my motivation

I've recently been sitting in on interviews for a study abroad program. I am the assistant to the professor who is heading up the program, so I am sitting in on the interviews to give some extra feedback. Today, one interviewee said something that has made me think: he said, "I want to go to Ghana so I can get in touch with the people. When I help someone, it is the one-on-one relationship that motivates me." It made me wonder what my motivation is...do I desire to help because it is the "right" thing to do? Or because it is socially responsible? Maybe because it will make me look good? Or is it the person, the individual, who I am concerned with?

My roommate helped me analyze a bit, and I came away with some conclusions:

1. I originally pursued the path I am on because of experiences I had with the ONE. I saw people, individuals, in horrible circumstances. And I got to know them, making my desire to help them even stronger.

2. Currently, being away from the field, I am more concerned with poverty as a system, as a whole, as a social problem, as something begging a better solution. I am wrapped into the theory and various studies surrounding it. I want interventions that will make a difference. For the one.

Whenever I need to remind myself of my motivation, I think back to Edgar and Lucia, a Bolivian couple I met in Argentina. I spent two months teaching them, spending time with them each day, and I got to know poverty. No, I wasn't living it, but I was living it through the experiences of another. They are who I imagine when I think of programs and interventions and theories and ideas. Well, at least ideally I think of them. I will remember that motivation.