Here's another free anecdote for you. You seem pretty smart, but you need to think hard about your model of the world. Cancel that Economist subscription (I subscribe, btw) if you need to. :)
Anyway, at an NGO that tries to build skills among the poor, the middle-class employees were all talking happily about how nice it was that it rained the previous night, because it had been a hot few months. One of the trainees then quietly said during the conversation that people like them don't really like the rain, because it pours in through their shanties and RUINS THEIR STORED FLOUR (!!) that they use to make rotis.
The last part was that the thing that nobody (including me) had ever thought about. That takes the suckage due to rain to a whole new level.
Here's what people like kamaal probably think to that sob story (which is sad, no doubt, but I find myself thinking the same thing): is it really that difficult to make a small volume, where you put important things, waterproof? I grew up in a fairly conservative part of the US, and I was in boyscouts when I was younger (only achieved my First Class), I know it's not that hard and children can do it. Same with making a bridge.
If you've never watched the Vice Guide to Liberia (http://www.vice.com/the-vice-guide-to-travel/the-vice-guide-...) you should. One of the things that stood out to me when reflecting on it is the very first few seconds when they're crossing stagnate water likely containing disease and insects carrying disease. There are nevertheless trees around and lots of dirt--why no bridges? In West Point, why no latrines and toilet pits near or on the beach? Why is there so much systematic incompetence?
In the US at least much of the systematic incompetence comes from the fact many homeless people have some form of mental illness. You can excuse these people and by all means help them, some can even become quite "normal" and productive if they have access to medication that helps keep them stable. The rest? It's hard to find much pity for them.
I don't think my attitude here is particularly "conservative" either, but more due to an engineering personality. If there's a problem, fix it. Unfortunately many poor people give in (through culture, religion, or something else) to a sort of defeatism or general acceptance of their suffering, and those that are theoretically capable of imagination and problem solving nevertheless shirk from it. That's what is truly depressing to me.
> is it really that difficult to make a small volume, where you put important things, waterproof?
Obviously, they would started doing so after the rains started. The point of the story is not to say that the poor are too stupid/poor/helpless to figure out how to protect a few kilos of flour.
The point of the story is like quantum mechanics, the effects of events on a poor person will sometimes be surprising and hard for a non-poor person to understand.
Anyway, at an NGO that tries to build skills among the poor, the middle-class employees were all talking happily about how nice it was that it rained the previous night, because it had been a hot few months. One of the trainees then quietly said during the conversation that people like them don't really like the rain, because it pours in through their shanties and RUINS THEIR STORED FLOUR (!!) that they use to make rotis.
The last part was that the thing that nobody (including me) had ever thought about. That takes the suckage due to rain to a whole new level.