Two Earlier blog entries. . .
I wrote these two entries before I returned back to the states, so I thought I would post them before I do one final Ghana post.
Donations
Beggars are in every country in the world. In the states, most people are taught not to give to beggars because the money will probably go for alcohol, drugs, etc. I know I have been taught to give to “worthy” causes where you know where your money is going. (I will get back to this point.) This is the result of my Catholic upbringing that stresses the importance of giving tithes.
In my mind I know that giving to beggars doesn’t really do any good. Then why is it that I feel so guilty when I choose not to give money to a beggar?
In Tamale, there are several beggars I recognize around town. They walk along the median to catch cars as they wait at the stoplight- those are usually the two blind people, each with their own young girl guiding them along the median. There is the man who is missing an arm that always catches me while waiting for my taxi to fill up to return to the guesthouse. A woman who is unable to walk sits in her old, hand-powered tricycle at the entrance to the bus station. And of course there is a small boy no more than 3 years old that has chosen outside the Crest restaurant as his begging place of choice.
Contrary to my instincts, if I have coins I will give to the beggars. I know it is a dependency and it doesn’t help them to escape the cycle of poverty, but the guilt is simply too much for me. I am rich by any standard and these people need food to survive.
Which brings me back to my original point, what is a “worthy” cause? Can it be defined as a tax deductible donation? I know that in the NGO world they try to lower their overhead and find other sources to pay for the overhead in order to lure donors and show that __% of our programming goes directly to the communities or target population. As Americans we don’t want our donations going for office supplies, electricity, basically anything that is vital to the running of the organization. We need to know that our money is going directly to the beneficiaries. Aren’t you giving directly to the beneficiary by giving money to beggars?
And, does the money ever really go the beneficiaries? Sometimes I am very conflicted about the profession I have chosen. I love doing international development work, but as an insider I have the right to be cynical about the world of foreign aid and how money from the developed world is distributed to the developing world.
Do I have any better ideas? Probably not. But I do know that the system is flawed. A lot of the money gets caught up in the process and does not reach its intended target. But then again, my salary one day will be considered part of the “process” after I graduate. So how can we improve the system so that those of us from the developed world are able to do what we love and not feel guilty about the system in which we are forced to conduct our work?
I suppose the appropriate answer is to minimize foreign staff and hire locals to build local capacity. These efforts are made by most NGOs these days. However, when the best job you can have in the country is working for an international NGO, I think there is a problem. Poor economic opportunities in these countries lead to this situation, but it also creates a new dependency on the NGO world to provide good jobs and maintain their development or relief efforts in the community.
My point is that I still remain skeptical about the way we distribute foreign aid and I can only hope to improve the system when I am gainfully employed by one of these organizations.
World Vision Tangent
My experience with World Vision has been mixed. The people are wonderful and dedicated. They do great work digging boreholes and building latrines. But is their beneficiary selection process the most open? No. Is it fair? Not always.
Then there is my serious criticism that as a Christian NGO they will not hire anyone that is not Christian. This is not so difficult because they moved the entire office from Kumasi to Tamale five years ago. This also means that most of the people working for World Vision are not actually from Tamale and have not learned the local dialect after living here for five years. (This is why they keep trying to teach me Twi and not Dagboni.) But if you are Muslim (which at least 80% of the people in the northern region are) then you cannot hope for a job as a mechanic, driver, cook, security personnel, field staff or any other position with World Vision.
As a Christian NGO, there is a half hour of devotion Monday through Thursday from 8-8:30 and on Friday from 8-9. Wednesday mornings there is no breakfast served because it is a morning of fasting. When the accounts manager received a new Toyota Corolla wagon we held a small blessing ceremony.
I have found myself defending the presence of faith-based organizations in the NGO world this past year during school. It has often been the topic of conversation among members of my cohort and sometimes in classes. At least I do not feel that there is a lot of direct evangelization associated with World Vision in Tamale, but rather an effort to share their faith through their actions and work in the community.
However, I am more doubtful about the way that they run their organizations on the ground. It honestly offends me that they discriminate by religion. I would think that by bringing the local people into the organization you would be creating a better example, but apparently this is not the case.
So I am left wondering if the world of faith-based organizations is really the best for the developing world. Sorry, I don’t think I can provide any personal resolution at this point.
posted by Melinda @ 4:43 AM
1 comments
