I was talking to my friend Thandi in Lilongwe whilst (hee) I was stuck there for a training. She told me about her job working for a religious NGO that works to make guardians for orphans more independent, with IGAs (Income Generating Activities) and the like.
Some Americans who work with her organization are coming to work in one of the villages they serve. They’ve been building houses for some of the guardians, and this group of Americans wants to come to Malawi and finish a house in the week they’ll be here.
Ok, fine, I can see the desire to have the sense of accomplishment that comes with finishing a project. But, here’s what’s going to have to happen in order for these Americans to get what they want:
Malawians have been working on the house for ages, getting it to a point where they can finish it. Everytime something happens that slows the timeline, there is widescale panic about getting it all finished before the azungu come. It’s Malawi, and the house is in a village. Things happen. Inflation is ridiculous, petrol prices are sky high and anyway, there are frequent petrol and diesel shortages. Delays are almost inevitable.
When the azungu come, they’ll work during the day, and Malawians will have to work overnight in order to finish the house. Lights will have to be imported into this electric-less village and powered by batteries.
About 15 Americans are coming. They are unskilled. And of course it makes sense that they want to have a hand in the work their financing is making happen. But imagine what else could be done with the money freed up by flying 4 people over and not 15, by not buying the lights and the batteries, by not having to pay people for working through the night, by actually having skilled workers who won’t slow down the progress. So, the egos of those 15 people cost the Malawian orphans, in some sense, around 20,000. For that kind of money, you can bribe Escom to bring electricity to a village and build a maize mill on top of that.
Obviously, I don’t think that people should just stay at home and send a check–I just wonder if perhaps sometimes the price to keep people interested in charity is too high, and too centered around the donors instead of around the recipients and their needs.
Thandi was also frustrated because the orphans, when Malawians visit the village, are neat and well-behaved. But when they know azungu are coming, suddenly the kids are tattered with white snot marks above their lips, dusty hair, and clothes falling off their bodies. Thandi talked to some of the guardians about this. She was quite frustrated with the begging nature of that behaviour, even as she acknowledged that it is probably effective in engendering more sympathy from the donors. Thandi reminded the guardians that the deal of this program is that they are taught about IGAs and given shelter and given trainings. But no money is given, no allowances for the trainings: the point is to help the guardians become more self-sufficient, to keep the cycle of dependency at bay. The guardians agreed, but then one of them told Thandi, “Sometimes it is good just to get money,” A statement difficult to deny or defend.
I don’t envy Thandi and her job.
