8. Comment on something new you learned in this unit. Does it affect any other aspect of your life? Does it contradict or complement things you have learned in other units?

Out of all the things that I learnt in this unit, one of the most interesting and reality changing things is that I have been able to see just how worse off people in those developing nations are and this has led me to change my outlook on those countries.  While I am able to sit and type on my computer there are millions of people just trying to find somewhere to sit in their house, if they even have a house that is.  While we may complain about our public transport being poor and not up to standard and road congestion problems, we have things that people in a lot of south-east Asian countries don’t even have.  Some things are taken for granted by us in everyday life; Health care, electricity, communication. While we might go out and get a new phone every year, it is those people in developing nations that are forced to make my phone as a way of getting some money to live on.  I found out that while many in those nations are trying to move forward and to get a better live for themselves, it is the developed nations that are keeping them how they are.  The world is built on a foundation where the ‘larger’ countries don’t want to get their hands dirty so they just off load their burdens onto another country.  While that country might try to escape the tag of a developing or third world country, it is us who are making sure they keep with that tag.  I found this to be quite disturbing and it gave me quite a reality check, we shouldn’t take for granted what we have, and instead we should be grateful and should try to help those who are unable to help themselves as easily.