Mark Weber, the co-producer of the documentary film Poverty Inc., joined us for dinner discussing poverty and the well intended aid efforts. The West has positioned itself as the protagonist of development, giving rise to a vast multi-billion dollar poverty industry, and the business of doing good has never been better.

Yet the results have been mixed, in some cases even catastrophic, and leaders in the developing world are growing increasingly vocal in calling for change.

For me, this discussion struck at the core of the traditional understanding of development and international assistance, and helped me see this topic in a new light.

Being a nutritional science major, my goal has always been to specialize in International Nutrition and Global Health including programs concerned with hunger, health, and food supply issues in non-industrialized countries.

I now understand that you can’t just enter a country and expect to supply aid. It’s not that simple, and there are many unseen effects, like displacing the local people that are already supplying assistance. Although you may have good intentions, and desire to “change the world,” many find an interest in international assistance because it is exotic, but you can not treat assistance to developing countries as a project or an addition to a resume.

A fellow student in the discussion asked, “What would be the first step of changing the world?”

Mark Weber answered by saying that Mother Teresa was asked a similar question.

She answered, “Go home and love your family.”