Today was a washout
Actually, it wasn't but we did get wet.
That's me, Our Kid and umpteen colleagues who had a staff outing to an
objek wisata (tourist attraction) / fruit farm to the south of Jakarta. If my memory serves me well, this was set up by Tutut Suharto but I can't find anything about it online.
Whatever, we looked at r
ambutans, guavas, lots of different citrus fruit and something called
dong-dong. We weren't allowed to pick any, so we looked. And then we had lunch. And then it rained. And then we played a silly game of football, or those of us silly enough not to mind playing in mud did and everybody laughed at our silliness so good bonding was had by all.
And then we came home and sat for too long in the traffic jam which was the result of the downpour.
And then I tried to think of something to blog about and remembered another example of financial rip-offs taking place in Aceh. Apparently some folk who were lucky enough to have somewhere to live in Banda Aceh now haven't. They've been evicted by greedy landlords who can charge
$100 a day for a 4 bedroom house. (This is what I pay per month in Jakarta.)
Some locals are seeing the arrival of large-scale relief missions as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to make big bucks. Aid dollars are starting to grease the wheels of a local economy derailed by the disaster - but with the threat of some negative consequences, including inflationary prices and a "brain drain" of local professionals opting to serve foreigners. Criticized in the past for such unintended impacts, UN representatives say they are taking some steps to mitigate the problem.
Today this city is in danger of being smothered by a surfeit of foreign attention and sympathy. One of the regions most ravaged by the tsunami, it has become the destination of choice for much of the world's humanitarian aid community.
The global market may have enabled the massive influx of funds and services to the tsunami-hit areas, but I can see no justification whatsoever for these market forces increasing the gap between the haves and have nots. Getting rich off others' misery or blindly paying over the odds with heartfelt donations you have access to is another form of corruption.
Still, as it was a good day overall, let's end on a positive note and hope that Yeovil provide worthwhile opposition to Charlton Athletic in their
FA Cup tie later on.
But lose.
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