. Looking back, it was insensitive to ask, about how the youth of the village fare in the city. Do they prefer the city or do they look to come back?
The harsh reality is that many find it difficult to adapt to city life. Also, the lack of electricity means that the village isn't able to earn/produce enough to support the kids going into the city. As a result, many get bullied and would rather return home.
The lack of power feeds a cycle that makes it hard to escape having low income. I wouldn't say they're poor - there's food from the crops and reared animals, there's water from the streams, but at the same time, they lack the material comforts we have become accustomed to.
Will power change the place?
The new village chief was in his early 40s and was determined to bring electricity to the village. He believed that they couldn't sit idly and let the world go by.
We felt selfish for wishing the place wouldn't change but deep down we knew that if they didn't take steps to control the world, the world will control them. They would always be at the mercy of government officials or foreigners/locals doing some charity project.
Perhaps, this is why we refer to electricity as power. It allows us to control our destiny.
This is my entry for the pob-wotw contest organized by @calumam. You can check out the contest here and I definitely would encourage you to enter: @calumam/pob-word-of-the-week-power-005
I've deliberately not mentioned the country and village because military governments can be sensitive to how they're portrayed and I don't want to get anyone in trouble.