ZEER POTS: LOW TECH

SUSTAINABILITY

without access to electricity or modern, but

power hungry refrigerators. A Zeer pot is a
low tech soluon to a far spread problem in

In many parts of the developing rural world,

the developing world. It consists of two clay

there are many places people are without

pots, an inner pot and outer pot. The inner

electricity or have an unreliable supply of

pot is designed to hold about twelve kilo-

electricity. Even in these places, especially

grams (30 pounds) of food. Between the in-

Africa and parts of Asia, the climate oen has ner and outer pots is a layer of wet sand. As
high temperatures that can quickly spoil food the moisture evaporates, the inner pot is
and medicines. Keeping food cold is crical to cooled. The pots sit in a steel or iron stand to
reducing illness and keeping it fresh longer so let airow. Water has to be added to the sand
it can be eaten or sold for prot. Even in the

twice daily. The top is the inner pot is cov-

poorest of places, Zeer pots can make a huge ered by a damp cloth. This simple item now
dierence. Just to give an example from prac- allows food producing families a way to safely
calacon.org, carrots can spoil aer four

store their fresh food for up to twenty days.

days of not being kept refrigerated. A Zeer

With this invenon, it has given many women

pot is a praccal soluon to a social issue. It

me to get educated and work instead of

was invented by a Nigerian school teacher,

hawking for food. (McLaren,2006)

Mohammed Bah Abba. He did not merely

reinvent the idea, he made it a reality for tens

By: Benjamin Whiteside

of thousands of impoverished Nigerian women and farmers. By seng up the local producon facilies to provide the pot-in-pot for
$2 (since lowered to just 40c), he allowed
perishable food to extend their spoilage
rate. (McLaren, 2006) By keeping food fresher longer, the quality of life for communies

MEDICAL TOURISM IN
SOUTHEAST ASIA:
By:BenWhiteside

Medicaltourismisontherise.
Manypeoplearegoingonvacaonfor
morethanjustrestandrelaxaon.They
aregoingontripstogetcosmecordental,
ormedicalproceduresdoneindeveloping
countriesatafraconofthecostofdevelopednaonssuchastheUnitedStates,
France,orAustralia.Butforsomeofthese
tourists,theirsavingsareattheexpenseof
thelessfortunate.TheWorldHealthOrganizaonidenesColombia,India,PakistanandthePhilippinesasfouroftheleadingglobalhotspotsforbuyingandselling
humanorgans.(Turner,2008)Another
placewhereorgantradeisalsocommonis
Bangladeshaswellasothercountriesin
SoutheastAsia.TheorgantradeisthrivinginBangladesh,acountrywhere78percentofresidentsliveonlessthan$2a
day.(Henion,2012)Columbia,India,and
Pakistanhaslawsthatprohibitthesaleof

on
Organiza
h
lt
a
e
H
d
rl
TheWo
tan
India,Pakis
,
ia
b
m
lo
o
idenesC
e
sfourofth
a
s
e

in
p
ip
il
andthePh
g
tsforbuyin
o
p
s
t
o
h
l
a
b
leadingglo
ns.
umanorga
h
g
in
ll
e
s
d
an





organsandinthePhilippines,Organ
Trackingisillegal.(Turner,2008)Despite
havinglawsinplace,thesecountrieshavea
boomingblackmarket.Forthoselookingto
travel,maytourismsites,statesponsored
ornot,adversemedicaltourism.From
privatehospitalstopublic-privateadversinginiaves,medicaltourismisbecoming
increasinglypopularforinternaonalpaents.Internaonalpaentscanpurchase
kidneytransplantpackagesatAsianHospital,NaonalKidneyandTransplantInstute,CapitolMedicalCenter,St.Lukes
MedicalCenter,PhilippinesMedicalCenter
andotherhospitalsinthePhilippines.
AsianHospitalsells5-starkidneytransplantpackagesforUS$80,000and3-star
packagesforUS$65,000.(Turner,2008)

