Ask the Author: Lucy Mathen
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Lucy Mathen
In the year 2000, I was given a book written by the journalist Graham Hancock.
Lords of Poverty was a damning critique of big and wasteful projects carried out in the name of “Development,” which provided “jobs for the boys” and created a culture of dependency in poor countries. Hancock knew that, for the reign of the Lords of Poverty to end, we needed alternatives. He yearned for “local-level initiatives, relevant and realistic strategies, and the energy and enterprise of the poor to be allowed to flourish.
Almost two decades later I realised that Hancock's wish had come true in rural Bihar, India. And that I happened to be part of it. It was a joyous and rich tapestry of achievement, a low profile movement involving many remarkable rural Indians, egalitarian at its heart and laughter its coinage.
It was time to shift the spotlight of Development from the manicured Global Poverty Conference Circuit to the muddy fields of Bihar and to the sometimes ragged, certainly motley crew who are removing blindness and ameliorating poverty with great good humour.
I like to think that the book is Dervla Muprhy meets Han Suyin - my favourite authors. The latter cannot be asked for her opinion but the former is a good friend and pronounced the book 'truly outstanding'. https://www.secondsight.org.uk/outgro...
Lords of Poverty was a damning critique of big and wasteful projects carried out in the name of “Development,” which provided “jobs for the boys” and created a culture of dependency in poor countries. Hancock knew that, for the reign of the Lords of Poverty to end, we needed alternatives. He yearned for “local-level initiatives, relevant and realistic strategies, and the energy and enterprise of the poor to be allowed to flourish.
Almost two decades later I realised that Hancock's wish had come true in rural Bihar, India. And that I happened to be part of it. It was a joyous and rich tapestry of achievement, a low profile movement involving many remarkable rural Indians, egalitarian at its heart and laughter its coinage.
It was time to shift the spotlight of Development from the manicured Global Poverty Conference Circuit to the muddy fields of Bihar and to the sometimes ragged, certainly motley crew who are removing blindness and ameliorating poverty with great good humour.
I like to think that the book is Dervla Muprhy meets Han Suyin - my favourite authors. The latter cannot be asked for her opinion but the former is a good friend and pronounced the book 'truly outstanding'. https://www.secondsight.org.uk/outgro...
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