Give Me Money!

During the first 2 months of our trip we have been confronted with the harsh reality that a significant portion of aid is often misused, not only on the macro level but also on the micro level. Seeing this type of thing day-in and day-out is discouraging. For example, yesterday we rode our bikes to another school to lend our services and the ride was filled with children on the side of the road yelling to us “Give me money!” We sometimes respond “Give me money” in order to make light of the situation but when you stop and think about it, little children associating Western visitors with handouts is an upsetting problem.

Another example is a story we heard when we visited a hospital run by the Sisters from the same congregation as St. Mary’s. A couple of weeks ago some men came to rob the Sister’s house at gunpoint wearing the very clothing the sisters had given them days before. Not to mention that they cam to rob the house because they heard there were Westerners staying there and thought that they most likely travel with a bag of money because they are always giving it out. Whether it’s donor fatigue (ie there are too many Westerners visiting all the time giving out things for free) or a cultural issue we have become concerned about being able to find a self-motivated and honest community to work in.

This concern of ours was allayed this past week when we visited the Comuniy Based Organization in the village mentioned above, Tiyambe Nawo. For every example of misused, underappreciated or stolen aid we had seen or heard, this community represented the opposite. Four women started this Community Based Organization (CBO) 5 years ago with nothing but a few Kwacha of their own, the support of the Senior Group Village Head Man, and an incredibly strong desire to improve the problems that were beginning to take over their village. We’ve talked about the community before and have described the many services they provide in the site report (which you can download from the website). Meeting them again and hearing about their passion, their commitment and the personal sacrifices they’ve made was a real reminder of the type of organizations we want to help. We often think about charity in the Western sense of the word, people who have enough give away something to help others. In the village charity is different; these people are living at a the subsistence yet find the time and money to help others in greater need then themselves.


My favorite example of this community’s strength is what they did with their local school. Several years ago the CBO realized that their children were not starting Standard 1 until ages 10 or 11 because the primary school was over 6km away. They saw this as huge problem, especially for girls who were at risk of being pulled at of school at 15 or 16 with half of a primary school education. Instead of simply talking about the problem, the CBO and the villagers found a small amount of money from a local friend and built a school block for standards 1-3 (the young children who cannot walk so far to school) in the village entirely on their own. With a completed school block they went to the Ministry of Education and got 4 teachers sent to the school. Now there is a proper school for Standards 1, 2 and 3 in the village. This is the type of organization we want to work with; one that believes in the future of their children and will go to almost any length to try and make that future possible. Above are a couple of pictures from our meeting.