EQUALITY & ACCESS
As the world around me grows larger, access and equality becomes ever more a possibility for the masses, yet that reality seems to exist in curved space and time. Those who are on the right plane can bend that space and quicken the pace of development and growth while others may perpetually get sucked into a black hole; time reversed, slowed.
My world grows larger through travel, and perhaps my problem solving skills will grow with it. I witness problems but also solutions. But there is a distance between the Idea and the Actions I need to take in order to make solutions a reality. What is stopping me or anyone from acting on our big Ideas? The moment I act, the momentum will keep me going, right? But am I now in motion or in some state of stillness? The evolution of change plays tricks on me like what I’d imagine movement in space without gravity may feel like — happening so slowly until you miss it.
TAIWAN – ILHA FORMOSA
What I loved most about Taiwan in addition to the awesome street food, bubble tea, natural wonders and 7-11s was their commitment to equity, demonstrated at the highest political level with their future female elected President, Tsai Ing-wen. Public services like their bike share program were an eye opener in terms of seeing almost everyone, young and old, abled bodies access it regardless of class or rank.
Their waste management system is an impressive model of community development, collective environmental responsibility, and an ingenious tool for social behavioral change. Garbage trucks are designed with the warm color of yellow smiley faces that play jolly, inviting music just like the ice cream trucks that triggers kids to run out of their houses screaming for ice cream. Do Taiwanese people run screaming for garbage? 
No, they just walk — watch and listen here. When the distinct garbage tunes comes on, members of the community come out to dump their own garbage! Further dividing their garbage from organic and recycle.
In Vietnam, the level of access to public goods many should receive or participate in is not equal, almost non-existent. As I’ve seen and have been told by numerous locals, if you have money, life becomes convenient and easy for you, if you don’t, life is more difficult and resource intensive for you. The ones who desperately need the benefits of public goods and services receive them least or at too high of a cost. Tried and true everywhere I’ve lived, whether in a developing country or in the Garden State of America. Although I was envious of the conveniences my friend had from living in such a great city like Taipei, I admired all the growth Taiwan had attained and began to fantasize about how I could help to develop solutions for my own countries.
Aside from my full-time day (and sometimes night) job of working at Pacific Links, an NGO that does much needed anti-human trafficking work in Vietnam, my mind still races with designing solutions to solve the day-to-day problems ranging from waste management, air pollution, food hygiene, and public space. I know there are so many big problems to tackle like climate change, human trafficking, food insecurity, and the UN development goals list goes on, but small problems cannot be ignored for the valor of big problems either. I want to do it all and traveling presents a great window into seeing how the same problems are solved uniquely to the people, culture, history, and its resources.
Let’s keep a close ear and eyes out for the yellow garbage truck solutions, shall we?
dragontell 