Manyofthesecentersoenlacktheproperfacilies
orpersonnelspecializaon.Especiallyiscash
strappedpublichospitalsandprivateclinics,thereis
considerablerisktopaentsundergoingsurgery,
(Turner,2008)Despitealltheadversingandspecialsforinternaonalpaents,poorlocalstendto
footthebiggestbill.InBangladesh,thepoorare
oenexploitedbythewealthy.Thepeopleselling
theirorgansareexploitedbyunethicalbrokersand
recipientswhoareoenBangladeshi-bornforeign
naonalslivinginplacessuchastheUnitedStates,
Europe,andtheMiddleEast.Becauseorgan-selling
isillegal,thebrokersforgedocumentsindicangthe
recipientandsellerarerelatedandclaimtheactisa
familydonaon.(Henion,2012)Thepoorwilleithergetpaidlessthantheyarepromised,ornot
paidatallbythebrokers.Mostofthedonorsare
notusuallywillingtoselltheirorgansandareoen
luredinonfalsepromises.Moniruzzamansaysits
importanttonotethatmostsellersdonotmake
autonomouschoicestoselltheirorgans,butinsteadaremanipulatedandcoerced.(Henion,

2012.)Inmostofthesecountries,thelocalsthat
needtransplantsareoenmoveddownthelist.
Wealthyinternaonalpaentsaregivenpriority.
Theillegalorganmarketiscateredtotheneedsof
thewealthy,westernnaonsattheexpenseofthe
poorindevelopingnaonstypicallyinSoutheast
Asia.

Thepeo
pleselling
theirorg
areexplo
ans
itedbyun
e
t
h
ic
a
lbrokers
andrecip
ientswho
a
r
eoen
Banglade
shi-bornf
oreign
naonals
livinginp
lacessuch
theUnite
as
dStates,
E
u
r
o
p
e,andthe
MiddleEa

st.Becaus
e
o
r
g
a
n
isillegal,t
-selling
hebroker
s
f
o
r
g e
documen
tsindica
n
g
the
recipienta
ndsellera
rerelated
andclaim

theactis
a
f
a
m
il
y
donaon
.

CONCERNS FOR SOLUTIONS WHAT WORKS?

Illegal organ trade is oen given a blind eye.

Even though countries like India and Pakistan, who
have laws against the selling of organs, they both
have some the most organs harvested illegally. On
one hand it is illegal but on the other hand they have
tourism websites that tout medical services like organ transplants.
In India, the Ministry of Tourisms Incredible India website adverses kidney transplants and notes the comparavely cheap
price of renal transplants at Indian medical
facilies. In Pakistan, individual clinics adverse the sale of kidney transplants. In the
Philippines, government agencies, hospitals
and medical tourism companies all market
organ transplants to internaonal paents. (Turner,2008)
One of the potenal soluons for this problem is for government sponsored, or public facilies
not adverse these kind of packages to internaonal
paents. A lot of these adversements also dont
menon the dangers of undergoing a procedure in a
facility that is not up to standard or lacking the proper technology. It also isnt fair to those waing for a
donaon.
Given the many dangers associated with
selling purchased organs to medical tourists,
organ transplant facilies and transplant
procedures should be excluded from medical
tourism iniaves. Including organ transplants among the procedures marketed to
internaonal paents risks undermining
health equity and reducing the number of
cizens who have access to organ transplantaon. (Turner, 2008)
If these countries were adamant about seeking the
end of the illegal organ trade, they would not adverse health tourism packages for organ transplants.

22

Giventhemanydangers
associatedwithselling
purchasedorgansto
medicaltourists,organ
transplantfaciliesand
transplantprocedures
shouldbeexcludedfrom
medicaltourism
iniaves.Includingorgan
transplantsamongthe
proceduresmarketedto
internaonalpaentsrisks
undermininghealthequity
andreducingthenumber
ofcizenswhohave
accesstoorgan
transplantaon.

There are organizaons that seek an end to

the illegal organ harvesng. One of these groups is
the Coalion for Organ Failure Soluons or COFS.
This group is an outreach group for vicms of the
trade as well as ghng for reform and change. Their
mission statement is as follows: COFS is a non-prot
internaonal health and human rights organizaon
with a mission is to end organ tracking and enhance altruisc and deceased organ donaon. COFS
combines prevenon, policy advocacy, and survivor
support to combat organ tracking. (COFS,2014)
They do a variety of things, such as clinical checkups
for post operaon donors, and health educaon for
living on a single kidney. The most important thing
they can do is to educate those considering to sell
their organs to make ends meet. They build awareness of this issue by combining research and stascs of the illegal organ trade, as well as being an advocate for masses of poor vicms who would otherwise not have a voice. They work in many areas
where tracking is prevalent.

Ifthesecountries
wereadamantabout
seekingtheendof
theillegalorgan
trade,theywould
notadversehealth
tourismpackagesfor
organtransplants.

