ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at two large programmes of integrated development with tribal mountain peoples. The people who started them – a Hindu doctor in India and a Christian missionary in Cameroon – were both profoundly influenced by the people they went to help. Once again, religion ‘brought down to earth’ is experienced as a source of hope and of faith in oneself and other people. Taking a critical look at the role and motivation of development workers, the stories emphasize the importance of people carrying out their own development according to their own cultural traditions, though these are by no means seen as immutable. We see the interplay of modernity with traditional cultures and consider whether tribal values, such as a strong sense of community, can survive the values brought by globalization.
