I have often railed against charity, more since I have seen it here. People don’t need charity. They don’t need your pity and self-righteous help. No one, be they in a foreign context or in your own backyard, needs your quick fix solutions and answers to problems you don’t understand.

Good intensions are NOT enough.

Like the old proverb, “the road to hell is lined with good intensions.” It could not be truer.

I don’t think I will ever really understand what could motivate a couple of Canadians to fly over and think that they can do good work that would help people in a foreign context, with needs different than their own, with different priorities and constraints.

Over breakfast this morning, this is what I witnessed.

A charity (which I will keep unnamed out of courtesy to the individuals) of 4 people fundraised some money from friends and their community back in Canada. They have come out for 2 weeks a year for the past couple of years to help 5 villages in Malawi. They distributed mosquito nets, blankets, WaterGuard to clean the water. This year, they are here for 3 months.

At first glance, maybe this seems like a good idea. Yes, combating Malaria by the simple distribution of mosquito nets makes sense (to us) … less people sick, more people able to work, reduced expenses for healthcare and medicine… possible eradication of the disease. BUT, go deeper!! WHY do they not have mosquito nets? Could they not afford them? Do they not enjoy sleeping under the net? Is it not socially acceptable? Are they not able to access them? Are the distributors too far away? Are they waiting for an NGO or charity to come provide them? What is the government policy on mosquito net distribution?

The underlying assumption of distributing them for free is that people CANNOT access the nets for reasons of “poverty” or financial constraints. Maybe, but it’s much bigger than this. We are talking about an underlying behaviour change, like washing hands with soap, something people KNOW will keep them from getting sick but still don’t do, despite having readily available soap. So WHY did they need YOU to come in provide the nets? And when you are gone, what will happen to them? Will they use them? If they get torn, will they repair them? After all, they didn’t ask for the nets and didn’t buy them… what incentive is there for taking care of them?

It gets better. Someone (not clear who) decided that the children were not getting enough protein in their diets. (Incidentally, the problem is more that they do not get enough vitamins, which are provided for free when parents take their children to feeding and nutrition centers) The thinking went like this: Protein is important – eggs have protein (so do beans which are readily available and enjoyed) – chickens lay eggs – we should provide chickens. Great!

BUT… Who is going to get the chickens? (questions of access and control) Why do they not eat eggs now? Do they like eggs? Would they prefer to sell the eggs for profit and purchase something that they find more useful like maize flour to make nsima or pay school fees? Are they set up to take care of the chickens? (having safe and secure coups to prevent disease and theft… both prevalent issues) Who else in the area is working on nutrition? Are there government and CBO services available to manage these issues? (yes… the recommended yet poorly attended nutrition and feeding centres… better question is why are people no attending?)

There are many more examples… wells, boreholes, treadle and diesel powered pumps…

And if you go beyond this isolated example, you find stories like this littering the files and walls of far too many offices around the world.

To give these people a bit of credit, they are beginning to realize the complexity of what they have blindly stumbled into. They are taking it in stride, admitting failures as they see them, realizing that this model of giving and charity is not working… they are “at a starting over point.” But how far can you get when you a foreign charity with no vision and a limited if non-existent understanding of the culture and context?
(When asked for their vision for their charity: to help villages and to make them sustainable. I just about lost it.)

Yes, quick fixes and technical solutions are sexy. They are easy to see, easy to understand, easy to feel good about. But they are not the solution that is needed, assuming we could/should ever find a good solution to a messy and complex problem.

How do you avoid this? The only way I know is to admit that you and I DO NOT KNOW the answer, to admit your own faults and failures, to recognise success in others, to ask more questions than you ever thought possible. WHY? Because if we don’t do this, we will continue to make the same mistakes that we have made for the past 40+ years, we will continue to waste everyone’s time and money, and we seriously risk undoing all the good work that might have been done over those same past 40+ years.

So, what do you want to know from a 6 month EWB overseas volunteer? What are your questions? Your burning interests? Send me questions and I’ll try my best to answer.

~C