The strange dichotomy that is development

Things that I’ve noticed that seem to imply that sometimes, the priorities in development in my village need to reevaluated:

-Almost everyone I know has a cellphone. No one I know has running water.

-My neighbors have satellite television, but also feel that it is sanitary to shit on the side of the road.

-We have cars, but feel the need to put at least seven people in them at one time.

-People have built libraries and computer labs and health centers, but never bothered to educate the population that washing your hands involves more than just pouring water over them.

Now, I understand that I’m approaching this situation with the biased lens of my westernized experience, but as much as we’ve talked about needs v. wants and sustainability and creating projects that are not your projects, but community projects, it seems to me that something was off in the past.

And there is a lot that needs to be done. (Again looking at my situation from my westernized perspective) So the question does have to be where do you start? Is anything better than nothing?