• ‘Doing good’ can be patronizing, naïve, dangerous for both parties
• ‘Helping’ is only possible if you have the attitude that you are learning more than you are giving
• ‘Helping’ is only possible if you are asked to do something that someone else needs, rather than deciding yourself what the need is. I was first able to relate to a severely disabled person when I met Doreen, a victim of cerebral palsy, by chance while staying with my cousin in Oxford in 1990. Taking Doreen up the stairs to the lantern of the Radcliffe Camera was arduous - Bob and I virtually carried her - but the look on her face when we got there was worth it!
But for me it is not enough to sit comfortably here, not really knowing what it is like in the 80%-world
How can I understand, honour and fulfill:
• The insights I learned from being with Doreen McColl and my Aboriginal students
• The pull towards Africa that I have felt towards Africa since meeting Germaine Acogny - and African dancer that I met when I was in Alice Springs with a group of my Aboriginal students in 1998
• My responsibilities to those you have given me to love
• The potential I feel to use the talents you have given me to the full
?
• ‘Helping’ is only possible if you have the attitude that you are learning more than you are giving
• ‘Helping’ is only possible if you are asked to do something that someone else needs, rather than deciding yourself what the need is. I was first able to relate to a severely disabled person when I met Doreen, a victim of cerebral palsy, by chance while staying with my cousin in Oxford in 1990. Taking Doreen up the stairs to the lantern of the Radcliffe Camera was arduous - Bob and I virtually carried her - but the look on her face when we got there was worth it!
But for me it is not enough to sit comfortably here, not really knowing what it is like in the 80%-world
How can I understand, honour and fulfill:
• The insights I learned from being with Doreen McColl and my Aboriginal students
• The pull towards Africa that I have felt towards Africa since meeting Germaine Acogny - and African dancer that I met when I was in Alice Springs with a group of my Aboriginal students in 1998
• My responsibilities to those you have given me to love
• The potential I feel to use the talents you have given me to the full
?
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