4 Generations - Water Buffalo Movie

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"4 Generations" is a film short documenting my journey in southwestern China (near Tibet) to first find, then deliver a water buffalo to a poor family. The water buffalo led us to a family with an phenomenal story. Inspired and donated by author, educator, and founder of photo.net, Philip Greenspun.

Channel: People & Blogs
Uploaded: February 4, 2007 at 12:39 am
Author: bobtheviolin

Length: 00:07:52
Rating: 4.94
Views: 51635

Tags: water buffalo robert thompson violin greenspun china kunming tibet

Video Comments:
ee2402j3 (October 16, 2008 at 4:03 pm)
( this vid makes me so sad. some1 msg me!! xD P
davidhaile (March 25, 2008 at 8:13 pm)
I also received that "catalog" that was talked about at the beginning of the clip and wondered about its sincerity. You definitely did the right thing. The most important thing is to get off our butts and Do Something instead of hide behind our wealth in fear. We also like to hide behind politics and cultural differences. I have a goal of helping the poor but my time is not yet here. I'm not any better than the rest until I've done it.
c0ntundere (March 3, 2008 at 8:54 pm)
I'm not saying that this was a bad act, or they shouldn't of done it. Those people who received the buffalo were really happy, and that's great. I just think people should pay attention to the global policies that keep countries impoverished, and try to circumvent those. That would work a lot better than simply donating a bit of money to these people living in underdeveloped countries, after profiting off their work. As it said in the video, there are many more poor families just in that village
cflower18 (March 4, 2008 at 8:29 pm)
I completely agree with this. It's easy to look at people in other countries, be they China, Ethiopia or Nicaragua, and be sad about their misfortunes without thinking about what Western countries have done to contribute to those conditions. This video contains stereotypical tropes of the generous white man, and the grateful natives. Although, as it has been said before, these people did a good thing for the family, this video just ends up showing how charitable and good Westerners are...
cflower18 (March 4, 2008 at 8:35 pm)
I think this type of representation distorts the real issues and simply offers a feel-good, bandage solution to world poverty. It makes people think that the people in China are just poor without any reasons behind that, and Westerners need to make grand gestures in order to "save" them. In reality, there is a reason for this poverty, and we can all make a differences through our everyday purchasing decisions, whether it's buying sweat free clothing or free trade products.
cflower18 (March 4, 2008 at 8:50 pm)
And these decisions aren't even being extra generous. Simply treating them fairly and saying that their work is the same value as ours is enough. Don't profit off of almost slave labour!
In the end, I just hope that when people see this type of video in the future, they don't just feel sorry for the poor people, and happy about the gifts. Instead, we should all take a look at Western economies that first take advantage of these people and then allow Western citizens to give something back.
c0ntundere (March 3, 2008 at 8:45 pm)
I think people involved in this project has only the best intentions, and there's no doubt that they did a great thing for that family. However, before we blindly celebrate this kind of philanthropy, I'd just like to point out that the economic systems that allow US citizens (and others) to be able to give these gifts are the same as those that keep people in China, and other countries in poverty. Western countries have the wealth to donate cause they rely on cheap labour/products from poor ones
loxfizzle (February 20, 2008 at 7:17 am)
loved reading the original blog and seeing how eager you were to help out.

beautiful!
selmer1938 (February 18, 2008 at 4:31 am)
Holy fu^&ing Bob... Movie star over here.
syalala (February 3, 2008 at 3:38 am)
If you can comment this video, you must give thanks to God(if you believe in God), for everything He gave you til today.

God bless them.