I happen to have a lot of brilliant friends who are very knowledgeable about all sorts of things.

It also happens that my one true love in life is sitting back and talking about those things with anyone who has an opinion on them.

Something that has come up recently is the development of countries that don’t currently share our monetary wealth. And issues around what works and what doesn’t. What is us just enforcing our way of life and what is actually of help?

I witnessed the aftermath of the boxing day tsunami from an island in Thailand. Where our countries unitied to compete over who would spend the most while locals quietly gathered together their belongings and sent over the stuff they KNEW their families needed.

I have been through Cambodia and witnessed palatial houses and resorts – all owned by people from Korea and elsewhere. The locals slowly became workers in their own country, while it was being bought up from underneath them.

I know one persons view while traveling doesn’t uncover the entire picture but it got me thinking:

1. That we are arrogant to assume we know the best way to develop other countries.
2. That the one greatest thing we can give developing countries is the tools to communicate and collaborate among themselves.

In this world, one thing is for certain – when a company spots an opportunity to make money, it will do its utmost to make it and countries where land and living are relatively cheap are prime targets for exploitation. The only way I can see that people living in any particular country can combat this is through communication with each other.

So now we get onto the tools part. A lot of development experts I know are kind of anti-technology – they see it as the root of many of our problems.

But I say that you simply cannot judge a computer as anything more than a simple tool. It’s just like a hammer, paintbrush or any other tool, the benefits or woes come from how you use it.

We may overuse cellphone to the point we are rude, we may spend half our lives gaming on computers, but that is not the tools fault. We can’t deny people these tools or recommend they will be unhelpful simply because we cannot trust ourselves with them all the time.

The One Laptop Per Child program came into question, and the answer was left open. Is it a good idea to give children in Pacific Island countries, Inidia etc a computer each? Is this their most pressing need?

I would say a resounding “Yes”.

Even if all the computers are used for is connecting the kids in one community with those in another so they can learn from each other their history, their culture and what’s going on in their country… To me, this is about the most valuable, on going thing we can do to help them survive and prosper in a global world. It is not ok to assume that they will treat a computer in the same way we do, or that they will get lost in a world of CNN and Facebook.

I don’t know a lot about development and the ins and outs and potholes of a foreigner going into a country and ‘helping’, but I do know that the internet is probably our most open method of communication and spreading knowledge at the moment. Surely its only a great thing when those who have been forced to remain silent due to lack of money can join the conversation?