Chapter 12: Rural Areas are not Hopeless

Rural areas—especially in underdeveloped sections of a country—are sometimes thought of as areas that are so economically challenged that the inhabitants are condemned to generational poverty. As the title of this chapter indicates, I disagree with this pessimistic view, and discuss a recent project of mine that built on my research in a rural area to establish a partnership between myself and the women in an impoverished rural area in South Africa. By first understanding the situation in which these women found themselves and listening to them as they described what they saw as their main needs, we collaboratively made changes that have dramatically changed the circumstances of not only the women themselves but also the community in which they live.