information and technology

Last week I went along on a field trip to a small town 30 minutes from the city. There in the village temple community room the self employment project was having a meeting with all the farmers with disabilities from that village who had received ducks or chicken from the project to start their own business. Some had enough to sustain their own family and few had turned it into a business. I arrived a little after the meeting started. Some of the farmers were too shy to introduce themselves and how their achievements or struggles with the raising of ducks and chicken. I am not sure if they were shy just because they were shy to speak in a group of people or if my presence had any affect on it. One younger farmer was successful in expanding his farming into a business. He was invited to talk about how he had been successful in taking care of the animals. He talked about making sure to take regular care and keep watch for any abnormal behavior such as eating or drinking too much or too little. He encouraged using medication in any of these situations. He also raised the chicken coops above water and instructed to have a light for the chickens at night as light would keep a way the mosquitoes. It appeared to me that the other farmers had never thought of the fact that mosquitoes would be a problem for the chicken. What took me by surprise was when he encouraged everyone to search Thai websites on farming techniques as Thailand has developed and studied many methods to improve farming of livestock. This was not exactly surprising as it is very easy to get internet connection through phones and this was a village just right outside the capital city. But I came to the realization of how real the information sharing that has come along globalization is. Everyone can have access to this kind of vast access to information and technology in a developing country. Development work has changed and will change continually as more people get access and learn to use the available information. Just a small connection from real life to theory. :D