COFS works with its partners in Bahrain,

Egypt, India, and Nepal - countries that serve
to host organ tracking and/or send transplant tourists (clients) of organ tracking.
We work to develop local, naonal, and regional strategies with a range of prevenon
measures. We also have representaves and
program developments in Bangladesh, Kuwait, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates
(UAE) and Yemen. (COFS,2014)
In conclusion, there are several measures
that can be taken to reduce organ tracking, such as
not adversing organ transplant packages, and educang those considering it. It is going to take more
than just law reform and NGOs to solve this issue,
but several organizaons including COFS are working
towards a future without the illegal organ trade.


By:BenjaminWhiteside


23

LMX THEORY
LeaderMemberExchangeTheoryinsimpletermsfocusesontheinteraconsbetween
leadersandtheirfollowers.Itisallaboutdevelopingindividualrelaonships.Manyscholarsof
leadershipseeitasanevoluonorchangehow
leadersinteractwiththeirfollowers.BeforeLMX,
manyassumedthatleaderstreatedalltheirfollowersthesame,butthatisnotthecase.
IntheearlieststudiesofLMX,themain
focuswasonthedyadicrelaonshipbetweenthe
leaderandfollower.ImaginethisasaVenndiagramwiththefollowerinoneovalandtheleader
intheother.Wheretheovalsmeet,youhavethe
dyadicrelaonshipwerethisisanexchangeof
contentandprocesses.Anotherimportantaspect
isin-groupsandout-groups.Thosewhowerein
withtheleaderwereoengivenmoreresponsibility(extraroles)andaddionalresourcestocarryouttheirgoals.Thosewhowantedtosckwith
theformallydenedrolesoftheiremployment
contract,becametheout-group.Ingroupfollowerstendtobemoredependable,involvedand
communicavethanout-groupmembers.Outgroupmemberstendtojustdotheirjobdues
andgohome.
LaterstudiesofLMXshowcasetheposiveoutcomesofhighqualityexchange.AccordingLeadership:TheoryandPraccebyPeter
NorthouseResearchersfoundthathigh-quality
leader-memberexchangesproducedlessemployeeturnover,moreposiveperformanceevaluaons,higherfrequencyofpromoons,greater
organizaonalcommitment,moredesirablework
assignments,beerjobatudes,moreaenon
andsupportfromtheleader,greaterparcipaon,andfastercareerprogressover25
years(Northouse,164-165)

notjustafew.Thisiscalledleadershipmaking.It
canbedividedintothreestagesoverme.Stage
oneisthestrangerphase,interaconsarescripted,theleaderinuencesandtheexchangesare
lowqualityandself-interestedinnature.Itiscricaltonotethatinthisstageleaderslookforfollowerswhoareenthusiascandparcipaveand
showextraversion.Followersincontrastwant
leaderswhoarepleasant,trusng,cooperave
andagreeable.(Northouse,167)Thesecondstage
istheacquaintancephase.Rolesaretested,leaderstrytoseeifthefolloweriswillingtotakeon
moreresponsibilies,andthefollowerislooking
forchallenges.Denedrolesarebeingsupplanted
bynewwaystorelate.Theexchangesarenowof
mediumquality,andinterestsareselfandother.
(Northouse,166)Phasethreeispartnership.
Rolesarenegoated,theinuenceisreciprocal,
andtheexchangesarehighqualityandtheinterestisinthegroup.(Northouse.166)

Inconclusion,leadershipexchangetheory
doestwothings.Itdescribesleadership,showing
toimportanceofrecognizinginandoutgroups
withinanorganizaonorgroup.Leadersgive
moreopportuniestoin-groupmemberswho
contributemore.Out-groupmembersjustdo

prescribedroles,nothingmore.Leaderssll
treatthemfairlyinaccordancetodened
rolesandexpectaons.LMXprescribesleadership,advocangthatleaderscreatespecial
relaonshipswithallfollowers.Leaders
shouldlookforwaystotrustandrespectfor
allgroupmembers,essenallymakingeveryoneanin-groupmember.Thegoalsofthe
leaderandorganizaonwithhighqualityrelaonsbetweenleaderandfollowerareadvanced.

By:BenjaminWhiteside


Asnoted,LMXiscricalintodaysfast
pacedandglobalenvironment.Organizaonsof
alltypescanclearlybenetfromleadersmaking
goodworkingrelaonshipswiththeirfollowers.
Leadersshouldtrytodevelophigh
qualityexchangeswithalloftheirsubordinates,

31